Living in Small Counties vs the Big Cities

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-09-30 05:40pm

I live in suburb of a small city, which actually outgrew the city it was supposed to be a suburb of, if you can believe that. It's still pretty damn small, but it's more cosmopolitan that it would otherwise be because it's right near Tourist Trap Central for upstate New York. There are a ton of outsiders coming in and out all the time, so we have some relatively large shopping centers around. No fancy restaurants, but only a few "greasy spoon" type places, lots of fast food junk, and a ton of "franchise" restaurants that are somewhere between fast food and fancy restaurants, like Applebee's, Uno's, Olive Garden, and TGI Friday's. No Bennigan's though, dammit.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-09-30 06:14pm

weemadando wrote:I live in a city of ~200,000 including surrounding area.

It has an abundance of shopping choices. VERY LOW COST OF LIVING. And the cost of housing/rental is waaaaaay down.

I like it. It works for me.

My county of 900000 is larger than your city

.
How big is the average county?

Though housing here costs 250k for a townhouse, so my parents are broke.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-09-30 06:39pm

Nathan F wrote:My maternal grandfather lived until his eighties and ate like that, and my paternal grandparents are both well into their eighties (and act and look like they are in their early seventies, at most) and eat similar southern cooking. You haven't had a breakfast until you have had Granny's... eggs, bacon, sausage, home made biscuits, chocolate gravy, tomato gravy, white gravy...mmmmmmm...

Are you the master of anedotal evidence?

Damn and people wonder about Fat America.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-09-30 06:41pm

HemlockGrey wrote:Out of curiosity, Mike, what is your diet like?

Yeah I'm interested too.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2003-09-30 07:04pm

Pu-239 wrote:Though housing here costs 250k for a townhouse, so my parents are broke.

My mom paid 200k for this condo I live in here now. If you can have a townhouse for that much I would SOO Love to move there instead.~Jason

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-30 10:11pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:
HemlockGrey wrote:Out of curiosity, Mike, what is your diet like?
Yeah I'm interested too.

I'm not a health nut, if that's what you're asking. I eat meat, vegetables, soup, and some pasta just like everyone else. I just try to avoid the really disgusting, bad signal-to-noise ratio stuff like really rich foods, pastries, deep-fried and greasy stuff, etc.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-30 10:13pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:*sniff

I live on a small Air Force base off the Rio Grande out in the middle of nowhere Texas. It's hot, dirty, deserted, and everybody speaks Spanish. You have to cross the border into Mexico to find anything to do around here. This place doesn't even have fucking broadband!

Just one year though, just one year.

Sorry to hear about your luck, buddy. I've been stuck out in the middle of nowhere before, and it's pretty damned annoying. At least I had a nice river to look at, though. Sounds like you don't even have that.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-09-30 11:23pm

MKSheppard wrote:
Darth Wong wrote: Take a small-towner to a fine upscale restaurant, and he will usually bypass the fancy soups, appetizers, and entrees (especially anything with an unfamiliar name or seafood ingredients) in favour of a burger. It's like trying to order food for a little kid.
Congratulations, you've just described me! When In doubt, I always
order a burger, since I KNOW i'll enjoy it, rather than having wasted
$$$ on something I don't like...I do wish more fancy places actually did
picture menus like some Chinese take out places

Jesus wept!

You just described yourself as a hick..

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-09-30 11:49pm

Stuart Mackey wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:
Darth Wong wrote: Take a small-towner to a fine upscale restaurant, and he will usually bypass the fancy soups, appetizers, and entrees (especially anything with an unfamiliar name or seafood ingredients) in favour of a burger. It's like trying to order food for a little kid.
Congratulations, you've just described me! When In doubt, I always
order a burger, since I KNOW i'll enjoy it, rather than having wasted
$$$ on something I don't like...I do wish more fancy places actually did
picture menus like some Chinese take out places
Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..

What, just because some people enjoy foods they are familiar with they are a hick? That's pretty narrow minded...

I mean, I like experimenting with new foods, and I'll usually try any kind of food (other than blowfish, I refuse to eat something that is as likely to kill me as blowfish).

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-09-30 11:50pm

I live in Christchurch NZ. some 320 000 people. countryside is 15-20 minutes in almost any direction. Have good resteraunts with very reasonable prices. this is repeated up and down the nation, except Auckaland, but no one gives a shit about Dorkland except Dorklanders, and sometimes not even them.

We have small towns and blink-and-you-miss-it towns these are either quaint or dying but are genrally an hour away from a reginonal centre.
Most things are relitive cost wise, except in Auckaland.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-09-30 11:52pm

Nathan F wrote:
Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..
What, just because some people enjoy foods they are familiar with they are a hick? That's pretty narrow minded...

