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I feel like you've never visited any rural area. I grew up in a rural area and most of the people I know from growing up ended up in a city at some point in th

I feel like you've never visited any rural area. I grew up in a rural area and most of the people I know from growing up ended up in a city at some point in their life because of the lack of opportunities in the rural area, but very few people fit the stereotype you're putting forth. The place I grew up was a farm town, and my family were also farmers, everybody in my family went to college even though we weren't well-off, and that's true for most other farm families. Farming these days is actually strongly technology-focused, and people go specifically to college for agricultural studies to learn how to cost effectively and sustainably operate their farms. I'm the odd one out in my extended family because I moved far away and went into the tech industry. I would strongly challenge your belief that rural people are uneducated and unintelligent, it's mostly the exact opposite. Many of the rural people have skills and knowledge far beyond what the average person in the city does, because they have to do more things for themselves in their day to day life. City life is mostly about specialization and formalized/structured job roles and living. Rural life is about doing whatever is necessary to succeed and moving things forward one more day. The average farmer has a strong understanding of multiple trade skills (plumbing, hydraulics, welding, mechanics), as well as at least a basic understanding of mechanical & civil engineering, at least a basic understanding of biology, and at least a basic understanding of electrical systems. The only thing you really get right here is about the economics of the situation. Rural areas experience brain drain and are shrinking over generations, part of that is due to increase mechanization and automation in farming which reduces the need for farm labor and creates drive for the children of farmers to go into other fields. The lack of employment and economic opportunity is real, and it is something to give due consideration before deciding to move to a rural area. But it's not because people there are stupid, uneducated, or whatever stereotype that comes to mind. And, on the note of politics, most rural people are more Libertarian than Conservative. They frankly don't care what you do as long as you leave them alone and stay off their land unless you're invited. In my life I've had FAR FAR more negative interactions with other people trying to enforce their beliefs on me in the city than I ever have growing up in a rural area, and at this point in my life I have roughly 20 years of experience in both situations. A basic, simple, and common example is how HOAs operate vs how local politics works in rural areas. I would not describe rural people as Conservative, and I don't know how you'd want to politically describe most city people (Liberal seems inaccurate), but city people are generally busybodies and expect everyone to conform, rural folks don't care what happens on someone else's property.

xyzzy21 5y ago
Can't upvote this enough. Dead-nuts on point.
TulliusCicero 5y ago
> very few people fit the stereotype you're putting forth Pretty sure everything they said can be verified by data. But of course those are averages and generalizations, it's not that every single person in a rural area is a white straight Christian conservative, just like not every single person in a big city is a non-white LGBT atheist progressive. But you will find more people with the former traits in rural areas, and more people with the latter traits in urban ones. Like if you just looked at the list: > Rural communities are often more religious, more conservative, lower income, lower educated, and have a lot less access to opportunity. Cities also mean that there's often a critical mass for many interests and minority groups. Are you LGBT? Are you a religious or racial minority? Do you have hobbies that might be more unique? Cities have the critical mass for so many groups of people. What part of that is wrong? Yes, you can find some rural areas that buck the trend, but overall you're likely to run into these issues. Just like there are some issues more common in big cities: more expensive, more traffic, lines everywhere, people being ruder/indifferent, etc.
TulliusCicero 5y ago
> I would strongly challenge your belief that rural people are uneducated and unintelligent, it's mostly the exact opposite. Please don't twist someone's words or strawman their position here. They never said rural people are uneducated, but rather less educated, which can be verified with data -- as they clearly meant formal education (high school, college, etc.). And they definitely didn't say unintelligent. I would say I don't know where you got that from what they wrote, but I have a pretty good idea. > And, on the note of politics, most rural people are more Libertarian than Conservative. What we know from data is that people in rural areas tend to identify more as conservatives and vote for the more conservative party (in the US, the GOP).
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  > What we know from data is that people in rural areas tend to identify more as conservatives and vote for the more conservative party (in the US, the GOP). That's because there are very few viable candidates who run as Libertarians. GP is right about the sentiment, though.

xyzzy21 5y ago

Can't upvote this enough. Dead-nuts on point.

TulliusCicero 5y ago

> very few people fit the stereotype you're putting forth Pretty sure everything they said can be verified by data. But of course those are averages and generalizations, it's not that every single person in a rural area is a white straight Christian conservative, just like not every single person in a big city is a non-white LGBT atheist progressive. But you will find more people with the former traits in rural areas, and more people with the latter traits in urban ones. Like if you just looked at the list: > Rural communities are often more religious, more conservative, lower income, lower educated, and have a lot less access to opportunity. Cities also mean that there's often a critical mass for many interests and minority groups. Are you LGBT? Are you a religious or racial minority? Do you have hobbies that might be more unique? Cities have the critical mass for so many groups of people. What part of that is wrong? Yes, you can find some rural areas that buck the trend, but overall you're likely to run into these issues. Just like there are some issues more common in big cities: more expensive, more traffic, lines everywhere, people being ruder/indifferent, etc.

TulliusCicero 5y ago

> I would strongly challenge your belief that rural people are uneducated and unintelligent, it's mostly the exact opposite. Please don't twist someone's words or strawman their position here. They never said rural people are uneducated, but rather less educated, which can be verified with data -- as they clearly meant formal education (high school, college, etc.). And they definitely didn't say unintelligent. I would say I don't know where you got that from what they wrote, but I have a pretty good idea. > And, on the note of politics, most rural people are more Libertarian than Conservative. What we know from data is that people in rural areas tend to identify more as conservatives and vote for the more conservative party (in the US, the GOP).

throwawayboise 5y ago
> What we know from data is that people in rural areas tend to identify more as conservatives and vote for the more conservative party (in the US, the GOP). That's because there are very few viable candidates who run as Libertarians. GP is right about the sentiment, though.