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SF has some crappy stuff, but putting up rural America as an example of how things are good is quite a take. Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and o

by mdasen 3y ago

SF has some crappy stuff, but putting up rural America as an example of how things are good is quite a take. Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and outright Nazism are taking over a huge portion of rural America. A huge portion of rural America supported a coup. Usually when people talk about leaving cities, it's because of the cost of living in many cities. Plus, are people leaving cities? Click on Population Change at https://mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov/arcgis/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=2566121a73de463995ed2b2fd7ff6eb7 https://mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov/arcgis/apps/MapSeries/in... and zoom a bit. Rural America is emptying out. It's one of the reasons that services like hospitals are becoming harder to support. The counties containing Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina have grown by 25% and 21% while rural northeastern North Carolina is seeing double-digit declines. In Georgia, the Atlanta and Savannah metro areas are growing and there's a lot of decline in rural areas. You might not like cities, but it's rural areas that people are leaving and it's rural areas that are failing.

DiggyJohnson 3y ago
> Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and outright Nazism are taking over a huge portion of rural America. This is a massive mischaracterization. Do you have first-hand experience with these people? I specifically have an issue with your phrasing: "taking over". It may be more common, relatively, to find this sort of thing in rural areas, but that does not mean it's taking over.
bscphil 3y ago
> Rural America is emptying out. Rural America, in the sense that the OP meant it - "It is just a lot of physical work and being in the sun" - effectively no longer exists. "Rural America" is largely a term used by people who live in cities for people who don't live in cities, but the latter are by and large not "rural" by historical standards. If you fly over the midwest, what you will see in terms of land use is a large amount of farmland broken up by enormous neighborhood networks and mid-size cities. People who live here are largely not working on farms. They are commuting to office jobs, service work, or gig economy positions. They don't walk anywhere, so they're not "in the sun"; even getting to the grocery store or a friend who lives nearby is practically untenable without a car. They certainly aren't living off the land. "Rural" America is basically the leftovers of farmland, and in many locations it's actively being partitioned into subdivisions. I lived more than half my life to this point in a "rural" area, but for me this meant ~5 unfarmable acres. Virtually everyone else I knew lived in a neighborhood (isolated from other neighborhoods by miles of driving). This lifestyle isn't the idyllic thing it's made out to be. > Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and outright Nazism I don't think I'd point to rural areas specifically as the source of this problem. Instead, I'd point to the "Orange-County-ification" of the US. The heat centers for the problems you're talking about are relatively wealthy subdivisions full of people who can afford F150s that they don't need and keep small arsenals in their basements. Think people like the McCloskeys in suburban St. Louis: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53481537 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53481537 As for racism - part of the truth of the "crime problem" in cities is the fact that huge segments of their populations are effectively a permanent underclass living in poverty or near-poverty.
- baremetal 3y ago
  You are correct there are very few people living on small farms. Most people in rural areas live in small towns, are very poor, and yes transportation is an issue. Many should and do move to cities to find more opportunity. Why is your land unfarmable? Is it dry land?

by mdasen 3y ago

DiggyJohnson 3y ago

> Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and outright Nazism are taking over a huge portion of rural America. This is a massive mischaracterization. Do you have first-hand experience with these people? I specifically have an issue with your phrasing: "taking over". It may be more common, relatively, to find this sort of thing in rural areas, but that does not mean it's taking over.

bscphil 3y ago

> Rural America is emptying out. Rural America, in the sense that the OP meant it - "It is just a lot of physical work and being in the sun" - effectively no longer exists. "Rural America" is largely a term used by people who live in cities for people who don't live in cities, but the latter are by and large not "rural" by historical standards. If you fly over the midwest, what you will see in terms of land use is a large amount of farmland broken up by enormous neighborhood networks and mid-size cities. People who live here are largely not working on farms. They are commuting to office jobs, service work, or gig economy positions. They don't walk anywhere, so they're not "in the sun"; even getting to the grocery store or a friend who lives nearby is practically untenable without a car. They certainly aren't living off the land. "Rural" America is basically the leftovers of farmland, and in many locations it's actively being partitioned into subdivisions. I lived more than half my life to this point in a "rural" area, but for me this meant ~5 unfarmable acres. Virtually everyone else I knew lived in a neighborhood (isolated from other neighborhoods by miles of driving). This lifestyle isn't the idyllic thing it's made out to be. > Religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, and outright Nazism I don't think I'd point to rural areas specifically as the source of this problem. Instead, I'd point to the "Orange-County-ification" of the US. The heat centers for the problems you're talking about are relatively wealthy subdivisions full of people who can afford F150s that they don't need and keep small arsenals in their basements. Think people like the McCloskeys in suburban St. Louis: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53481537 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53481537 As for racism - part of the truth of the "crime problem" in cities is the fact that huge segments of their populations are effectively a permanent underclass living in poverty or near-poverty.

baremetal 3y ago
You are correct there are very few people living on small farms. Most people in rural areas live in small towns, are very poor, and yes transportation is an issue. Many should and do move to cities to find more opportunity. Why is your land unfarmable? Is it dry land?