Forums → WEPR → Obama and the red states....
| 15 | 5692 |
Ok, I go to the University of South Carolina, and I had to conduct some interviews for an essay I am writing on Barack Obama and the not so good relationship with the red states (Republican Majority States.) One thing I found very shocking when interviewing many of my own family members, and others is that the thing that comes up the most in their anger spitting speeches on Obama is race. His race. Literally 85% of the interviews I conducted ended on the note well, "He is Black, so, what does he know about what we need." Other comments as well, that I cannot even post here lol...
My question and feel free to open debate is, Most of the people who do not like or agree with Obama or his policies tend to be White Males and Females between the ages of 37 and 64 in my study. Are these people just racist? and is this mostly the concensus on the Republican or Tea Party side of the argument?
- 15 Replies
Are these people just racist?]
Just a random guess, but a lot of southern states (like South Carolina) have a lot of deeply embedded roots in slavery. Perhaps their southern nationality is blocking their rationalism in terms of the political world? It's a long stretch, but i believe it's a valid point nonetheless.
Also, when speaking to the more republican side of my family, they often make jokes regarding Obama's ethnicity (for obvious reasons). You're sure they aren't simply joking?
and is this mostly the concensus on the Republican or Tea Party side of the argument?
Like my republican side of our family, I'd say they're probably just joking. That's not to say racism doesn't exist in the more conservative side of things, but it's unlikely.
Then again, you might just have an unusual family/one that has a lot of southern/conservative nationalism.
If I haven't lost you yet.
Nope, it makes plenty of sense. Although 5 of the 15 I interviewed were not family members at all. And from my notes 7 of the 15 actually used the N word, as we were in a private setting and felt they could really have at it out they feel about it.
Nope, it makes plenty of sense. Although 5 of the 15 I interviewed were not family members at all. And from my notes 7 of the 15 actually used the N word, as we were in a private setting and felt they could really have at it out they feel about it.
Shouldn't have skimmed the OP then, haha.
Anyway, think about it. I mean, South Carolina just reminds me of slavery, which leads to racism towards blacks. It's probably just the southern nationalism that fuels their rage.
^Right, I mean it was what I thought to. I would hate to have to conduct the same interview in Alabama or Louisiana haha.
Still at some point, I start asking the question, if these same interviews were conducted in Wyoming or Montana, would the outcome be the same?
Still at some point, I start asking the question, if these same interviews were conducted in Wyoming or Montana, would the outcome be the same?
I live in Iowa, which is a swing state. It's pretty close to Wyoming in terms of geography and upbringings. We have problems with racism (the KKK was big in the 90's here) occasionally, but I can't image them being as prominent as a southern state. In the years of slavery, the northern states (or the union) were states that offered freedom for blacks, so we have a very different perspective on the current president overall. Now, I wouldn't say slavery is the prominent reason for racism, but it's probably a huge one that led to many other reasons.
Still at some point, I start asking the question, if these same interviews were conducted in Wyoming or Montana, would the outcome be the same?
I think this is a sample size/selection error. How many people did you ask? If you polled people from one small community, chances are they share the same values and views.
Southern states, as has been already pointed out, have higher rates of discrimination towards minorities.
I think this is a sample size/selection error. How many people did you ask? If you polled people from one small community, chances are they share the same values and views.
Ah, yeah. Didn't think about that.
I think this is a sample size/selection error. How many people did you ask? If you polled people from one small community, chances are they share the same values and views.
Southern states, as has been already pointed out, have higher rates of discrimination towards minorities.
That is the point of my post and will be the point of my essay. Most of the southern United States is republican. So, if they discriminate against minorities, does that mean that all Republican's do so? Republican's in my opinion are a dying breed, from all I have seen, the 2008 an 2012 elections. The country is changing on a National Scale, and I have yet to meet one Republican yet who doesn't like Obama strictly for his policies, but yet either because they are racist, or are following the racist voters that elected him to that office.
and I have yet to meet one Republican yet who doesn't like Obama strictly for his policies, but yet either because they are racist, or are following the racist voters that elected him to that office.
Well, you've met one today! That was a pretty harsh generalization, but I understand.
Well your the first and I applaud you for that. I do not live in Iowa so, things may be different there.
