3 ms·

Having lived all over the US, I believe that small homogenous rural towns are the most empathetic/friendly places available. The human brain didn't evolved to f

by wyager 9y ago

Having lived all over the US, I believe that small homogenous rural towns are the most empathetic/friendly places available. The human brain didn't evolved to form strong, productive social bonds in the presence of millions of people. It seems to wear on people after a while. Whenever I visit little towns in ID/MT/WY/TX I always smile at how nice people are. Unfortunately, those small towns are intellectually understimulating, so you either have to be selective or invent some kind of city I haven't come across yet. The closest I've seen to a friendly large city is actually Hanoi. Maybe the secret sauce is just homogeneity, and small towns are partially just nicer because they're usually more homogenous.

Broken_Hippo 9y ago
Small, homogenous rural towns aren't so bad if you fit into the culture that is there. You'll always be an outsider, but it'll go well enough. It'll be a bit harder if you seem like an outsider, but if you are normal enough, this'll pass. Lots of folks will act friendly to you in the meantime. However, if you are weird or alternative enough? Perhaps you aren't keen on religion? Or something similar? Yeah, these places can get pretty lonely and some of those folks don't extend their kindness to you... unless someone will see them.
- TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
  This is true, but I don't see it as a bad thing. Any community with a solid social structure has a homogeneous culture. This makes communication and social expectations among everyone a lot easier to predict. I think part of the reason bigger cities fail to form a sense of community is because of a lack of a common, positive culture. I think in an attempt to make abnormal people feel comfortable, we've ostracized the majority of normal people in the process.
- wyager 9y ago
  This is true, but what has the higher net social utility: a system that treats the 1% of social deviants equally at the expense of a loss of social cohesion, or a system that treats the 1% of social deviants poorly while maintaining a friendly social environment for the 99%? The answer isn't immediately obvious, and depends on what degree of deviance the local culture will tolerate, so I could see it going either way. However, I do think the concern is a bit overstated; especially in northern towns, the primary cultural identity shared by the inhabitants would most accurately be described as "outdoorsman" rather than any religious or ethnic affiliation. There's more to it than that, but overall it was pretty accessible as long as you were willing to adapt.

by wyager 9y ago

Broken_Hippo 9y ago

Small, homogenous rural towns aren't so bad if you fit into the culture that is there. You'll always be an outsider, but it'll go well enough. It'll be a bit harder if you seem like an outsider, but if you are normal enough, this'll pass. Lots of folks will act friendly to you in the meantime. However, if you are weird or alternative enough? Perhaps you aren't keen on religion? Or something similar? Yeah, these places can get pretty lonely and some of those folks don't extend their kindness to you... unless someone will see them.

TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
This is true, but I don't see it as a bad thing. Any community with a solid social structure has a homogeneous culture. This makes communication and social expectations among everyone a lot easier to predict. I think part of the reason bigger cities fail to form a sense of community is because of a lack of a common, positive culture. I think in an attempt to make abnormal people feel comfortable, we've ostracized the majority of normal people in the process.
wyager 9y ago
This is true, but what has the higher net social utility: a system that treats the 1% of social deviants equally at the expense of a loss of social cohesion, or a system that treats the 1% of social deviants poorly while maintaining a friendly social environment for the 99%? The answer isn't immediately obvious, and depends on what degree of deviance the local culture will tolerate, so I could see it going either way. However, I do think the concern is a bit overstated; especially in northern towns, the primary cultural identity shared by the inhabitants would most accurately be described as "outdoorsman" rather than any religious or ethnic affiliation. There's more to it than that, but overall it was pretty accessible as long as you were willing to adapt.