It's his refusal to try anything new which Stuart is describing as narrow-minded. Stop leaping to excuses to attack anyone who doesn't worship the small-town lifestyle.

I mean, I like experimenting with new foods, and I'll usually try any kind of food (other than blowfish, I refuse to eat something that is as likely to kill me as blowfish).

Then what are you complaining about? You don't fit Stuart's comment.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-09-30 11:52pm

Stuart Mackey wrote: Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..

I like eating something that I know I will like, and also why I love chinese
buffet places, because I can SEE what the food looks like before I eat it.

I'm sorry if you think I should be wasting $10 dollars a dish to "experiment",
but no I'm too damn cheep to do so

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-09-30 11:54pm

Nathan F wrote:
Stuart Mackey wrote:
MKSheppard wrote: Congratulations, you've just described me! When In doubt, I always
order a burger, since I KNOW i'll enjoy it, rather than having wasted
$$$ on something I don't like...I do wish more fancy places actually did
picture menus like some Chinese take out places
Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..
What, just because some people enjoy foods they are familiar with they are a hick? That's pretty narrow minded...

Well I am sorry you got that impression, but when someone says something that screams 'sterotypical hick' I think 'hick'..

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-09-30 11:56pm

MKSheppard wrote:
Stuart Mackey wrote: Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..
I like eating something that I know I will like, and also why I love chinese
buffet places, because I can SEE what the food looks like before I eat it.

I'm sorry if you think I should be wasting $10 dollars a dish to "experiment",
but no I'm too damn cheep to do so

Each to their own. I will will spend 10 or 20 dollers on something I havent tried, otherwise I will never know If I like it.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-10-01 12:03am

Darth Wong wrote:
Nathan F wrote:
Jesus wept! You just described yourself as a hick..
What, just because some people enjoy foods they are familiar with they are a hick? That's pretty narrow minded...
It's his refusal to try anything new which Stuart is describing as narrow-minded. Stop leaping to excuses to attack anyone who doesn't worship the small-town lifestyle.

Erm...what? Since when has liking eating foods you already know will taste good have anything to do with small-town lifestyle? Sounds like you are leaping to excuses to attack anyone who likes the small-town lifestyle.

I mean, I like experimenting with new foods, and I'll usually try any kind of food (other than blowfish, I refuse to eat something that is as likely to kill me as blowfish).
Then what are you complaining about? You don't fit Stuart's comment.

Simply voicing my opinion as to what I saw as being a narrow minded comment. You seem to do this all the time, unless I am mistaking you for someone else.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-10-01 12:04am

Stuart Mackey wrote:Well I am sorry you got that impression, but when someone says something that screams 'sterotypical hick' I think 'hick'..

The stereotypical hick drives a truck, too. Does that make everyone who drives trucks hicks?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-01 12:06am

Nathan F wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:It's his refusal to try anything new which Stuart is describing as narrow-minded. Stop leaping to excuses to attack anyone who doesn't worship the small-town lifestyle.
Erm...what? Since when has liking eating foods you already know will taste good have anything to do with small-town lifestyle?

It has to do with provincial, xenophobic thinking. Small towns are rife with that, and your denials won't change that fact.

Sounds like you are leaping to excuses to attack anyone who likes the small-town lifestyle.

No, I'm pointing out a fact. The voting patterns, religious attitudes, etc. of rural communities all clearly indicate that small towns are far less accepting of alien cultures and their associated traits than big cities. You can whine about it all you like, but you can't make it untrue.

Simply voicing my opinion as to what I saw as being a narrow minded comment. You seem to do this all the time, unless I am mistaking you for someone else.

Except that you failed to show how it is narrow-minded. You merely leapt to an assumption from a defensive emotional reaction, which is quite typical of you.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-10-01 12:16am

Darth Wong wrote:
Nathan F wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:It's his refusal to try anything new which Stuart is describing as narrow-minded. Stop leaping to excuses to attack anyone who doesn't worship the small-town lifestyle.
Erm...what? Since when has liking eating foods you already know will taste good have anything to do with small-town lifestyle?
It has to do with provincial, xenophobic thinking. Small towns are rife with that, and your denials won't change that fact.

Eating foods you are familiar with have to do with provincial, xenophobic thinking. Yeah, right. That's bullshit and you know it.

