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As a toddler and even as a teenager and well through the time that I left my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, Detroit was the 5th largest city in the United States with a population ranging from ~1.2-1.5 million.
Which is to say: I am a Big City Boy, through and through.
Since growing up in Detroit, I’ve lived longer than...let’s say, three months in: Tallahassee, Florida, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago (although I have lived in a suburb of Chicago since 2013 but Chicago is within a five minute ride on the el), and Boston.
There’s nothing about big cities that I don’t love including the nooks and crannies of the great variety of neighborhoods one can find, big public parks, traveling via public transportation (and for me, the only proper public transportation is a subway or el system), so much and various kinds and flavors of food that’s available, meeting and seeing and talking with a wide variety of people, the ability to melt in and simply be...anonymous...I can increase the list.
I don’t have anything against small towns and rural areas; clearly small towns and rural areas have a distinctive charm that is all their own. Heck, I’ve even fantasized, on occasion, about moving to a small town or a rural area simply to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life, if only for a few months.
And one day, I may decide to do that...for a few months.
But I couldn’t leave The City alone if I tried, really.
I don’t have anything against small towns and rural areas; clearly small towns and rural areas have a distinctive charm that is all their own. Heck, I’ve even fantasized, on occasion, about moving to a small town or a rural area simply to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city life, if only for a few months.
And one day, I may decide to do that...for a few months.
I do know that I am sick and tired of the propaganda outfit that is Faux News and many who live in small towns and rural areas dumping on big cities.
A few months ago, I think that someone suggested right here in Top Comments or in the comment section of a Pundit Round-up that The City as the location of sin and pestilence goes back at least as far as Sodom and Gomorrah in The Bible (my suspicion is that is the association goes back even further).
There hasn’t been a big city that I can think of that has not or does not have that sort of reputation.
And sure, small towns and rural areas have the reputation of being bastions of intolerance, full of nosy neighbors and...that list could be increased as well.
And the reputation is probably just as unfair.
What upsets me about the latest American incarnation of the theme is the suggestion that those in small towns and rural areas represent “real” America and Americans as if Americans that live in big cities don’t.
That’s simply f’ed up.
(And I won’t even get into the racial overtones of that sort of those characterizations.)
Never mind the big cities are usually a significant part of economic and industrial engines of their respective states.
Besides, what am I supposed to think of all these small town and rural American (white) folk who fell for a city slicker con man like Donald Trump?
I could go on but...no…
I will simply emphatically repeat: I love The City. For all that It is.
And isn’t.
TOP COMMENTS
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From Holgar:
This comment by Frank Pedraza generated a series of responses that will keep me chuckling all day. From prophet’s recommended post on the lawsuits Trump is slated to face.
Highlighted by HalBrown:
This comment by The Octopus, in HalBrown’s post on Derek Chauvin’s rude awakening in incarceration.
Highlighted by revm3up:
This comment by DButch in Crashing Vor’s post She’s a Brick----House.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, April 22, 2021, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for yesterday, April 22, 2021. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!