4 ms·

I think there's been a brain drain happening in a lot of red states in recent decades. The educated people who have the ability and will to leave often do, leav

I think there's been a brain drain happening in a lot of red states in recent decades. The educated people who have the ability and will to leave often do, leaving behind an increasingly ignorant population. It's coincidental that this same geographic region will be most affected by sea level rise, although nowhere on earth will be immune to the effects of climate change.

ataturk 8y ago
I have a hard time with so-called "educated" people. People who go to college fit into a bell curve of intelligence, the same as all human beings. Regardless of their education level, their true intelligence remains the same. Going to college does not make you more intelligent. It might make your more well-rounded, it definitely subjects you to Marxist indoctrination attempts. Generally, people tend to migrate to places where opportunities exist, regardless of education or intelligence. Currently, there is a huge outflow of people from California and NY, which are NOT red states. Rather, they are high-tax, high-cost-of-living states. I can't exactly understand which states you are talking about? Maybe Alabama? Red states such as Texas and North Dakota, where job opportunities are increasing, have seen inflows of all kinds of people. I'm not even sure who you think these "ignorant populations" are. Sure, there are ignorant rural people who fit into specific stereotypes, but the majority of the low information, "ignorant" live in big cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. These are the bluest of the blue areas! Rural poor people tend to be much more self-sufficient than urban poor, but both have many issues they must deal with in life.
creaghpatr 8y ago
Do you have any evidence for this claim?
- tartuffe78 8y ago
  His own smug sense of superiority should suffice.
  - thetrumanshow 8y ago
    I guess if you insult one commenter you get downvotes, but if you insult half of the population no one bats an eye?
    - wu_tang_chris 8y ago
      HN is a special place
- psychometry 8y ago
  Here are a couple articles I've found about MS and NE: 1. https://mississippitoday.org/2016/07/13/mississippi-brain-drain-impact-is-broad/ https://mississippitoday.org/2016/07/13/mississippi-brain-dr... 2. https://www.omaha.com/news/education/higher-education/nebraska-s-brain-drain-problem-why-do-young-educated-workers/article_418e8465-538a-557f-b1c5-ba27a351e8ad.html https://www.omaha.com/news/education/higher-education/nebras... College-educated workers want and need to live in more urban areas that have employers in future-forward industries. From a cultural aspect, I think these people also want to live in municipalities (up to state government) that are run by people that share their values. Among the educated, these values are increasingly progressive.
  - southern_cross 8y ago
    I can't speak for the rest of the state, but I can tell you for certain that northern Mississippi (and at least some parts just south of it) has generally been booming. In fact, the "Gold Rush" may have slowed down quite a bit by now, but for a while there it was hard to keep people from surrounding states from pulling up stakes and moving there, for various reasons. Wages are somewhat lower, true, but then so is the cost of living. And if you pick the right location, you can be within easy driving distance of a "more urban area" while still living "out in the country", if you want to.
mancerayder 8y ago
Funny, Florida is getting an influx of people exiting the Northeast due to the local tax cap changes of the current administration and our high prop and local taxes here. It's all over the press. Thus I'm skeptical. And "brain drains" refer to skilled employees leaving, not some intelligence or education level which you're implying.
- psychometry 8y ago
  "Skilled" work is increasingly correlated with educational attainment.
- lovich 8y ago
  I've always seen brain drain used to reference the educated leaving an area. Frequently calling out professors and other educators leaving as part of the brain drain
- gowld 8y ago
  Skilled employees have intelligence and education level.
gowld 8y ago
That has nothing do with why people want payouts from obviously disatrous externalities from pollutors.
aaronbrethorst 8y ago
For Republicans, there's a correlation between level of education and climate change denialism: Climate change divides Americans, but in an unlikely way: The more education that Democrats and Republicans have, the more their beliefs in climate change diverge. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climate-change-by-education.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climat...
supertrope 8y ago
It's mostly a flight to jobs in cities. A counterpoint is blue metro areas in red states (e.g. Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina)

ataturk 8y ago

I have a hard time with so-called "educated" people. People who go to college fit into a bell curve of intelligence, the same as all human beings. Regardless of their education level, their true intelligence remains the same. Going to college does not make you more intelligent. It might make your more well-rounded, it definitely subjects you to Marxist indoctrination attempts. Generally, people tend to migrate to places where opportunities exist, regardless of education or intelligence. Currently, there is a huge outflow of people from California and NY, which are NOT red states. Rather, they are high-tax, high-cost-of-living states. I can't exactly understand which states you are talking about? Maybe Alabama? Red states such as Texas and North Dakota, where job opportunities are increasing, have seen inflows of all kinds of people. I'm not even sure who you think these "ignorant populations" are. Sure, there are ignorant rural people who fit into specific stereotypes, but the majority of the low information, "ignorant" live in big cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. These are the bluest of the blue areas! Rural poor people tend to be much more self-sufficient than urban poor, but both have many issues they must deal with in life.

creaghpatr 8y ago

Do you have any evidence for this claim?

tartuffe78 8y ago
His own smug sense of superiority should suffice.
- thetrumanshow 8y ago
  I guess if you insult one commenter you get downvotes, but if you insult half of the population no one bats an eye?
  - wu_tang_chris 8y ago
    HN is a special place
psychometry 8y ago
Here are a couple articles I've found about MS and NE: 1. https://mississippitoday.org/2016/07/13/mississippi-brain-drain-impact-is-broad/ https://mississippitoday.org/2016/07/13/mississippi-brain-dr... 2. https://www.omaha.com/news/education/higher-education/nebraska-s-brain-drain-problem-why-do-young-educated-workers/article_418e8465-538a-557f-b1c5-ba27a351e8ad.html https://www.omaha.com/news/education/higher-education/nebras... College-educated workers want and need to live in more urban areas that have employers in future-forward industries. From a cultural aspect, I think these people also want to live in municipalities (up to state government) that are run by people that share their values. Among the educated, these values are increasingly progressive.
- southern_cross 8y ago
  I can't speak for the rest of the state, but I can tell you for certain that northern Mississippi (and at least some parts just south of it) has generally been booming. In fact, the "Gold Rush" may have slowed down quite a bit by now, but for a while there it was hard to keep people from surrounding states from pulling up stakes and moving there, for various reasons. Wages are somewhat lower, true, but then so is the cost of living. And if you pick the right location, you can be within easy driving distance of a "more urban area" while still living "out in the country", if you want to.

mancerayder 8y ago

Funny, Florida is getting an influx of people exiting the Northeast due to the local tax cap changes of the current administration and our high prop and local taxes here. It's all over the press. Thus I'm skeptical. And "brain drains" refer to skilled employees leaving, not some intelligence or education level which you're implying.

psychometry 8y ago
"Skilled" work is increasingly correlated with educational attainment.
lovich 8y ago
I've always seen brain drain used to reference the educated leaving an area. Frequently calling out professors and other educators leaving as part of the brain drain
gowld 8y ago
Skilled employees have intelligence and education level.

gowld 8y ago

That has nothing do with why people want payouts from obviously disatrous externalities from pollutors.

aaronbrethorst 8y ago

For Republicans, there's a correlation between level of education and climate change denialism: Climate change divides Americans, but in an unlikely way: The more education that Democrats and Republicans have, the more their beliefs in climate change diverge. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climate-change-by-education.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/14/upshot/climat...

supertrope 8y ago

It's mostly a flight to jobs in cities. A counterpoint is blue metro areas in red states (e.g. Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina)