Stephen Bloom, an elitist journalism professor, in a scathing article, characterizes the population of Iowa as a mix of uneducated, unambitious, evangelical Christian, white, elderly people waiting to die who do not warrant the unrivaled, first-in-line opportunity to choose the next American president.
For background, read Media Prepare Anti-Christian Campaign for 2012 and also read Iowa Christian Presidential Forum Riles Media as well as Fighting Obama's War on Christianity
-- From "A journalism professor derides Iowa and faces fury" by Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press 12/15/11
[It's about] University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom, whose article for The Atlantic magazine's website painted Iowans as uneducated Jesus freaks who love hunting and don't deserve the political clout they will exercise Jan. 3.
In the article, he paints Iowa's cities and rural areas as economic wastelands with little culture. He calls the state politically schizophrenic with Republicans living west of Des Moines and Democrats to the east. He describes rural areas as hotbeds for suicide and filled with the uneducated, the elderly and meth addicts. He calls the Mississippi River "commercially irrelevant" and describes cities along it as "some of the skuzziest" he'd ever seen.
Bloom, who is Jewish, complains that Iowans constantly talk about Jesus and hunting. "That's the place that may very well determine the next U.S. president," Bloom, a New Jersey native who came to Iowa in the early 1990s from San Francisco, concludes.
"The saddest part of all of this is he's a journalism professor for crying out loud!" added Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, a Republican. "This is a condescending piece that I'm ashamed to say was funded by my constituents' tax dollars."
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From "UI's Bloom criticized for article in Atlantic magazine" by Emily Schettler, Iowa City Press-Citizen 12/12/11
Throughout the piece, Bloom shares what he says he has learned through two decades of talking with and interviewing Iowans across the state; including their three hobbies: hunting, fishing and watching the Iowa Hawkeyes; its homogenous population that is “as white as the milk the millions of Holstein cows here produce,” and the makeup of its rural residents, who “are often the elderly waiting to die, those too timid to peer around the bend for better opportunities, an assortment of waste-oids and meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth...”
“It seems to be written by a liberal elitist snob who can’t see anything good about Iowa,” said Tim Hagle, an associate professor of political science at UI. “It’s sad that this is somebody who the Iowa taxpayers have been funding for some time.”
“...Today, Keokuk is a depressed, crime-infested slum town,” Bloom wrote. “Almost every other Mississippi river town is the same; they’re some of the skuzziest cities I’ve ever been to, and that’s saying something.”
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From "UI officials: Bloom doesn’t speak for the university" by Diane Heldt, The Gazette (Eastern Iowa) 12/14/11
. . . Bloom, a tenured professor of journalism and mass communication, has the right to express his opinion about any topic, [UI officials] said.
Days after “Observations from 20 Years of Iowa Life” first appeared Friday on the website of The Atlantic, reactions continued to consume Facebook news feeds, send bloggers to their keyboards and drive online discussions. It was the most-viewed story on the site for two days running.
It’s generated enough discussion and dissent that another roundup piece was posted, highlighting the conversation it has provoked, said Garance Franke-Ruta, senior editor at The Atlantic. The site also has received written response pieces, including some from Iowans, that editors are considering how to handle, she said.
“We don’t see his piece as the final word on this state or even our final word on this story,” said Franke-Ruta, the editor on the article.
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