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Unable-Bison-272 t1_j5g3ujs wrote

Reply to comment by mainething in Despicable by KermitThrush

I don’t think there is another state in the country this fixated on what state people were born in. It’s bizarre. He seems popular enough among the locals that they keep electing him, right? Do you think a loon like this would get elected in Pasadena or the Philly suburbs?

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monsterscallinghome t1_j5g8dtq wrote

This strain of ugly nativism goes back to the arrival of the Famine Irish and French Canadians in the 18th & 19th centuries. The Know-Nothing Party used the Catholicism of the refugees to stoke hatred and gain political power. It's disgusting to hear from the mouths of otherwise sensible people.

The excellent book Hard Times, Hard Men: Maine and the Irish 1830-1860 by James H Mundy is an excellent resource on both the history of the Irish in Maine and the history of how cynically the wealthy (often themselves transplants from Mass & points south) have instigated, fed, and used this nativism to divide the working class of Maine against itself, lowering wages and increasing repression to the detriment of everyone but the rich.

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rangemerge t1_j5g9c6h wrote

Never experienced this anywhere until I came to Maine. Caring about where someone is born is such a foreign concept to me it took me a while to wrap my head around it.

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Unable-Bison-272 t1_j5gb5to wrote

I left the state partially because of this miserable attitude. My drunk neighbor held a knife to my neck and told me if he killed me he wouldn’t be convicted because I was “a fa**ot from Massachusetts.” My last time in Blue Hill I went to a bar and ate a quiet meal and had a couple beers. The bartender asked me where I was from. I said Central Mass, Worcester area. Called me the same slur and pitched a fit when I didn’t tip him. Fuck this attitude.

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squidsquidsquid t1_j5gb1m1 wrote

It's a thing in VT as well.

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jqpeub t1_j5ghmfa wrote

Not in my experience, I was born in California but I'm definitely a Vermonter and I've never heard anyone complain. Maine seems to take it more serious

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LegitimateAbalone267 t1_j5h2fx9 wrote

I’ve been here almost 14 years and I still can’t wrap my head around the “from away” BS.

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mainething t1_j5g5mvi wrote

hopefully not! That's why he went to Amherst - do the demographics - you could make two lists - 1 where he would be elected 2 where he couldn't make the ballot. Suppose he thought that through? Welcome to America ... It's gerrymandering that sets shit on fire!

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Unable-Bison-272 t1_j5g7j8p wrote

He went there to work in a sawmill 47 years ago…

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5h1vw5 wrote

He tried to bust the union there. Got tossed instead. Now does crap for some outfit called "Write to Your Congressman." He's still a clown.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5h1m8k wrote

Philly suburbanites care. Especially if you were born in Delaware or New Jersey.

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