For those interested in American politics and the current state of American culture, I think this is well worth a read. It gives us insight into some of the attitudes found in rural america; scarily conservative and quite violently resistant to any kind of outside influence. The writer explains how, in these small rural towns, people cling to what they see as traditional values and attitudes that they reject all other opinions carte blanche, even to the extent that they refuse to accept the blindingly obvious. I find it puzzling that, in this information age, people cling to ideas that they must know deep down to be untrue.