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When Americans are motivated to move out of the small town they were born in, it's often because that "small town" is a dying and depopulated hollow shell full
by derefr 2y ago
When Americans are motivated to move out of the small town they were born in, it's often because that "small town" is a dying and depopulated hollow shell full of awful, racist, jobless, drug-addicted idiots who are mostly only surviving off of some kind of long-term disability insurance.
Often, with these kinds of places, they aren't a place your family has lived for generations, and nor are they a place you have the opportunity to form any good connections in; rather, they're somewhere your parents had to move to when they lost their jobs/went bankrupt/etc, and so could no longer afford to live anywhere with higher land values.
Everyone living in these places encourages anyone who has any potential at all, to get out as soon as they can.
- emchammer 2y agoNobody likes to be told that they are racist. Once you realize that land value and low airfares are just ways of changing the scenery on different time scales, you can start working the deeper problems.
- rayiner 2y ago[flagged]
- moosey 2y agoI love living in small towns. Truly, I do. I lived in towns ranging from 2k to 10k, and like 90% of it is great. But avoiding police is essential for people like me who even have slightly more melanin in their skin than the usual amount. There are certain stores I learn not to use, and I have to learn the locals too avoid in each one I live. The number of times that I'm treated well but that I'm somehow unique in my imagined racial group is unusually high. And I want to be clear, this isn't just in "white" communities in the Midwest, but other cultures/"races" too. I don't fit in with any because I fall into the mythical "mixed race" category. This is truly a sad social construct that I wish would die already, but yes, it's often part of the cultural nature of such places. Holding these beliefs often leads to people holding the view that their problems are caused by some external force that they can never overcome, and they end up trapped in places with low economic opportunity. So yes, racist. And I'm not limiting this to one race or culture. It's sadly a common part of the places where I most want to live and will never fit in.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rayiner 2y ago> have to learn the locals too avoid in each one I live. The number of times that I'm treated well but that I'm somehow unique in my imagined racial group is unusually high. What do you mean by this? Are you treated well or not?
- derefr 2y agoYes, racist. I took my (Asian) partner back with me to visit the small town I grew up in, and I could not believe some of the shit coming out of people's mouths when they saw her. Literally 1 in 5 people she talked to while we were there would do some sort of "funny" voice or ask her some real stupid shit; and 1 in 20 people we passed while walking around in the downtown area would shout slurs at her from across the street. And that's with me there walking with her—I can't even imagine what they'd be doing if she was there alone.
- llamaimperative 2y agoMy fav thing in the tech world are the “conservatives” who grew up in some of the bluest areas in the country (and benefitted from all affiliated things like excellent education and healthcare systems) then cast doubt on how bad small town red America is on these dimensions.
- rayiner 2y agoIs she one of those Asians who thinks it’s “racist” when people ask questions that merely acknowledge that Asians are highly likely to be immigrants or children of immigrants? Like: “where are you really from?” I find it impossible to believe that people are literally “yelling slurs” to anyone in street unprovoked. I look like a 9/11 hijacker and nobody has ever done that to me even walking around bumblefuck south Georgia.
- dyauspitr 2y agoSince you’re ethnically Bangladeshi, have you never had someone in the US be racist to you?
- rayiner 2y agoI have! Indians can tell I’m Bangladeshi and exclude me in just us desis” groups. And once I was riding in an elevator with an Arab family and they said something in Arabic about the “Bangladeshi” that I assume wasn’t very nice. The only time a white American ever said anything negative to me was a middle school bully, and I called him a pig-nosed pink pig in response. Both of us were just looking to get a rise out of the other, so in my estimation that’s not “racism.”
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]