Rural people are bad and make bad decisions

Yeah it is like that here also... I live in a city. People generally are only interested in themselves and their smartphones. But only 20 miles away, small communities, there people smile more and might even say hello if you pass them by. Much "warmer" feeling in rural areas.

Rural America would be an awesome thing to experience. There must be down to earth, cool people. Someone might even have a rifle, that i could borrow for target practice. I miss that from my army days. It is almost like meditation. Only the man, the gun, and the target, everything else is gone for a while from this world.

originally posted by: Zelun
a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

Often times Rural people have their own well, so do not require municipal water. Weird that you think they put pipes out to all of the farms making food, but whatever. Very Starcraft of you. Property taxes pay for road plowing, I know many rural people who consider paying taxes as patriotic. It helps everyone. That's not to say they want to pay more to help urban people, and why should they? The taxes they pay should directly benefit them, and ease them from having to arrange similar services at a higher cost. What does that have to do with paying for inner city abortions? So do you see the disconnect?

I'll chime in on the utility aspect of the post.

Yes, most people that don't know what it takes to build a home, especially those from the city, have no idea.

Frame of reference for me. I'm in the city limits of a small town(9K people) about 40 miles from my states capital city. While a mile down the road there is city services, where I am(although only a few acre "city" lot, pretty small around here) I have private sewer and water. The only thing the "city" provides is road upkeep(plowing and asphalt repair). Whomever built this home(not me) paid probably around 10K for sewer, another 3K for a private well. Direct out of pocket for the homeowner(builder). My brother built on 10 acres about 4 miles away and for power/gas he had to pay, out of pocket, to get lines run from the county road(electric alone, like 400 feet, was several thousands).

I pay high taxes, get nothing and no doubt my taxes subsidize the stupidity of my state(they put a 3 million dollar "art" piece on the ceiling of the local state capital a few weeks back).

When it comes to "getting screwed" it surely isn't the city dweller in the local megacity that is "paying too much" to subsidize those stupid rural folks(that often times have to shoulder the ENTIRE burden of building their home).

originally posted by: MisterSpock
a reply to: okrian

Haven't seen you around lately.........

It was kind of nice....

I'm even noticed? You are too kind. I enjoy the folks of ATS, no matter the affiliation.

In all truth, I have a split love of city and middle-of-nowhere. I feel lucky to have grown up camping, hiking, knowing the land and how to navigate it. I wouldn't trade that, or the beauty of it, for anything.

I know we are referencing the left of the city vs the right of the rural. But these worlds aren't so black and white. I say this as a vegan who is far to the left of the centrist democrats, who also works on old cars, loves me some old country music, and will smoke a cigarette at the end of the night on a porch looking out into the fireflies.

All this push for polarization... all the time. Ugh.

As an internet expert on intelligence and city folk, I think I can safely expand on this topic.


City folks live in tiny boxes stacked on top of each other called "apartments" but they aren't really "apart" at all. If they want to pay more, they call them "condos".
If they drive, they have to rent tiny apartments for their cars.
The commute to work isn't measured in miles, but in hours.

This is what they consider higher intelligence.

Plus, they tend to wear scarves in the summer. Science still doesn't know why.

originally posted by: okrian

originally posted by: MisterSpock
a reply to: okrian

Haven't seen you around lately.........

It was kind of nice....

I'm even noticed? You are too kind. I enjoy the folks of ATS, no matter the affiliation.

In all truth, I have a split love of city and middle-of-nowhere. I feel lucky to have grown up camping, hiking, knowing the land and how to navigate it. I wouldn't trade that, or the beauty of it, for anything.

I know we are referencing the left of the city vs the right of the rural. But these worlds aren't so black and white. I say this as a vegan who is far to the left of the centrist democrats, who also works on old cars, loves me some old country music, and will smoke a cigarette at the end of the night on a porch looking out into the fireflies.

All this push for polarization... all the time. Ugh.

I'm a visual person and your avatar pic always stuck out.

Not so much because of what you say, which I do often disagree with, but more so because your avatar is a bit weird. You look like you have serious back issues in it, I understand it's likely the angle of the pick, because your back can't be that bad(you got up on that rock for the pic afterall).

I'm obviously rambling....

a reply to: DBCowboy

"As an internet expert"

I stopped right there.

Just because you sit around in soiled underwear and have that outlandishly old keyboard, that doesn't make you a net expert.