Literally 85% of the interviews I conducted ended on the note well, "He is Black, so, what does he know about what we need." Other comments as well, that I cannot even post here lol...
Yeah, I'm afraid they're racist. However, you may want to start over on you study.
Your sample size is too small to come to any reliable conclusion. However, it's still an experiment, so there are still some precautions you need to take.
I can already tell you how you conclusion is faulty, and it has nothing to do with the sample size.
Nope, it makes plenty of sense. Although 5 of the 15 I interviewed were not family members at all. And from my notes 7 of the 15 actually used the N word, as we were in a private setting and felt they could really have at it out they feel about it.
10 of the people you interviewed were your own family members. Although not always the case, family members do to tend to share similar views and hold fairly similar values. I'm also going to go out on a limb and guess that the other 5 people you talked to were friends of the people you interviewed. Chances are pretty good that your family members live within a circle of people who have strong negative opinions towards blacks.
If you want your study to hold more weight, first, you need to talk to Republicans who live in different parts of the state/county/city. Make sure the title of your experiment reflects the source of your interviewees. If everyone you talked to live within the same city/town as you, then make sure your experiment is titled to reflect that it's the opinions of various people from the city/town. If you talked to different people throughout the country, then have the title of the experiment reflect this instead.
Second, since you're probably not in position to do blind interviews with random people, you need to at least make sure the people you interview have little-to-no relation between one another.
With what you have now, you might just be proving how racist your own family is.
I have no idea how lenient your teacher is. I've seen teachers pass some pretty pathetic projects before, and it might be easiest to stick with what you have if you teacher is the lenient type. However, if your teacher does pass you, know that your study is incredibly flawed.
^
Actually of the 5 people I interviewed that were not in my family, 4 of them were not related to anyone, and did not know any of us. I took a trip to Greenville, South Carolina to a study there. The results were not much different, and in the end turns out that the northern most parts of my state were just as bad, if not worse than the center (Columbia). I knew none of the people I interviewed upstate, but were random people I asked to do the interview. This took place outside of a mall in Greenville, South Carolina. I would have asked more people, woudl have had 25 all together if I weren't turned down by such a large margin as soon as I uttered the name Obama.
That is the point of my post and will be the point of my essay. Most of the southern United States is republican. So, if they discriminate against minorities, does that mean that all Republican's do so? Republican's in my opinion are a dying breed, from all I have seen, the 2008 an 2012 elections. The country is changing on a National Scale, and I have yet to meet one Republican yet who doesn't like Obama strictly for his policies, but yet either because they are racist, or are following the racist voters that elected him to that office.
Sorry, there's more I need to point out.
You literally can not determine if the Northern and Western states are racist just by studying the Southern States. Since you're basing all of your opinions on word of mouth, you're not even able to determine if Republicans in your own state are racist, or country, or even town. The only thing you can determine is how racist your family and friends are.
Second, understand that racists are OBVIOUSLY going to come off as republican due to the fact that they voted against Obama according to his race. Many people have little-to-no interest in politics at all. You can have a racist person who is bipartisan, or even democratic, vote against Obama due to his race, and they'll come off as republicans due to that single point.
HOWEVER, even if we can prove that racists against blacks tend to be republican (which wouldn't really surprise me), that doesn't prove that republicans in general are racist. You could have 1,000 members of the KKK vote republican regularly, that doesn't prove that the millions of republicans are KKK or endorse the KKK in any way, shape, or form.
Actually of the 5 people I interviewed that were not in my family, 4 of them were not related to anyone, and did not know any of us. I took a trip to Greenville, South Carolina to a study there. The results were not much different, and in the end turns out that the northern most parts of my state were just as bad, if not worse than the center (Columbia). I knew none of the people I interviewed upstate, but were random people I asked to do the interview. This took place outside of a mall in Greenville, South Carolina. I would have asked more people, woudl have had 25 all together if I weren't turned down by such a large margin as soon as I uttered the name Obama.
This doesn't really change the fact that 66% of the people you interviewed were your own family.
If you were able to get 25 interviews, your family would still make up 40%.
I'm essentially saying, for the study to be reliable, you have to omit your family completely - regardless as to whether people are declining interviews or not.
But, again, you might be able to get away with using your own family as interviewees if your teacher is lenient.
You must be logged in to post a reply!
Showing 1-15 of 15