Quote:
Originally Posted by spooky
sure, i was thinking of mentioning mining towns in the rockies, too, but, comparatively, its uncommon, whereas the industrial revolution and all the factories, tanneries, etc, that all happed in the early part of the 20th century in new england gives it a very specific and unique background that the rest of america, by and large, just doesnt have.
he is very specific in his experience of small town life.
ive lived in small towns in texas, new mexico, florida, virginia. matts lived in upstate NY. its just not the same all over.
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But the industrial revolution, especially with the advent of the assembly line (after the steam-engine and the wind-up cars where to expensive to make thanks to Ford's model-t) caused a boom of factories in the the midwest like MI, OH and western PA, I mean a lot of the cities are named after cars, or tires, or parts of cars, brands, etc in those areas. They made whole-towns of just factory workers, and now the descendants of those families are suffering. Didn't GM just closed down some more factories in MI and like slashed 500+ jobs??
And the job slashes I'm referring too are rather recent (I think 16yrs is pretty recent).
As for different experiences between you and Matt B. Other than Being south of Matt, your experiences where still on the eastern part of this country. Yeah there are going to be some demographic differences and some cultural due to climate, and different raw materials, but the whole east coast pretty much has the same distribution method for transporting said goods and have pretty much the same model for their respective industries. For instance, shipping by boat in coastal cities is something the whole East Coast has in common.
But saying that, everyone is going to have a different life experience no matter where they lived, for the simple fact that we all live life differently. For instance, I lived in Manhattan, Chemda and Brother Love lived in Brooklyn. I lived with my mother and half-brother in a run-down studio apt right next to a junkyard (My mom lives there still). Their families own their homes and I'm going to assume it was more than a studio, etc, etc.
Lastly, Facts, provided that they aren't skewered, don't lie. Fact 1)Coastal cities have more than one method of making money, money provides cities with good services (ie, hospitals, libraries, schools, etc.). Fact 2) if you live in a town that is primarily dependent on one source of income and that income is taken away, your standards of living drop; consequently your education and other services deteriorate. Fact 3) Poor towns that live in despair and aren't properly educated, fall into superstitions and traditions to base their way of life and give it purpose. Fact 4) Once these traditions and standards are set, it is very hard to break from this mold for "fear of destroying the community" and so level of ignorance is maintained.
Just fall back on all those stories that Keith has read about third-world countries where people are still being stoned for being labelled witches and things like that. I'm not saying small towns in the midwest and south, etc are in that extreme. But they are going in that direction. Just look at all recent creationism vs. evolutions stories and court cases that have been happening lately.
Man this was wordy. Not sure if I really made my point but oh well
