The Myths of the American Redneck.

Allow me to correct you here. Assuming your truthfulness in your biography, you were never a country person despite the location of your birth. You were born city. It happens. Some people simply cannot stand the fresh air, depth of morals, hard work ethic, and love of independence that are inherent in country life.

I congratulate you for your decision to move to the city. You obviously need it.

TheRedneck

Hell brother. He makes it sound simple. It's not. I fish. Fishing is hard and involves lots of skill. I've seen it first hand with everyone around my pops coming up empty but time after time he was pulling up fish.

It's that good ol addage, experience is the best teacher. That's why the older hunters and fishermen that have been plying their trade for decades are nice and why it looks so easy when they do it.

Micheal Jordan didn't just wake up and was a basketball superstar.

reply to post by cenpuppie

It's an age-old story.

• Spoiled kid sees his elders doing things they have spent their whole life doing.
  
• Kid wants to do it too, so he tries it.
  
• Elders try to teach kid how to do it.
  
• Kid resents having to be taught something that looks so easy.
  
• Elder gives up.
  
• Kid grows up thinking things are simple and elders are just mean.
  
• Kid is unable to do anything and becomes bitter.

I've seen this played out over and over in my years. The truth is, a man can do anything he puts his mind to and nothing he refuses to put his mind to. The OP will never be able to hunt or fish successfully; if he tries, he will become frustrated and angry because things will not be as simple as he believes them to be, and he will give up. It's a terrible shame, but it's the way of city folk.

TheRedneck

reply to post by milominderbinder


perhaps these things are easy to you as you have been doing them since knee high to a *insert approrpriate noun*- not so easy for somebody in their 40s who has never been used to it to suddenly master such skills..........

Originally posted by Cancerwarrior
reply to post by milominderbinder

 

Hunting and fishing successfully does take skill and practice. Ever go fishing and just cast and hope like most people? Or do you know the areas where the different fish hang out in different lakes around your area. Deer are stupid animals in the road, but smart in the woods, unless of course you want to go speeding around the highways hoping one will jump out in front of you before you starve. Know how to clean that deer without totally making a mess of it or poking the bladder open with your knife and ruining all your meat? I'd absolutely love to see someone thats never hunted pull the trigger clean and cut up Bambi. It would take em forever and they would not know how to use all the animal that they could let alone how to smoke/dryout some meat unless youre gonna eat a whole deer in one sitting. I'm proud I'm country, I'll be OK when TSHTF because I live "redneck" I have neighbors and a community that is small and everyone looks after one another. I think maybe you're just trying to make yourself feel better about living in a city or something OP.

No...I feel perfectly fine about living in the "city". Where I live now would be more of a "small town" there is only about 200,000 people or so in the area. A far cry from my former residences of Chicago, LA, and Denver.

And I'm sorry...but deer are dumber than a box of frickin' rocks. I've hunted them my entire life and have personally killed over 50 of them and have not yet met a "smart" one. Let's not confuse keen senses with intelligence. Like most animals, deer have great ears and excellent noses...these are usually what lead them to "discover" your presence. It's not really any sort of complex problem-solving ability. The upper-limit of a whitetail deer's problem solving ability is to raise their tail and signal "Oh sh^t!" to the rest of the herd when they sense a potential predator. They don't hunt you back like a predatory species and they don't have a strong charging instinct like the North American bison. Granted...there are oddball cases where a buck has charged a human or attacked them with their hooves (like that one video on When Animals Attack)...but this is very much NOT the norm.

Also remember...in most TSHTF scenarios you would not be bound by all the rules, regulations, and laws of current sport-hunting. If a pandemic wipes out 30%+ of the population...chances are that there won't be a whole hell of a lot of DNR agents running around to make sure you're not using a rifle in a shotgun zone, hunting after nightfall, baiting, or "shining" the deer. If we lose all electronic capabilities due to EMP or solar flare you might still have DNR agents...but they can't really write you an enforceable citation when the computer-dependent system of tracking who has paid said citations is inoperable. Not to mention the fact that the DNR agent is most likely not showing up to work anymore since no bank is functioning anywhere for him to take his paycheck to. Helen Keller could kill a deer if she could use a spotlight and motor vehicle at nighttime. Plus...with a huge segment of the global or national population dead I would surmise there would be plenty of canned goods in the houses of the recently deceased to scavenge for quite some time.

