What am I, chopped liver?

[pecunium]

I keep hearing the McCain campaign, in the voice of Sarah Palin, and her sympathisers and supporters, saying that she has some secret insight to, "real America" by virtue of being from someplace not contaminated by urbanity.

I, it seems (and those like me), somehow don't count as a real american. Never mind the summer I spent digging ditches, and stripping paint and shingling roofs. Nope, manual labor doesn't cut it.

Ignore sixteen years in the National Guard (and a tour in Iraq, and duty overseas in Germany, Korea and Ukraine). Ignore my father the Marine (1964-68 active, and another eight years in the reserves). Forget my grandfather who was in WW1.

Nope, not good enough.

Helping my folks start a small business (still going strong 24 years later). Nope, not good enough.

I, you see, like most americans, live in a city. I, therefore, am somehow not quite the real thing when it comes to being an American.

About a year ago someone at Obidian Wings saw the same thing, and wondered the same sort of thing I'm asking about now,
"When do I get to be one of the "American people?"

Comments

[porysski.livejournal.com]

I think Kung Fu Monkey's justified rant on this topic back in 2006 covered my feelings on it perfectly:

For chrissake, only 17% of Americans live in rural settings anymore. Only 2 million of those people work on farms or ranches (USDA figures)...

Four million people in the US play World of Warcraft. And yet, do I ever hear:

CNN: We stopped by the gates of Ogrimmar in Durotar, on the east coast of Kalimdor, where one local told us Hollywood just can't relate to the level-grinding life.

UNIDENTIFIED ORC: They've never been back here, questing Razormane or Drygulch Ravine, y'know ... or farming for Peacebloom and Silverleaf. They're out of touch.

No. No I do not.

Why is it that those of us who are the majority of the population (i.e. urban dwellers) are somehow less "real"?