3 ms·

When posters from rural areas complain about "coastal elites" (often a dogwhistle for PoC) stealing from their hard-earned living via taxes, this is one of the

by bsanr2 6y ago

When posters from rural areas complain about "coastal elites" (often a dogwhistle for PoC) stealing from their hard-earned living via taxes, this is one of the things that flashes through my mind. So many - SO many - of America's small towns cannot sustain themselves through honest business and labor. https://texasmonitor.org/in-small-town-texas-speeding-drivers-keep-the-lights-on-at-city-hall/ https://texasmonitor.org/in-small-town-texas-speeding-driver... These are the people who erase the visceral horror of slavery from textbooks, who detest cosmopolitanism, who advise hard-up city-dwellers to simply "move to where the jobs are" (nevermind that they denigrate immigrants). But god forbid you suggest that these small towns aren't solvent, can never be so, that they have to move. That the future for America is a progressive urbanism with higher population density (and the advances in public infrastructure policy that will have to come with it). That's socialism. But dragging travelers out of their cars for a protection bribe (if you're lucky enough not to get Sandra Bland-ed) is a-ok. /s

chordalkeyboard 6y ago
> When posters from rural areas complain about "coastal elites" (often a dogwhistle for PoC) Coastal elites are wealthy, educated, mostly white liberal/progressive members of the professional managerial class who think they know how everyone else should live. > So many - SO many - of America's small towns cannot sustain themselves through honest business and labor. Thats because tax-and-spend policies crowd the rural populace out of markets. > who advise hard-up city-dwellers to simply "move to where the jobs are" (nevermind that they denigrate immigrants) You forgot "illegal" in front of "immigrants" > But god forbid you suggest that these small towns aren't solvent, can never be so The crowded urban spaces you prefer are largely dependent on rural areas for their food. > That the future for America is a progressive urbanism with higher population density (and the advances in public infrastructure policy that will have to come with it). That's socialism. Its weird that you conflate forcing people to live in 3m^3 tubes like the Japanese and high tax rates on capital. They don't have to go together, do they? > But dragging travelers out of their cars for a protection bribe (if you're lucky enough not to get Sandra Bland-ed) is a-ok. /s These same rural people don't approve of the extortion but when you have a system where the government decides what people pay they don't have any recourse.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  > The crowded urban spaces you prefer are largely dependent on rural areas for their food. Most farming in the US is done by the same kind of bigcorp groups that do everything else, with a tiny number of well-educated employees mixed with mass seasonal agricultural labor (who usually aren't even citizens in the first place). It happens in rural locations because that's where land is cheap, not because it's actually being primarily operated by some idealized urban farmer.
  - chordalkeyboard 6y ago
    > Most farming in the US is done by the same kind of bigcorp groups that do everything else, with a tiny number of well-educated employees mixed with mass seasonal agricultural labor (who usually aren't even citizens in the first place). It depends on how you measure "most" but a lot of food is produced on farms owned by large agriculture companies. The food is grown by farmers who live in the rural areas. The farming itself doesn't occur in a vacuum, the entire economy of the rural area is mostly built around supporting the farming activity. > tiny number of well-educated employees Some have a b.s. in agriculture. I'm not sure what you mean by "tiny number" except that there are a lot of non-farmers living like sardines in urban areas. > It happens in rural locations because that's where land is cheap, not because it's actually being primarily operated by some idealized urban farmer. I'm not sure this is relevant, the cities where people live on welfare or develop marketing programs from cubicles are dependent on people in rural areas growing their food.
- craftinator 6y ago
  You know, I've never actually understood the phrase "pig-headed" before. You, sir, are full of shit.
  - dang 6y ago
    I understand how frustrating internet comments can be, but no one is allowed to post like this here, so please don't. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful. Edit: we've had to warn you many times and you've been posting like this a lot lately. If it continues we're going to have to ban you, so please stop it.

by bsanr2 6y ago

chordalkeyboard 6y ago

> When posters from rural areas complain about "coastal elites" (often a dogwhistle for PoC) Coastal elites are wealthy, educated, mostly white liberal/progressive members of the professional managerial class who think they know how everyone else should live. > So many - SO many - of America's small towns cannot sustain themselves through honest business and labor. Thats because tax-and-spend policies crowd the rural populace out of markets. > who advise hard-up city-dwellers to simply "move to where the jobs are" (nevermind that they denigrate immigrants) You forgot "illegal" in front of "immigrants" > But god forbid you suggest that these small towns aren't solvent, can never be so The crowded urban spaces you prefer are largely dependent on rural areas for their food. > That the future for America is a progressive urbanism with higher population density (and the advances in public infrastructure policy that will have to come with it). That's socialism. Its weird that you conflate forcing people to live in 3m^3 tubes like the Japanese and high tax rates on capital. They don't have to go together, do they? > But dragging travelers out of their cars for a protection bribe (if you're lucky enough not to get Sandra Bland-ed) is a-ok. /s These same rural people don't approve of the extortion but when you have a system where the government decides what people pay they don't have any recourse.

crooked-v 6y ago
> The crowded urban spaces you prefer are largely dependent on rural areas for their food. Most farming in the US is done by the same kind of bigcorp groups that do everything else, with a tiny number of well-educated employees mixed with mass seasonal agricultural labor (who usually aren't even citizens in the first place). It happens in rural locations because that's where land is cheap, not because it's actually being primarily operated by some idealized urban farmer.
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago
  > Most farming in the US is done by the same kind of bigcorp groups that do everything else, with a tiny number of well-educated employees mixed with mass seasonal agricultural labor (who usually aren't even citizens in the first place). It depends on how you measure "most" but a lot of food is produced on farms owned by large agriculture companies. The food is grown by farmers who live in the rural areas. The farming itself doesn't occur in a vacuum, the entire economy of the rural area is mostly built around supporting the farming activity. > tiny number of well-educated employees Some have a b.s. in agriculture. I'm not sure what you mean by "tiny number" except that there are a lot of non-farmers living like sardines in urban areas. > It happens in rural locations because that's where land is cheap, not because it's actually being primarily operated by some idealized urban farmer. I'm not sure this is relevant, the cities where people live on welfare or develop marketing programs from cubicles are dependent on people in rural areas growing their food.
craftinator 6y ago
You know, I've never actually understood the phrase "pig-headed" before. You, sir, are full of shit.
- dang 6y ago
  I understand how frustrating internet comments can be, but no one is allowed to post like this here, so please don't. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules when posting here, we'd be grateful. Edit: we've had to warn you many times and you've been posting like this a lot lately. If it continues we're going to have to ban you, so please stop it.