The exception to this might be a martial law scenario in an economic collapse where no significant number of people have died and the government still retains the full technological abilities that it did previously. However, in this sort of a scenario one would not be hunting for "survival". The number one rule of keeping slaves, prisoners, or cattle is to make sure you feed them...and the government would make sure their slaves, prisoners, and cattle had food...if for no other reason than their own monetary gain.

The food might SUCK...and there might not quite be ENOUGH of it...but you likely wouldn't starve to death. Instead you would be hunting for "prosperity" so to speak since fresh meat would most likely be preferable to the noodles, government cheese, and mystery sausages that the government rationed out. This would allow at least a little bit of time for "trial and error" in terms of hunting and fishing.

In terms of cleaning fish and game...yes...it would be amusing to watch someone do it for the first time without guidance. However, pretty much everybody understands the BASICS of the task in that the guts have to come out and the skin has to come off before you can eat it. The first one or two might be a bit messy and result in quite a bit of wasted meat...but CAVEMEN once learned how to do this successfully. I'm pretty sure that sooner or later even the most inept of modern humans would become halfway proficient at the task if life depended on it.

Originally posted by milominderbinder
I will attest to the fact the NASTIEST, MEANEST, MOST SELFISH, AND MOST SMALL MINDED elements of American society are from all those small towns in the "real America" ...

...was born and raised in a rural small town

I speak from experience.

yup. sure seems so

irony, much

I'll take my chances in Compton over being stuck in a small town with a bunch of hillbillies ANY DAY!!

good luck getting that garden started in the concrete and asphalt
good luck baggin that big doe in the city park
good luck gettin that person you've never met to stop and offer you a ride when you're broke down on the side of the road.
good luck 'splainin that big trout to the wildlife conservation officer as they write the citation for catchin it from the city park's 'lake'

good luck in Compton.

REAL country folk know.... you can take the folks out of the country, but you just can't take the country out of the folks.

city bois. :shk: gotta luv em

Originally posted by awatcher2
reply to post by milominderbinder

IMHO, you are just wrong on so many levels.

The people that you think are 'nuts' are scared of what they are watching unfold in our world in general and our country in particular. The only thing we can do responsibly is prepare! It is difficult to understand how or why you disagree with that perspective and to make some of the comments in your post; however, you have a right to your opinion.

For me, I will continue to prepare, you can think of me as a nut if you wish but this country boy and his friends will have a better chance of survival than most!!

Good Luck!

All the "preparation" in the world won't do you much good...that's my whole point.

- Go ahead and stockpile water and food. It's of ZERO use to you if you are forced to leave your location outside of what you can carry on your back or in your vehicle if you are lucky enough to HAVE a vehicle which is still operational.

- The most dangerous animal on planet earth is a desperate human being. The more you stockpile...THE MORE YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE TO STEAL! It might provide you a SENSE of security...but where do you think the millions and millions of refugees from those major metro areas are headed to? Most likely the first place they see that seems like it might offer food, shelter, and firearms. Farmers won't be "safe"...they'll be overrun by hungry and desperate MOBS who who want what they have.

It's easy for people to talk tough about being able to "defend" themselves with their guns...but every gun shot ALSO signals your presence to any other refugees in the vicinity. A desperate group of human who hears a gun battle in the distance will likely go to investigate and hope that there were enough casualties on both sides that they can either scavenge something useful or kill the weakened survivors.

Granted...if you are located in a remote region of Idaho or Montana this might not be a big problem since the mountains will kill off the majority of refugees from Seattle, Vancouver and Portland before they get to you. However...the rest of rural America will be in pretty deep sh^t I would wager.

