Periodically, I hear some grousing from folks who live in rural areas who think that I, as a city-dwelling latte liberal, look down on them. I'm told that I think that people who live in the country are stupid, narrow-minded, intolerant, and probably Republican.
And, as a matter of fact, I do.
It's very unfair of me to think this, they say. Many rural people are fine, decent, upstanding folk. They care deeply about their fellow man, have a hands-on respect for the environment that I'll never understand, and anyway, who going to grow the food that I eat if not them?
Well, I don't buy it. I grew up in the country, and as soon as I had the opportunity, I moved to the city and I stayed there. I don't understand why any civilized person wouldn't do the same.
I'll come right out and say it: why in the name of God would anyone want to live in the sticks? The schools suck, there's nothing to do, almost no one to be friends with, no society, and no intellectual stimulation of any kind to speak of. It sucks out there. It almost killed me. Why would I think that anyone who would willingly subject themselves to this kind of life has anything on the ball?
Here's what rural life has going for it that city life doesn't:
1. Many rural communities are overwhelmingly white.
2. It's easier to escape intellectualism in rural areas.
3. One's children are less likely to be exposed to secular values-- evolution, homosexuality, science, respect for art.
If you're not antisocial, intolerant, or anti-intellectual, rural life has nothing to offer you that city life can't improve on. Yes, someone has to grow the food. Someone also has to man the instruments at South Pole Station, but that doesn't mean that South Pole Station is a swell place to live.
So, in short, to those rural dwellers who want to know why I seem to look down on them, that's why-- you live in a place that is only interesting to the sort of person who is opposed to everything I believe in. Why wouldn't I assume you and I don't have much in common?
UPDATE: Okay, okay; I give. This diary was not entirely serious. It was basically an attempt to give voice to a certain rather narrow-minded and mean-spirited portion of my psyche.
It's true that I grew up in the country, and I really did hate it. It's also true that most of my relatives still live there, and their attitudes, as well as the attitudes of the people they associate with, really piss me off-- they really are the sterotypical narrow-minded bigots of the Bible Belt, and they give rural America a bad name.
However, I don't believe that everyone who lives in the country is an idiot, or evil, or a racist. I was just sounding off to the effect that it sure seems that way sometimes, especially in certain towns in Southern Illinois that shall remain nameless.
Had I known that anyone was paying attention, I probably would have presented something less flippant and more nuanced. My previous diaries have gotten an average of, like, 5 comments total. I assumed a short rant posted at 5 am on a Saturday would quickly sink beneath the waves without comment.
Apparently not. Sheesh.