this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
619 points (99.0% liked)
196
16671 readers
3319 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Me too. God bless the Appalachian mountains.
I’ve probably met more mouth breathing, lead paint eating morons (myself included. As a matter of fact, at one time I was a t-1000 Liquid Metal mercury from 50 thermometers in my hand moron) than most people will ever encounter in 10 lifetimes. I can count on one hand just how many of those people were truly bad people.
If I have a visibly heavy load at work, it can be annoying how many people wander up and say, “hey ‘ere buddy. Yew gawn need inny hep wittat? I’ze just checkin’.”
Open the hood of your car and you can summon an entire neighborhood. For real, need directions in the Appalachians, just stop somewhere with houses, open your hood and spend a few minutes staring at your engine.
It's important to note that "the Appalachian mountains" span thousands of miles / kilometers across the United States and Canada and there aren't many generalizations that hold up for folks across that entire span. That may not be clear to a lot of folks, especially those not familiar with the eastern USA.
Of the parts I'm familiar with, mostly the southern parts, I would say that advice probably works best if you already fit in enough that you might appear to be "one of them" versus if you are visibly a minority, particularly if you stop some place outside the more liberal towns and cities. I can tell you for sure that many peoples' demeanor changes for the worse if/once they find out or assume you are gay and there are parts where you will find yard and road signs that specifically are anti-lgbt.
Granted, I'm not trying to paint the whole population of that 2,000+ mile swath of land as all being rabid bigots and racists either, just that for people reading that advice, I would say "your mileage my vary."
Most people are actually that good, it's just that in the Appalachian mountains the people density is a whole lot lower. Just by being around less people automatically makes you being around less bad people too.
Sure, in the bigger cities you probably have more asshats in general, people are more on-top of eachother so it's easier to annoy one another as well. it's eqaiser to accept and copy certain bad habbits too.
In the same way, of you open up your hood in the middle of nowhere, locals will stop and help because other help ain't coming whereas in the city, people will presume you're waiting for the AAA or a friendly Canadian to give you a leg so they won't stop and help you.
I think that in reality things aren't as black and white as you perceive them to be
I mean, my perception isn’t off about what I know and where I’m at. I don’t disagree with anything you said, I just prefer the kind of people where I’m at.