Don't get me wrong...it's EXTREMELY discomforting that there really probably isn't a damn thing anybody can do to "prepare"...I'm just saying that a lot of the "skills" that will be necessary for survival aren't particularly complicated or difficult to learn and that stockpiling crap will be of almost no use whatsoever.

However...I DO think that it's wise to spend a couple thousand bucks on some decent backpacking equipment. A good tent, a warm sleeping bag, a way to filter water, and a durable and well-fitting backpack to carry your worldly possessions in will come in handy in just about any scenario.

The rest of it you will just have to adapt to on the fly. Sure...there will be those who would be unable or unwilling to do so. However, I think you will find that for every person who sits down on the side of the road to curl up and die you will have two or three people who learn how to function in their new world, that's all.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Depth of morals? Not in the small town I grew up in, unless your idea of morals is popping out 3 kids and expecting the state to foot the bill, not to mention the parents hooked on some kind of drug.

Of course, this also exists in the city that I live in so it's not isolated to just small towns.

I had to get out of the small town I grew up in. I moved out 10 years ago. The only thing I miss about small-town life is the peace and quiet.

On the other hand, there are still the same idiots that I knew in high school except that they have kids and #ty minimum wage jobs. They told me I wouldn't amount to anything but look at them!

Just my 2 cents.

Small town life would be grand if not for the knuckle-draggers.

reply to post by The Sword

Yeah, depth of morals.

In the city, if you get down on your luck, all you have is the government. Out here, you'll have people bringing you produce from their garden, extra meat they have killed... heck, one of my neighbors runs a handyman service on the side and regularly builds handicap ramps for people who need them but can't afford them, at no charge.

Get stuck in a wheelchair in the city and see how many people show up to build a ramp... you'll find people coming out of the woodwork to give you price estimates you can't afford!

Break down on the side of the road in the city and see who stops to help: a big tow truck with a big fee, to take you to a mechanic with a bigger fee. Out here it will be someone with a pickup truck and some tools, and a chain if you need towed home so you can fix it yourself in your yard.

Trust me, I have seen that rat race. The rats always win. I'm not a rat, and I don't participate in that race. Money is not my God, and banks are not my church.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by milominderbinder

- The most dangerous animal on planet earth is a desperate human being. The more you stockpile...THE MORE YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE TO STEAL!

not so, we may be intelligent, but we are befuddled with emotion and feelings- most would probably degenerate into crying messess if the brown stuff did hit

reply to post by TheRedneck


Again, this doesn't apply to every city out there, as well as every small town.

Then again, I live in Vermont and we only have one big city. ONE. The rest of the state is rural with several smaller "cities" (if you can even call them that).

No matter where you live here, you will find people eager to help. It just depends on where you live. There are several non-profits that help those down on their luck. While they're not quite like your neighbors, they still can help people.

Originally posted by TheRedneck
You're right... anyone can walk into the woods with a gun or get a hook in the water. Of course, that's not the purpose, is it? To start with, deer might not have the developed cerebrum, but they have some pretty good instincts. A car with headlights and a horn is a sure kill (for both the deer and the car), of course, but that's not a very efficient method of acquiring food.
No, deer hunting requires a few more things. You have to know where the deer are, for one. That means knowing how to track where they have been going (deer are creatures of habit), and being able to spot where they are likely feeding and bedding. Secondly, you have to be able to get within sight of the deer. That entails an understanding of how deer use their senses and what causes them to become alarmed. Wind direction, the ability to remain still and quiet, and the resolve to stay put despite the cold or the rain are all parts of this.
Then there's the shot... even if you are an experienced hunter, you will not be able to walk right up to a deer for a point-blank shot. You'll have to be accurate to a couple hundred yards at least. And you have to do more than hit the deer; you have to hit it in the right place. A wounding shot means you probably did kill the deer, but you won't be able to eat it because you won't be able to find it! Deer do not stand around still after being shot so you can eat them after they die... they run if possible, as far and as fast as they can. A good marksman can cause the deer to fall dead in place.

