Leopards Ate My Face

4587 readers

1006 users here now

Rules:

If you don't already have some understanding of what this is, try reading this post. Off-topic posts will be removed.
Please use a high-quality source to explain why your post fits if you think it might not be common knowledge and isn't explained within the post itself.
Links to articles should be high-quality sources – for example, not the Daily Mail, the New York Post, Newsweek, etc. For a rough idea, check out this list. If it's marked in red, it probably isn't allowed; if it's yellow, exercise caution.
The mods are fallible; if you've been banned or had a comment removed, you're encouraged to appeal it.
For accessibility reasons, an image of text must either have alt text or a transcription in the comments.
All Lemmy.World Terms of Service apply.

Also feel free to check out [email protected] (also active).

Icon credit C. Brück on Wikimedia Commons.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

TheTechnician27

418_im_a_teapot

173

A fired federal worker grapples with her vote for Trump in Michigan (archive.ph)

submitted 1 day ago by inclementimmigrant to c/leopardsatemyface

24 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 20 hours ago

I grew up in one of those places. It was a town that anyone from a real city would think of as tiny, but was seen as the "Big City" in the area: population of around 35k, by far the largest in a several hour drive. I left when I graduated to go to college and have never returned from more than a holiday break to visit friends and family. Some of my friends and family left and some stayed. Everyone who stayed... well, it hasn't worked out well for them. They all ended up with dead end jobs in a dying town, hoping for the boom times again that will never come. They've become bitter, paranoid, and fearful of the outside world. The last time I was there, in 2021, was so damn sad. The town is so run down, there is a bad meth problem, and everything just felt despondent. Yeah, the town has chosen to do it to themselves in a lot of ways and I wouldn't be part of this community if I didn't enjoy at least some schadenfreude, but I also have to wonder how will those 35000 people, and their kids, ever have a chance at a better life?