3 ms·

Speaking as another former rust-belter: none of this is untrue, but you're speaking as though this anti-authoritarian and anti-education attitude materialized f

Speaking as another former rust-belter: none of this is untrue, but you're speaking as though this anti-authoritarian and anti-education attitude materialized from the ether, and it didn't. For decades the coastal cities have projected at every single turn in nearly every form of media (other than radio really, which is why it has such a strong presence in the rural areas) about how much better the coasts are, how much better the people are, and taken every single opportunity to thumb their nose at the social and community values that rural areas treasure. Combine that with the last 9 years or so, including the economic collapse and ensuing recovery that left any population center under several million basically to freeze and die, and the attitude of rural America is pretty easy to explain. You never gave a shit about what we had to say; why should we give a shit what you have to say now? That's not to say of course that I agree with this attitude. I'm just saying it gets really old to watch all my liberal friends scratching their heads like "Why don't they like us?" after you spent the last several decades pissing them off at every turn, like a college kid who just got their own apartment and doesn't have to live by Mom and Dad's rules anymore. And just like that sort of arrangement: the cities need the rural areas a hell of a lot more than the rural areas need the cities. So you know, keep that in mind.

icebraining 9y ago
I want to preface by saying that I'm not arguing against the need for coastal cities to treat rural populations better. "I don't need you therefore I can mistreat you" is a shitty position that I would never take. > And just like that sort of arrangement: the cities need the rural areas a hell of a lot more than the rural areas need the cities. They may need the rural areas, but do they really need the rural population? I assume you're talking about farms, for food, fuel, etc, but from what I understand, most of that is produced by big farms, using mostly immigrant workers (legal and otherwise)[1]; not necessarily "big corp", but still, a relatively small percentage of the population[2]. In fact, most small scale farmers earn more money from other occupations[3]. It's not clear to me that cities actually need the non-immigrant rural population. [1] https://www.voanews.com/a/us-farmers-depend-on-illegal-immigrants-100541644/162082.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-farmers-depend-on-illegal-immig... [2] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/big-farms-are-getting-bigger-and-most-small-farms-arent-really-farms-at-all/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/big-farms-are-getting-b... [3] http://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2017/01/importance-non-farm-rural-economy-farm-household-income/ http://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2017/01/importance-non-fa...

icebraining 9y ago

I want to preface by saying that I'm not arguing against the need for coastal cities to treat rural populations better. "I don't need you therefore I can mistreat you" is a shitty position that I would never take. > And just like that sort of arrangement: the cities need the rural areas a hell of a lot more than the rural areas need the cities. They may need the rural areas, but do they really need the rural population? I assume you're talking about farms, for food, fuel, etc, but from what I understand, most of that is produced by big farms, using mostly immigrant workers (legal and otherwise)[1]; not necessarily "big corp", but still, a relatively small percentage of the population[2]. In fact, most small scale farmers earn more money from other occupations[3]. It's not clear to me that cities actually need the non-immigrant rural population. [1] https://www.voanews.com/a/us-farmers-depend-on-illegal-immigrants-100541644/162082.html https://www.voanews.com/a/us-farmers-depend-on-illegal-immig... [2] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/big-farms-are-getting-bigger-and-most-small-farms-arent-really-farms-at-all/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/big-farms-are-getting-b... [3] http://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2017/01/importance-non-farm-rural-economy-farm-household-income/ http://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2017/01/importance-non-fa...