Marksmanship is not a simple task; it takes practice.

Fishing? Oh, sure, easy... as long as you know how fish migrate, how they feed, what water depth they will likely be at based on conditions, what bait will work at what times. etc.

your guns will be all but useless in most circumstances.

Yep! No argument there. Still nice to have a little firepower handy, but they're not the only survival need out there... not even in the top ten IMO.

Any douchebag can use a power tool.

Sure... they can use it to lop off an extremity. Power tools are dangerous if used improperly. Please stay away from them with this attitude.

Ahhh...but aren't these largely the rules of sport hunting and fishing? In almost any sort of disaster scenario of the magnitude that we are talking about you would have a collapse of authority for one reason or another. You don't have worry about what bait to use when you can stretch a net across the whole damn stream. If you are lucky...you might even be able to get ahold of some of those "good" fireworks from the Indian Reservations or just shock the sh^t out a pond with a small electric generator. "Fishing" is A LOT easier that way. LOL.

Same thing with hunting. Sure...marksmanship takes practice. Hunting for sport often requires being a good shot as you have to frequently shoot around trees and branches and whatnot. Likewise...during the relatively short gun season the deer are pretty spooked since the woods just erupted in a week and a half long barrage of gunfire. But just hunting after nightfall ALONE would up an average hunters odds by about 800% or so...right? How many times have you sat in a tree not seeing anything and then saw a dozen deer on the walk back to the car? It's damn-near a guarantee where I hunt.

Regarding the danger of power tools...sure they can be dangerous. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be a few injuries from people using them improperly. I'm just saying that I don't think it would pose an insurmountable challenge to survival of the group/species. Remember, people will naturally band together because that is what people naturally do. In a group of 20, 50, or even 100 people all you need is ONE person you might have an idea of how to use a circular saw without cutting their hand off and ONE person who knows that salt+smoke=meat that lasts longer. Our evolutionary advantage is not only problem-solving...but how to communicate that information to one another.

Survival when the TSHTF is not the same as survival when one finds themselves in the middle of nowhere with a broken leg, or battling off the wolves with Liam Neeson after your plane crashes. (Ha!) Anybody who thinks they could just be dropped in the Rockies with only a pocket knife or whatever and walk out a couple hundred miles out without much problem is either a fool or hasn't ever once set foot in the mountains. But in most of these situations there are items to scavenge and people to team up with (as well as working AGAINST you).

I just think we will be pretty surprised at just how incredibly adaptable the majority of us are and I think we will find that the hard-core "preppers" will be in the MOST trouble because they are counting on their stores of crap instead of their heads.

Lastly...the thread was in no way directed towards you! LOL! No hard feelings. I appreciate the good conversation!

Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by cenpuppie

It's an age-old story.

• Spoiled kid sees his elders doing things they have spent their whole life doing.
  
• Kid wants to do it too, so he tries it.
  
• Elders try to teach kid how to do it.
  
• Kid resents having to be taught something that looks so easy.
  
• Elder gives up.
  
• Kid grows up thinking things are simple and elders are just mean.
  
• Kid is unable to do anything and becomes bitter.

I've seen this played out over and over in my years. The truth is, a man can do anything he puts his mind to and nothing he refuses to put his mind to. The OP will never be able to hunt or fish successfully; if he tries, he will become frustrated and angry because things will not be as simple as he believes them to be, and he will give up. It's a terrible shame, but it's the way of city folk.

