Melbourne's Burke Road stretches from Caulfield to Ivanhoe, and in the 1970s our then Prime Minister called it the longest street of bible bashing bastards in Australia. No one in the road voted for him, so he had nothing to lose by the statement.
Step forward to the mid 2020s and many huge houses that contained a family have been demolished for pairs of upmarket townhouses, containing a downsizing elderly couple, widow or widower. This has done nothing for the shortage of housing in our country.
While I doubt there are too many are church goers now, the residents are still wealthy and will still vote for the conservative party. It's all about the share market and their tax beneficial self managed superannuation funds.
But for the better, the good burghers of Burke Road would have possibly supported gay marriage, are probably not anti abortion, and truth be told, many would have a social conscience, and like to see their taxes helping the less fortunate in life.
Ok, I am comparing apples to oranges, I think. But could the US bible belt with its social attitudes move on as the demographic residents of Burke Road did?
Could I add to this map the anti abortion protesters too? Is there anything else US citizens could add to this MAGA stronghold? Is this the area of Hillary's 'basket of deplorables'?
Apologies if I stole this from you, and to whoever you stole it from.
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I don't know enough about Melbourne geography or South Eastern US politics (although the family members of my husband in the South West have opened my eyes to the never can tell of political obstinancy) but I do know that every state does have a few pockets where, if you want to find strait laced on the surface and just plain weird when you scratch it! Toowoomba would be the first candidate up here.
ReplyDeleteYour perceptions about conservative views on abortion and LGBTI may be quite overegged . There are many working class communities that still hold the same views. Particular religions condemn it as a mortal sin.
ReplyDeleteYou can bet your bottom dollar that the wealthy knew how to get abortions done in a clinic environment and a gay or lesbian would have simply been described as eccentric, with a wink on the side, The USA though is something else, they seem to be not for changing.
The South is full of hypocrites because there are so many churches here that feed on the hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteSocial attitudes can and do evolve with demographic change and generational turnover
ReplyDelete