re: #534 HappyWarrior

Pennsylvania sigh. As I’ve said, too many white liberals have a blind sentimentality for the WWC’s prejudices that they would not accept in more educated voters. My grandfather was a HS drop out. Lfifelong Democrat but he had racial prejudices too. That doesn’t mean I think he was evil but he did have a lot of views about racial minorities that made me uncomfortable.

Happy, I just read this New Yorker article about the heroin epidiemic in West Virginia, since my home county (Beaver) borders on West Virginia I’ve always had a love for the place ever since and it breaks my heart to see how they have turned so deep red while heroin is running wild and unchecked.

newyorker.com

West Virginia has the highest overdose death rate in the country, and heroin has devastated the state’s Eastern Panhandle, which includes Hedgesville and the larger town of Martinsburg. Like the vast majority of residents there, nearly all the addicts are white, were born in the area, and have modest incomes. Because they can’t be dismissed as outsiders, some locals view them with empathy. Other residents regard addicts as community embarrassments. Many people in the Panhandle have embraced the idea of addiction as a disease, but a vocal cohort dismisses this as a fantasy disseminated by urban liberals.