Sounds like you are leaping to excuses to attack anyone who likes the small-town lifestyle.
No, I'm pointing out a fact. The voting patterns, religious attitudes, etc. of rural communities all clearly indicate that small towns are far less accepting of alien cultures and their associated traits than big cities. You can whine about it all you like, but you can't make it untrue.
I don't disagree with you. I know for a fact that small towns can be a quite bit on the xenophobic side. I mean, if you live around the same thing day after day, you tend to grow used to seeing that same thing. The same way you would rather stay in a city or urban area. You are jumping at the chance to attack anything you see as being related to small-town life whether it is or not.
Except that you failed to show how it is narrow-minded. You merely leapt to an assumption from a defensive emotional reaction, which is quite typical of you.

Oh, come on Mike. That is verging on the ridiculous. By saying someone is a hick just because they would rather eat a food they are familiar with, that is pretty narrow minded, you know that as well as I do. You just keep jumping to the chance of attacking a way of life that you aren't familiar or comfortable with, which is living in a small (if somewhat insular) town.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-10-01 12:28am

Nathan F wrote:
Stuart Mackey wrote:Well I am sorry you got that impression, but when someone says something that screams 'sterotypical hick' I think 'hick'..
The stereotypical hick drives a truck, too. Does that make everyone who drives trucks hicks?

Given what I know of Shep and what he said, such a thing, by itself, as I said, screams 'sterotypical hick' . why? because such things are, to a degree, typical of of some small towns {and large towns as well}. I did not say that every one in a samll town is a hick, but coming from a guy like Shep it sounds like it.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-10-01 12:35am

Nathan F wrote:Oh, come on Mike. That is verging on the ridiculous. By saying someone is a hick just because they would rather eat a food they are familiar with, that is pretty narrow minded, you know that as well as I do. You just keep jumping to the chance of attacking a way of life that you aren't familiar or comfortable with, which is living in a small (if somewhat insular) town.

Mike has said he has lived in a small town, so its safe to say that he knows about such opinions. I have lived in a city with under 50 000, and spent time in small towns here in NZ, and I have seen the same things.
If someone says something that sounds like 'hick' then its going to sound like 'hick', egardless of that persons opinions on anything else.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2003-10-01 12:41am

Random anecdote: I have an online friend who considers herself a druid. (Yet my regular requests that she polymorph into a werebear are rebuffed.) Anyway, she used to live in some little hick town in Missouri. Then the locals literally accused her of hexing the livestock and physically threatened her. Now she lives in California.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-10-01 12:33pm

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Random anecdote: I have an online friend who considers herself a druid. (Yet my regular requests that she polymorph into a werebear are rebuffed.) Anyway, she used to live in some little hick town in Missouri. Then the locals literally accused her of hexing the livestock and physically threatened her. Now she lives in California.

Believe me, I'm not surprised. People here equal Wiccan to Satanism.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-10-01 01:00pm

Darth Wong wrote: It has to do with provincial, xenophobic thinking. Small towns are rife with that, and your denials won't change that fact.

are you all right today? That is predjudiced thinking, plain and simple. Just because one specific subset of a population has a higher chance of displaying a certain charectoristic, doesn't mean you imply that the whole subset is bad. If i were to say "the population of recent Asian immigrants is rife with people who eat dog, and nothing your denials won't change that." I would justifiably be labeled predjudiced and sterotypical. Stereotypes are sterotypes Mike, regardless of how you dress them up in logic.

Post by **AdmiralKanos** » 2003-10-01 05:04pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:are you all right today? That is predjudiced thinking, plain and simple. Just because one specific subset of a population has a higher chance of displaying a certain charectoristic, doesn't mean you imply that the whole subset is bad.

Except that in this case, there are actual reasons for this phenomenon. A lack of direct exposure to people with a different cultural outlook. An increased tendency toward xenophobia in small, relatively isolated groups. A lack of cultural and racial diversity within said group. You act as though it's mere coincidence.

If i were to say "the population of recent Asian immigrants is rife with people who eat dog, and nothing your denials won't change that."

The fact that this claim is statistically untrue would thump that claim, wouldn't it? However, if someone says that the black community in Detroit is rife with criminals, he would be completely correct. The problem would be if he goes on to conclude that there's something about being black which makes you a criminal, unless he can justify such connection (which he can't).

I would justifiably be labeled predjudiced and sterotypical. Stereotypes are sterotypes Mike, regardless of how you dress them up in logic.

Bullshit. Some phenomena have an actual cause. Isolating people into smaller, more homogeneous groups will make them more xenophobic. This is not a "stereotype"; it is human nature.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-10-01 05:15pm

I'm interested in why my stats have gone a while without being attacked
other than a minor nitpick....