TheRedneck

Ummm...OP has hunted and fished successfully his entire life. I've personally taken over 50 deer in 22 years of hunting and more, ducks, geese, rabbits, and pheasant than I can count. Likewise, I'm a longtime fisherman of all manner of lake-trout (Lake Michigan, that is), walleye, northern pike, catfish (usually considered a "garbage" fish up here), and the elusive Muskellunge (it's been dubbed "The Fish of 10,000 Casts" for a reason). I've also been known to spend solid 12-14 hours at a crack on the ice when it's a nice balmy 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside in order to pull them up with a tip-up and speared sturgeon on Lake Winnebago (through the ice, of course).
How many 120-150lb, five-foot long prehistoric animals have you speared?

It really isn't that difficult.

Originally posted by blueorder

Originally posted by milominderbinder

- The most dangerous animal on planet earth is a desperate human being. The more you stockpile...THE MORE YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE TO STEAL!

not so, we may be intelligent, but we are befuddled with emotion and feelings- most would probably degenerate into crying messess if the brown stuff did hit

EXCELLENT POINT! That is another matter entirely!!

There's a saying that goes:

Small town equals small minds.

A city is just a group of small towns smashed together.

A small town is really no different that a big city. Sure, they may treat you nicer, but go ahead and tell them something like you're not a Christian (because many small towns are dominated by Christians) and regardless of how polite and respectful you are of them, they will not return the favor. They will treat you harshly in any way they can. And they will always put the blame on you because you're just not like them, and all ebcause you exist but aren't supposed to.

Many small towns are rampant with xenophobia. In my small town there is a lot of racism, and there really is a 'n-word' (I apologize for the use of the word, it is a word I do not use except to make a point) town across the other side of the train tracks and a Mexican restaurant was put out of business and those people run out of town because of the racism that's inherent in this town. And this is in California to boot.

So I really don't buy this people are more caring in a small town. A few individuals might be, but otherwise, no they're not. To claim otherwise is a bunch of horse patties, at least to me.

That's the thing about real life. You've got to wade through a bunch of mud to find the gem you're looking for.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Thats why when I go deer hunting i use my trusty Dodge Ram 2500...nothing works better and I hit em everytime.

What if you have no power for your power tools? No problem....thats why I gots me some kids.....workin em young will teach them good work ethic.

And too many guns and not enough ammo? Easy..raid the Sportsmans Warehouse at just the right time and BANG all the ammo you will ever need.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
You speak of your home and upbringing in the country with a great deal of disdain... Did something happen there while you were growing up there?

I come from a small town that was very much like the mythical Mayberry. My family is about as country as they come, and after I grew up... I moved even further into the country.

I am a redneck and country bumpkin. I also have a college degree. Most of the people I know are just plain country and some of the nicest, most industrious, and ingenious people I have ever met.

They can engineer something from nothing, know how to turn nothing into a dollar, and when the lights go off or the car or truck won't start...I can think of no one else to have around.

They are volunteers at the fire department, sheriff's patrol, local events and fund raisers, at tragedies that strike a community like a fire or storm or plowing roads after a heavy snow or just riding around checking on elderly and pulling people out of ditches.

During fundraisers they give generously be it time, food, donations...often showing up for a stew sale or BBQ plate dinner... and even though the plates are 6 bucks.. they only have a 20 and say keep the change.

They work hard and farm or drive trucks or work for the local town as a maintainance guy or a forestry agent...

As for hunting... it takes more than just showing up in the woods with a gun... you actually have to be still, know the habitat and the habits of the deer... do your scouting homework... know wood lore and craft... and have patience and persistance..... same with fishing. Anybody can do it, but time and experience is needed to do it well.

As for those churches... they brought food to hungry people...white and black and hispanic... they donate wood and furniture and home repairs... clothes and building materials... fundraisers for people with medical bills for cancer... offer facitilties for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, food pantries and food banks, help for unwed mothers, and a host of other services to many to name.

If the SHTF... country folks would be ok. I lived in town for a while back when Hurricane Fran hit NC back in 1996... city folks weren't doing to spiffy. Waiting in lines for food and ice and water... country folks did fine. Most are aware that the pwer during and after a storm is not a certainty... and most have stocked pantries because a trip to town for 1-2 items is out of the question... and you never know when company might come by and suddenly you're feeding 6-8 folks instead of 2-4.

