A few comments got me thinking about the difference in mentality between urban and rural people. FYI suggested reading T-Bolt’s post on Metrocons.
Now I’ve never lived in a BIG city. I did live in several densely packed urban neighborhoods where there was no yard, there were tenants on all sides of your dwelling and there was public transit a short walk away. Medford Mass, and right off of Congress Street in Portland Maine are the best I have. I also haven’t truly lived in a truly rural area, I’ve certainly lived in areas where I needed to drive 20 mins to the nearest grocery store (and that was an IGA the size of my basement in the most rural). Still I know lots of people who live pretty far off the grid. Know lots of people who haul their own trash and poop in septic tanks. Know a few who have a diesel generator that produces their home electricity.
So I’d like to say I’ve seen it all, and I’d like to pose what these different lifestyles do to how you view the world and your fellow man.
If you live totally off the grid you are dependent on EVERYTHING! You need to tend your septic tank so your poop has someplace to go. You need to haul or burn your trash. You need fuel for electricity and heat. If you don’t work from home you’ll need to trek out in your vehicle (often a very long commute) to get to work. Also while there is technically no place in the nation where there is no law, if you live out in the back woods of Maine there might be one local cop, or the County Sheriff’s office might cover the huge area around where you live. Police response time is likely hours not minutes.
Now if you live in a high-rise in a major city, there’s a dumpster for your trash or maybe a trash chute, the power is supplied by the local power company. The heat is supplied by the building. Bodily wastes goes into the city sewer system. You get to work via public transportation, and likely you have a quick commute. Police response time (barring incompetence) is in minutes, and if its a large building it likely has some form of security of its own.
The only somewhat similar aspect is both need to supply food for the pantry, tho the person living in the sticks can farm their land, or hunt their land, and the urban person certainly can swing by the supermarket every day after work for supplies for dinner, and the person off the grid might pack up a month’s worth of groceries if with commute it might be an all-day affair to hit the supermarket.
So now think of how that must affect a world-view. If you live in an Urban environment you are dependent on others. The end, full stop. I don’t live in a huge city now, but let’s face it, my house is on sewer, I have a gas line piped into my house for heat and cooking, I have power lines from the local power company, and if the grocery store stops stocking food I’ll starve, as my tiny yard won’t feed me or my family. Furthermore while I’m Mr. Self-defense I’m walking distance to my local Police station.
If you’re off the grid, if you don’t get it, you don’t have it.
Now have a thought on how that might effect various people in either environment who consider themselves Democrats or Republicans, or Conservatives or Liberals. I know some rural Democrats that have lots of guns, and a freezer filled with meat, and a pantry filled with canned veggies grown in their garden. And I think we’ve all seen the “Metrocons” who seem to not mind a little government nose into your personal business and can’t understand hunting, or wonder why anybody would have a semi-auto rifle.
Its just a cultural thing, and for those who have only seen one side of the coin, they might not understand what the other side is like.
Of course its all of our best interests to help each other understand the vast diversity of life and lifestyles in this vast nation.