You should start a gofundme for some new briefs and a board that has a USB plug on the end of it(like most have had, since the late 90's).

a reply to: MisterSpock

I'm retro, and often ironic, like a hipster.




If I could find my hips.

Bezerkley?

Not far from SF where they use the side walk as a toilet. Im sure they do in Berkley too

originally posted by: visitedbythem
Bezerkley?

Not far from SF where they use the side walk as a toilet. Im sure they do in Berkley too

I wish I was a professor at such a fine institute of learning.

That way, every day, as I walked to work and saw those hollowed words on some random dirt plaque. I could nod in a agreement that all my rambling lunacy somehow carried "weight" with people far less "stupdier" than I.

"I'm a professor at a university...."

*sips warm brand and cups a delicious taco fart into my hand as I thrust it into my face as I bask in it's glory*

a reply to: MisterSpock

Quoting for the paucity of truth:

When it comes to "getting screwed" it surely isn't the city dweller in the local megacity that is "paying too much" to subsidize those stupid rural folks(that often times have to shoulder the ENTIRE burden of building their home).

a reply to: MisterSpock

...hallowed words...

Not to be pedantic, but also overly pedantic.

To be fair, a Berkeley professor is much more in touch with the multicultural nature of the US.

I'm sure he knows a lot more people in the "marginalized" communities than I do.

I'm sure he is friends with many that I'm not.

The lower class illegal immigrants(forced to hide in the shadows of slavery) that cut his lawn, watch his children(doubtful he has any, because global warming) and all those friendly faces he sees at those multicultural food carts at lunch.

I'm sure it makes him feel like a champion of the lower class, around here we'd just call them indentured servitude or a "slave" class. Because once outside the mega#ies, they would actually be treated fairly and be "granted" an equal lifestyle as any other hard working american.

What a guy though....

a reply to: MisterSpock

Yeah. It's like we had a War that lots of people died fighting to ensure that slavery is not a valid form of commerce in our system, and then slowly but surely slavery kept eeking itself back in; as if people don't give a # about labels placed upon their wage-making efforts. As if individual workers can decide what their work is worth, and negotiate that value. As if people now understand that doing nothing is worthless. It's as if people now understand that work is a commodity to be traded, and the quality and quantity of that work is somehow a sort of, I don't know, a commodity? Something you, and only you can control? And that others value, and will buy?

I don't know what I'm saying. Reading back, it seems like slave uprisings were the first chapter of a new economy. Flame on.

originally posted by: Zelun
a reply to: MisterSpock

Yeah. It's like we had a War that lots of people died fighting to ensure that slavery is not a valid form of commerce in our system, and then slowly but surely slavery kept eeking itself back in; as if people don't give a # about labels placed upon their wage-making efforts. As if individual workers can decide what their work is worth, and negotiate that value. As if people now understand that doing nothing is worthless. It's as if people now understand that work is a commodity to be traded, and the quality and quantity of that work is somehow a sort of, I don't know, a commodity? Something you, and only you can control? And that others value, and will buy?

I don't know what I'm saying. Reading back, it seems like slave uprisings were the first chapter of a new economy. Flame on.

It's okay though, because at some point we will "set them free" and give them all the rights of any other citizen....

Just after they "work off" the deficit. Like black slaves, but not like black slaves, because they are mexican.... or something.

I've lived in the country for most of my life. There have been several times I would bring people who thought they were rural to visit and they would quickly discover how citified they really are.

Yes, we have long distances between homes. That's why we have an electric co-op. We also tend to get short blinks in the power... vast majority under 5 minutes, very rare when they go over two hours. You learn to live with it. We have coal-oil (kerosene) lamps for the longer outages and plenty of candles. Power goes off at night, I flick a bic, we get the lamps out and light them, and we do something entertaining until the power comes back on. No problem.

In 2011, this whole area was hit with a wave of "super-tornadoes." They erased entire communities, devastated a great deal of the county, took out not one, but two power plants, and plunged us all into a week of darkness. I needed my cell phone working since the phone lines were sporadic at best, so I found a couple of old inverters and put them together into one working one. I charged my phone up and told the neighbors; they brought all their phones over to be charged. After a couple of days, my neighbor went around collecting meats from freezers and cooking them in a wood-burning oven he had so they wouldn't go to waste as they thawed. The whole neighborhood ate great for several days.

He also needed his freezer cooled down, so he got hold of a friend of his who had a portable generator. We had gas for it because a store owner used it for his pumps and in return supplied enough gas for it. My friend cooled his freezer down, but he also wanted to run his well long enough for a shower and the plugs didn't fit. I hot-wired the plugs for him and in return I got my freezer cooled down and a nice hot shower.