And just because of the culture country folks are self reliant... very independant minded... stubborn, hard headed, and distrusting of outsiders.

The biggest myths are the stereotypical lies of inbred, race car driving, cousin marrying, racists, Klan membered, tobacco chewing red neck...Budweiser nearby... watching the race. There are always a few in every crowd, but most country folks I know are plain salt of the earth kind of people.

They love God, Mom, apple pie, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, pick up trucks, Farmall or John Deere, Sunday Dinner, Andy Griffith, Cokes, Lil Debbie, and bisquits and gravy... have a flag on their house or lawn... and they know that steel from China sucks.

If you want to survive the Apocolypse with some sense of normality and security... I suggest you get to know these people.

Just because we talk slow does not mean we are stupid.

could not have said it better myself !

reply to post by The Sword

Sure, all this is generalizations; if we were to compare every small town and city out there, we would overload ATS!

But even admitting to the generalization is not admitting to any falsity of the conclusion. I have lived in the city. I will readily acknowledge that I do not do well in the city, but the observations I made while there are still true.

How many homeless live in the country? I know of none... I know of a few people that needed a home once and were taken in by people to help them get back on their feet.

How much pollution comes from the country? Very little, because country folk care about our air and water. Some in the city do as well, but many do not.

How much food is grown in the city? Obviously very little... as a matter of fact, if trucks were to stop running tomorrow, most larger cities would have no food left in a week's time. Out here we just walk to the garden or the freezer.

It is simple human nature to become lazy when resources are plentiful and selfish when they are not. That tendency is used to great advantage when resources are boiled down to one single resource: money. Money replaces family, friends, it removes the challenges (and therefore the successes) of life, and it makes man into a beast. Money is all there is in the city; there is no land as we see land out here. as land ownership is subject to the whims of those who have over time managed to obtain jurisdiction over others. Charity is in short supply, because money is in short supply and everything has a dollar tag attached. Out here, commodities are valued as well as money. There is no time in the city for helping others, for establishing community ties, for enjoying the company of friends, because one always needs more money.

I stand by my previous statements... the roots of morality grow in fertile soil, not concrete sidewalks. Morality is measured by how much one helps others, not by green pieces of paper.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


Very little pollution in the country?

What do you call the use of RVs and snowmobiles then? Not to mention the big, gas-guzzling trucks that dominate the countryside?

Do you realize that country people have to drive more, thus pollute more, just to reach civilization for something not easily found otherwise?

It's all good. We don't agree here but I'm baffled by your logic on this one. Also, in the city where I live, there is a decent, fertile strip of farmland called the Intervale. You can get off of the bus and walk down to several farms with CSAs.

Peace.

reply to post by milominderbinder

Ahhh...but aren't these largely the rules of sport hunting and fishing?

Being able to find the deer and hit them with whatever you are shooting? No, those are rules of common sense, not of law.

You don't have worry about what bait to use when you can stretch a net across the whole damn stream. If you are lucky...you might even be able to get ahold of some of those "good" fireworks from the Indian Reservations or just shock the sh^t out a pond with a small electric generator. "Fishing" is A LOT easier that way. LOL.

but you do have to know how to make a net... or to make/use those "good" fireworks. Sure, you just light a fuse and toss it, right? Is that why every 5th of July we experience a decrease in the number of digits people have?

during the relatively short gun season the deer are pretty spooked since the woods just erupted in a week and a half long barrage of gunfire.

If TSHTF, there will be a lot more people out there shooting up the place... and most of them will be reading the owners manual while they're shooting! Will that somehow not spook the deer?

But just hunting after nightfall ALONE would up an average hunters odds by about 800% or so...right?

It also raises odds of some educated idiot shooting a gun for the first time while reading the owner's manual shooting you. I would estimate an even higher margin.

How many times have you sat in a tree not seeing anything and then saw a dozen deer on the walk back to the car? It's damn-near a guarantee where I hunt.

