One Nation, Slightly Divisible-Brooks

David Brooks explained the differences between people of Red America, who are like country folk, and people of Blue America, who are like the city people. "People in Blue America, which is my part of America, tend to live around big cities on the coasts. People in Red America tend to live on farms or in small towns or small cities far away from the coasts."(582) Most people have stereotypes of both types of people which saddens me because our world is based so much on how people look and not on the actual person. "many of them are racist and homophobic, and when you see them at highway rest stops, they're often really fat and their clothes are too tight."(583) This stereotype is terrible and people look at this and do not give one person they think is like this a chance to prove them wrong. Although yes I have stereotyped in the past and I'm not saying it makes you a bad person, all I want to say is people must give people a chance and not just judge them on the way they look. I give people a chance to prove me right and wrong and that is the difference between me and those who discriminatory and do not get to know people before they shut them out. "Some of the biggest differences between Red and Blue America show up on statistical tables. Ethnic diversity is one." (585) This was very interesting to me but I could see why this is because Red America tends to be small towns and not much of a spouse to choose from and in Blues America you have many different people with different races and ethnicity's to choose from. Yes we are different, but we are still people of the same homeland. "In the days immediately following September 11 the evidence seemed clear that despite our differences, we are still a united people. American flags flew everywhere..." (587) In reading this, I realized that just to unite people from different places in the same country, a disaster has to happen and that is a little sad. This article reminded me of the other article we read called "A Cafeteria Nation" where the world is like a cafeteria in high school and everyone has their own cliques. Another big reason many are divided is because there are haves and have-nots that both may discriminate against the other. This is the main reason there is such division in this country and I think if this was not true, our world would be a better place. "In Red America the self is small." "In Blue America the self is more commonly large." These two statements sum up why they are so different and I completely agree in most cases. We are all American citizens, which we all have in common, and thats why we are and should always be a united nation.