Now compare that with what happened in the city an hour away: people were getting into fist fights waiting to get gas from the few stations that had generators. Stores were looted; the police had to enforce a curfew (why people would steal TVs with no power to run them is beyond me). People were going hungry because there was no food and no stores to buy it from, and if there was a store open no one could take plastic money.

A week later when the power came back on, the city was a riot in action as people rushed to every store and bought everything they could. Brawls broke out over cans of food on an otherwise empty shelf. Here, we all looked up in surprise, thanked God and the power co-op for the lights, and went about our business.

Our roads are worse than anywhere near the cities, because the county has to pave more per person and they get torn up faster by all those evil grain trucks bringing food to the enlightened city slickers. That's OK; we know how to drive them. If they ice over, we just don't drive until they warm up. If we have to get somewhere in ice, someone around has a tractor... slow, but it is what it is.

That's the difference. That is what separates us from the city. We will survive when the city becomes a remake of "Dawn of the Dead." No, we will do more than survive; we will thrive. For years I have watched slickers come out here thinking they had what it took; over 90% go running back to their city life within a few months. The few that remain become part of the community. We have no crime, unless someone wants to call taking care of the would-be occasional criminals a crime. My kids could play outside on several acres of unspoiled land and we didn't worry. If they had a problem, someone would see them and let us know. We all watch out for each other.

I lived in the city for a few years; didn't like it. Too many predators always trying to take something from you... government trying to take money by enacting regulations on how high the grass can be, how fancy your home must be, how loud you can play your radio, etc; thieves running around like a pack of wild dogs, with the exception that you can shoot wild dogs out here; scam artists trying to scare you into giving up money at every turn. We have predators here too, but if they show up, you shoot them... the rest get the idea and leave you alone. It saves on ammo.

We don't need a grocery store to eat. We can raise a big garden and I have chickens running loose in the yard... eggs all the time! We give some away when we get too many, and anyone with a big garden feeds their neighbors as well as themselves. We can glean from the fields if we need to. Most people can food each fall, and there's always some left over next fall that gets given to neighbors. The city doesn't have that, and for good reason: most slickers I have known think of themselves first, where we think of others. That's that evil Christian attitude coming through.

So this professor can go take a long walk off a short pier for all I care. When he can live here like we can, then and only then has he earned the right to comment. Until that happens, he's just another fool trying to imitate a tornado: full of hot air, spinning around whichever way the winds blow, and destroying everything he touches.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

I won't say that I wish you were my dad, because my dad is is awesome and had his own whole struggles to overcome. But what you describe is the sort of life I wish for me and for mine. I'm getting closer every day. For what it's worth, I think you're on the right track, and keep on keeping on!

a reply to: Zelun

my dad is is awesome

Never forget that. Learn from him, cherish every day with him, and carry his wisdom to the next generation.

That's another difference out here: we learn from our elders. When I was young (and stupid(er)), I thought I knew how to fix the world. I would tell the old men playing dominoes at the local store all about my ideas and they would just shake their heads and laugh. It upset me, because they were laughing at me.

But they weren't. Now I'm the old man listening to the kids telling me how to fix the world, and I too just shake my head and laugh. I'm not laughing at them; I am laughing at the memories of when I did the exact same thing before I was old enough to realize that my ideas had some pretty dire consequences I hadn't thought of. Just like those old men weren't laughing at me, but at their own memories. At the time every single one of them had been 20... I had never been 50, 60, 70.

There are two ways to learn from someone else: walk a mile in their shoes, or listen to them. It's usually easier to listen.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
I've lived in the country for most of my life. There have been several times I would bring people who thought they were rural to visit and they would quickly discover how citified they really are.

Yes, we have long distances between homes. That's why we have an electric co-op. We also tend to get short blinks in the power... vast majority under 5 minutes, very rare when they go over two hours. You learn to live with it. We have coal-oil (kerosene) lamps for the longer outages and plenty of candles. Power goes off at night, I flick a bic, we get the lamps out and light them, and we do something entertaining until the power comes back on. No problem.

