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When I saw the title I thought this was going to be about Canada. Suicide rates are extremely high in some aboriginal communities; in Attawapiskat for example,

When I saw the title I thought this was going to be about Canada. Suicide rates are extremely high in some aboriginal communities; in Attawapiskat for example, 5% of the residents have attempted suicide in the past year. And I can't say that I really blame them. Attawapiskat is an extremely isolated community, with few jobs and no amenities. Kids growing up in Attawapiskat have nothing to look forward to. Those who leave the community have much lower rates of suicide, but given the memories of children being taken away from their families and forced into abusive residential schools, no politician in their right mind would dare to suggest that as an option. So they live out their lives in miserable isolation, waiting for their boredom to end; and some decide to speed along the process.

toyg 11y ago
> Attawapiskat is an extremely isolated community, with few jobs and no amenities. Thing is, like the towns in the post, these have always been "isolated communities with few jobs", but they used to be somewhat content. The difference is that they (like everyone else) are now bombarded with very powerful messages about rich and successful white people living in the Big City. They are basically getting constantly shamed for doing what their ancestors have done for generations. Those same powers of connectedness that can be so positive in certain cases (e.g. alienated small-town geeks finding accepting communities elsewhere) can often turn out to be trojan horses for cultural shaming.
- dopeboy 11y ago
  This is a very powerful point. The proliferation and ease of access to media has made it orders of magnitude easier to compare oneself against others. And it's not the "average" that make it into the media (usually) but the rich and successful as you mention. This is something I struggle with because a big reason why I've managed to do somewhat well in school and in my early career is because of being competitive and using comparison to fuel my work ethic. As an entrepreneur, I've come to realize I can't persist that mindset. There's always going to be people raising money and getting acquired. I have to filter that noise out and focus on building something that people want.
- cperciva 11y ago
  They used to have plenty of jobs -- hunting, trapping, preserving meat, making clothes out of animal hides, etc. To some extent, this should be a cautionary tale about the dangers of a universal basic income: Giving people enough money to prevent them from starving doesn't necessarily allow them to lead more meaningful lives.
ghettoCoder 11y ago
While there is some of what you mention going on my personal experience having lived many years in northern Ontario, had many native friends and acquaintances and seen many different bands (some call them reserves) is that many are successful with their own schools, police forces, businesses, and land rental to outside businesses and cottagers but you never hear about the successful ones cause they got their shit together. Only the disasters make the news. It's not necessarily an isolation issue. It's really a combination of despair in the young (they don't see a clear path to succeed in life while holding on to their identity), a cultural shift between the old holding on to past grievances and the young wanting to move on. And a serious lack of individual accountability from so-called adults. For example, First Nations have an astronomical rate of diabetes. The alcohol abuse stereotype, while not as prevalent as people think, is higher than in the general population. Band councils ban booze on their land but people smuggle it and others look the other way. As a people they are walking a knife's edge trying to live in a modern world while holding on their ancestral ways of self governance and cultural identity. I could write more about this but it would be off topic.

toyg 11y ago

> Attawapiskat is an extremely isolated community, with few jobs and no amenities. Thing is, like the towns in the post, these have always been "isolated communities with few jobs", but they used to be somewhat content. The difference is that they (like everyone else) are now bombarded with very powerful messages about rich and successful white people living in the Big City. They are basically getting constantly shamed for doing what their ancestors have done for generations. Those same powers of connectedness that can be so positive in certain cases (e.g. alienated small-town geeks finding accepting communities elsewhere) can often turn out to be trojan horses for cultural shaming.

dopeboy 11y ago
This is a very powerful point. The proliferation and ease of access to media has made it orders of magnitude easier to compare oneself against others. And it's not the "average" that make it into the media (usually) but the rich and successful as you mention. This is something I struggle with because a big reason why I've managed to do somewhat well in school and in my early career is because of being competitive and using comparison to fuel my work ethic. As an entrepreneur, I've come to realize I can't persist that mindset. There's always going to be people raising money and getting acquired. I have to filter that noise out and focus on building something that people want.
cperciva 11y ago
They used to have plenty of jobs -- hunting, trapping, preserving meat, making clothes out of animal hides, etc. To some extent, this should be a cautionary tale about the dangers of a universal basic income: Giving people enough money to prevent them from starving doesn't necessarily allow them to lead more meaningful lives.

ghettoCoder 11y ago

While there is some of what you mention going on my personal experience having lived many years in northern Ontario, had many native friends and acquaintances and seen many different bands (some call them reserves) is that many are successful with their own schools, police forces, businesses, and land rental to outside businesses and cottagers but you never hear about the successful ones cause they got their shit together. Only the disasters make the news. It's not necessarily an isolation issue. It's really a combination of despair in the young (they don't see a clear path to succeed in life while holding on to their identity), a cultural shift between the old holding on to past grievances and the young wanting to move on. And a serious lack of individual accountability from so-called adults. For example, First Nations have an astronomical rate of diabetes. The alcohol abuse stereotype, while not as prevalent as people think, is higher than in the general population. Band councils ban booze on their land but people smuggle it and others look the other way. As a people they are walking a knife's edge trying to live in a modern world while holding on their ancestral ways of self governance and cultural identity. I could write more about this but it would be off topic.