I Hate This Graphic and All Its Incarnations
So the amendment was passed. It’s lame. Everyone on facebook in North Carolina in my age range thinks that it’s lame. We need to really the troops. Okay, whatever, I get that. Here’s this thing and it’s fun. It’s fun to post that graphic that correlates University presence to voting trends on Amendment One in North Carolina. It’s also way too easy and a little worrying. If I learned one thing in college statistics, it’s that correlation does not equal causation.
What I see is a map indicative of a divide between two very different cultures. In this case, they are differentiated by their homes (cities + suburbs vs rural areas).
Don’t get me wrong: supporting Amendment One, in my opinion, is discriminatory. I don’t subscribe to that moral agenda. I also don’t want to act like I’m better than those opposition because I went to college and also happen to believe what I believe.
This graphic and subsequent sharing and the “we get it and they don’t” attitude smacks of haughtiness, because we were lucky enough (please don’t forget we were lucky) to receive a post-secondary education and now make “better” decisions regarding politics. Even if that’s not the intention, that’s how it comes off and that’s what it seems to imply.
To me these Facebook highbrows say, I see your discrimination and I raise you. That isn’t going to solve the problem.
