I was denied admission to a PhD program because of my perceived political views
As someone who grew up in a strongly red area and with beliefs in that vein, I know EXACTLY the kind of exclusion that the author is talking about to a painful degree. For anyone who wants to experience it, walk into any Reddit discussion and tell everyone you're a devout Christian and watch the pseudo intellectuals exercise their "openness."And yes it's true I'm far from the most religious person there is, and I strongly believe in birth control, women's rights, on and on, I am constantly assumed to be some Bible-thumping redneck by anyone who doesn't know me. It also doesn't help that I regularly enjoy working with my hands, building things, fixing things, which mind you when it comes to many things to fix there's a great deal of intelligence required, but because it's not the fancy coastal intelligence that gets you six figure jobs I'm assumed to be an idiot.And then people wonder why Middle America has such a disdain for the cultures and intellectual achievement, after they've spent their entire learning lives being told how dumb they are by the snobs, most of whom can't even swap a tire for a donut without calling AAA.