Did you just say, "Those dumb-as-a-rock deer just outsmarted me!"???

Remember, people will naturally band together because that is what people naturally do. In a group of 20, 50, or even 100 people all you need is ONE person you might have an idea of how to use a circular saw without cutting their hand off and ONE person who knows that salt+smoke=meat that lasts longer. Our evolutionary advantage is not only problem-solving...but how to communicate that information to one another.

See, there's the problem: you assume organization. I do not. I assume every man for himself and cooperation only for compassionate reasons or for personal gain. That seems to fit the model of human behavior more closely.

In any group of that size, there will be those who achieve ruling status. We see it globally in countries, and even saw it during the 1960s when larger communes broke up under their own weight. We also see that those who cannot do are the ones who lead. Now, in a situation where there is no overall authority, what exactly do you think would be different in a 50-person group?

You also place an inordinate amount of faith in that one guy who can run a circular saw. What happens if he gets sick or hurt? What happens if he has an accident (anyone can) and cuts a hand off? Without quick medical attention he will bleed to death! Even if you have a doctor standing by, he lost his hand and can no longer run the saw.

People have lost that ability to problem-solve and to think their actions through. That's why restaurants cannot give leftover food to the homeless; they will eat green meat and die! Out here, we throw that junk out.

I think we will find that the hard-core "preppers" will be in the MOST trouble because they are counting on their stores of crap instead of their heads.

I agree that the "preppers" are going to be in for a shock. They are stockpiling the wrong things The thing to stockpile is knowledge and experience, not items you can produce yourself or don't even need.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by TheRedneck

 

Depth of morals? Not in the small town I grew up in, unless your idea of morals is popping out 3 kids and expecting the state to foot the bill, not to mention the parents hooked on some kind of drug.

Of course, this also exists in the city that I live in so it's not isolated to just small towns.

I had to get out of the small town I grew up in. I moved out 10 years ago. The only thing I miss about small-town life is the peace and quiet.

On the other hand, there are still the same idiots that I knew in high school except that they have kids and #ty minimum wage jobs. They told me I wouldn't amount to anything but look at them!

Just my 2 cents.

Small town life would be grand if not for the knuckle-draggers.

That's pretty much my experience as well. There is this idea that city-people will screw you over for money...but it's actually the inverse that's true (on a person to person basis, anyways. Wall Street and CEO's nothwithstanding). A thousand dollars is a lot of cash to a whole lot of rural America (huge farming/ranching operations notwithstanding)...and if they see a chance to screw somebody for a grand my experience is that they will usually take it. ESPECIALLY if it's an "outsider". In Chicago, screwing somebody for a thousand dollars isn't worth the reputation you'll get as being a cheap prick.

Anybody ever tend bar or wait tables? I did at a golf-course in Mishicot, WI. The locals would come in and get blindingly drunk on a regular basis...after a hundred dollar bar-tab of bottom shelf booze and listening to their inane drivel all night you could expect about $1.50 or so for a tip. The local firefighters picnic rolls in? You might be lucky enough to get $5 tip.

Meanwhile, the Chicago firefighters and police unions each booked the whole damn resort for an entire weekend every year....and there isn't a one of them who would consider tipping less than 15% since they know that the $8 an hour the kid is making behind bar probably isn't worth putting up with their drunk ass all night....and the last time I checked cops and firefighters in Chicago actually make a lot LESS than the cops and firefighters in Manitowoc County, WI after you factor in the cost of living.

Say what you will...but the majority of city people I have ever met have been FAR more generous, helpful, and kind than their rural counterparts. Again...especially when it comes to outsiders. They might be a bit more "moral" when it comes to the other 500 people that live in town because they see them every single day and have to live with them. However, I consider it far more telling how outsiders are treated.

Again...not saying 100% of rural America is this way...just 100% of rural America that I have ever witnessed in person in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, and eastern California (desert regions).