In 2011, this whole area was hit with a wave of "super-tornadoes." They erased entire communities, devastated a great deal of the county, took out not one, but two power plants, and plunged us all into a week of darkness. I needed my cell phone working since the phone lines were sporadic at best, so I found a couple of old inverters and put them together into one working one. I charged my phone up and told the neighbors; they brought all their phones over to be charged. After a couple of days, my neighbor went around collecting meats from freezers and cooking them in a wood-burning oven he had so they wouldn't go to waste as they thawed. The whole neighborhood ate great for several days.

He also needed his freezer cooled down, so he got hold of a friend of his who had a portable generator. We had gas for it because a store owner used it for his pumps and in return supplied enough gas for it. My friend cooled his freezer down, but he also wanted to run his well long enough for a shower and the plugs didn't fit. I hot-wired the plugs for him and in return I got my freezer cooled down and a nice hot shower.

Now compare that with what happened in the city an hour away: people were getting into fist fights waiting to get gas from the few stations that had generators. Stores were looted; the police had to enforce a curfew (why people would steal TVs with no power to run them is beyond me). People were going hungry because there was no food and no stores to buy it from, and if there was a store open no one could take plastic money.

A week later when the power came back on, the city was a riot in action as people rushed to every store and bought everything they could. Brawls broke out over cans of food on an otherwise empty shelf. Here, we all looked up in surprise, thanked God and the power co-op for the lights, and went about our business.

Our roads are worse than anywhere near the cities, because the county has to pave more per person and they get torn up faster by all those evil grain trucks bringing food to the enlightened city slickers. That's OK; we know how to drive them. If they ice over, we just don't drive until they warm up. If we have to get somewhere in ice, someone around has a tractor... slow, but it is what it is.

That's the difference. That is what separates us from the city. We will survive when the city becomes a remake of "Dawn of the Dead." No, we will do more than survive; we will thrive. For years I have watched slickers come out here thinking they had what it took; over 90% go running back to their city life within a few months. The few that remain become part of the community. We have no crime, unless someone wants to call taking care of the would-be occasional criminals a crime. My kids could play outside on several acres of unspoiled land and we didn't worry. If they had a problem, someone would see them and let us know. We all watch out for each other.

I lived in the city for a few years; didn't like it. Too many predators always trying to take something from you... government trying to take money by enacting regulations on how high the grass can be, how fancy your home must be, how loud you can play your radio, etc; thieves running around like a pack of wild dogs, with the exception that you can shoot wild dogs out here; scam artists trying to scare you into giving up money at every turn. We have predators here too, but if they show up, you shoot them... the rest get the idea and leave you alone. It saves on ammo.

We don't need a grocery store to eat. We can raise a big garden and I have chickens running loose in the yard... eggs all the time! We give some away when we get too many, and anyone with a big garden feeds their neighbors as well as themselves. We can glean from the fields if we need to. Most people can food each fall, and there's always some left over next fall that gets given to neighbors. The city doesn't have that, and for good reason: most slickers I have known think of themselves first, where we think of others. That's that evil Christian attitude coming through.

So this professor can go take a long walk off a short pier for all I care. When he can live here like we can, then and only then has he earned the right to comment. Until that happens, he's just another fool trying to imitate a tornado: full of hot air, spinning around whichever way the winds blow, and destroying everything he touches.

TheRedneck

Yup, the ZA is going to be great.

While all the city idiots loot and assault eachother. Those of us with actual means and survival fortitude will band together and "live like kings".

It's going to be great, IMO.

While some guy in the megacity will have to "beat a small child to death for some bread" we'll be out here making new friends and banding together in TRUE american fashion.

And while we sit by the fire, enjoying and sharing the fruits of our land and communities needed for survival, the irony is we will all feel sad for those that have not a care in the world other than themselves(those city fools, beating children to death with their bare fists for a stale pastry) . It's almost humorous to fathom who's the "better" human in such an unfair challenge.

Starving to death??? Call an uber to bring you a sandwich.

a reply to: Notoneofyou

well i'll just let hank and charlie say it for me.

a reply to: MisterSpock

While some guy in the megacity will have to "beat a small child to death for some bread" we'll be out here making new friends and banding together in TRUE american fashion.

You forgot something... we'll be eating homemade bread cooked on a wood stove (loaded with hickory logs for flavor), smothered in strawberry jelly and washing the whole thing down with muscadine wine.

It won't be great... I'll miss my TV, my Internet, and my central heating. It'll suck in a lot of ways. But I don't need those things to survive. Heck, I'll probably set up something to generate power from wood so I can still have a taste of the good life for a couple hours. The real difference is, I won't hoard it for myself and I certainly won't beat anyone up to get it.

TheRedneck