What's the Matter with Kansas?

[Witsec7]

A great documentary from 2009 that looks at contemporary conservative Kansas as well as the socialist roots of the state. It is filmed during the 2008 elections. I definitely recommend it, free on Hulu.

 

Has any one here seen the film?

 

edited to add: One of the individuals in the film is a SODRT girl, who goes off to Patrick Henry, a small segment is film at PH. Mom brags on camera that PH has more interns working in the White House than Harvard...

 

You go get to see inside shots of the Creation Museum This pretty much provided the sum total of the film's humor. Within the CM there is one shot of a female robotic that, I swear has Jingers eyes and hair. I almost spewed I was laughing so hard.

 

If you are looking for the radical history of Kansas in this film you won't find it here. If you want to learn about some of it including the Populist movement this film gives you good jumping off points.

 

It's well filmed and edited.

[kb2]

One recording in the Creation Museum says, "Over half of all women in the United States have had sex outside of marriage." I can only assume they mean that most women are lesbians since men weren't mentioned at all.

[mama_bear]

I haven't seen but I'll look for it-Kansas is my home state but I don't know much about the rise of conservatism there. I can say that the state is NOT all flat and that I do find a great deal of beauty in the state even Western Kansas (which looks exactly like Eastern Colorado but you don't hear people griping about driving across that!).

[Seven Severn]

I've had the book for years, but I've never read it because I know I'll just seethe. I love my home state and, like mama_bear said, it is beautiful and there's a lot to recommend it.

Crawford County was the seat of the Socialist movement in Kansas with The Appeal to Reason being published in Girard. In 1980 the unexpurgated version of The Jungle was found moldering in a Girard basement (Upton Sinclair always said that he didn't censor anything from the work). It was published in hardback in the late '80s. (Found a link: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/22/books ... all&src=pm)

Growing up in Kansas I never heard about our radical history. The old people didn't talk about it and it was all hushed up and buried. Anyone born after the '30s had no knowledge of what really went on.

[FakePigtails]

Ooh I'll have to check that out! I tried reading the book but it was a bit dense for my mood at the time, not to mention depressing so I didn't get far (I keep doing that but at least it's with library books so I'm only paying my inevitable late fees :oops: ).

[Witsec7]

I've had the book for years, but I've never read it because I know I'll just seethe. I love my home state and, like mama_bear said, it is beautiful and there's a lot to recommend it.

Crawford County was the seat of the Socialist movement in Kansas with The Appeal to Reason being published in Girard. In 1980 the unexpurgated version of The Jungle was found moldering in a Girard basement (Upton Sinclair always said that he didn't censor anything from the work). It was published in hardback in the late '80s. (Found a link: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/22/books ... all&src=pm)

Growing up in Kansas I never heard about our radical history. The old people didn't talk about it and it was all hushed up and buried. Anyone born after the '30s had no knowledge of what really went on.

The film has an excellent segment on The Appeal to Reason and Girard. I actually have some of the tiny books/pamphlets published there, Night in the Reading Gaol, a tract by Debs.

I appreciate the link to the info on The Jungle, I always say it's the story of my family and their immigration to America.