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Mendon, Missouri

seandietrich.com

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Re: Mendon, Missouri

#31

Post by photochemsyn »

For some reason this reminded me of the Ray Bradbury story, "The Town Where Noone Got Off" which is a dark little story indeed about two men and a small town on a railroad line. This one is a bit more positive.

However, it turns out this whole incident was apparently due to the lack of a railroad crossing guard system of any kind at the intersection. The most basic system has flashing lights warning of oncoming trains, and even that wasn't present.

https://www.kwch.com/2022/06/30/amtrak-derailment-places-spo...

In that respect it's also a story about the poor state of American infrastructure.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#32

Post by kodah »

mcphage wrote: post #18
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The author indicated that the exceptional (and it was, indeed, "exceptional") generosity and sense of Duty, exhibited by the townsfolk was ignored by the press. It was probably a bit "whiny," but it was not incorrect. I do feel that publicizing examples of generosity of spirit would help in healing our nation, but he's right, in that it doesn't sell papers.

> The author indicated that the exceptional (and it was, indeed, "exceptional") generosity and sense of Duty The author took pains to assert that it wasn't exceptional: >> And the most unusual thing about all this is: None of this is unusual >> believe me, they happen. Every day. Every hour. Ordinary Americans will astound you with their goodwill > was ignored by the press Well, they're right in that I didn't hear an…

I mean, this is a crisis. There's a constitutional crisis in terms of two extremely divergent views of how to understand the constitution that both carry significant trajectory changes and neither of which sound very helpful. There's a political crisis going on with neo-nazi influence in and around the Republican party that's not being dealt with at all. There's a digital war on-going that's been heating up for the past two-ish decades that promises to get worse. There's a literal housing crisis. There's more, but that's a short list I think most people can agree on.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#33

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #26

Quoted post unavailable.

Pretending that there's a compromise just floating out there that if we could just get "the extremes" out of the way, would be embraced by all, is a rosy but ultimately utterly false fantasy.

There are very, very different views about the role of government and religion in this country, very different takes on morality, responsibility, and lots more. These are not resolvable via compromise. If things are relatively good economically, people can generally agree to disagree. When things are not so good financially (e.g. after 30+ years of the destruction of the American manufacturing sector and wholesale movement of capital and labor offshore), this becomes much, much less easy.

The answer to "Can't we all just get along" is, fundamentally, "No, unless we're all doing so well that we don't have to care".

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#35

Post by ryan_j_naughton »

> And the most unusual thing about all this is: None of this is unusual. At least not within the national tapestry that is The Great American Small Town.

It also isn't unusual in the cities. Humans are wonderful and terrible everywhere. It reminds me of the 30 Rock episode where Jack and Liz go to Georgia to find a new comedian in touch with the "real America" and Liz keeps insisting that all Americans are real Americans and there is no "real America."

The acts of people after 9/11 in NYC remind us of the good in humans just as this small town inspires us.

As Mr Rogers said, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#36

Post by BenFranklin100 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #33
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #26

Quoted post unavailable.

Pretending that there's a compromise just floating out there that if we could just get "the extremes" out of the way, would be embraced by all, is a rosy but ultimately utterly false fantasy. There are very, very different views about the role of government and religion in this country, very different takes on morality, responsibility, and lots more. These are not resolvable via compromise. If things are relatively g…

No post body was provided.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#38

Post by alasdair_ »

Americans are especially good when it comes to large efforts over the course of a short space of time to solve a major problem.

Americans are also especially bad at tackling problems that require a small, consistent, amount of help over a long period of time.

I’m honestly not sure why this is.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#40

Post by kodah »

photochemsyn wrote: post #31

For some reason this reminded me of the Ray Bradbury story, "The Town Where Noone Got Off" which is a dark little story indeed about two men and a small town on a railroad line. This one is a bit more positive. However, it turns out this whole incident was apparently due to the lack of a railroad crossing guard system of any kind at the intersection. The most basic system has flashing lights warning of oncoming train…

Interestingly, it's the line operator that usually has to establish and maintain those according to federal and (whatever) state guidelines might exist.
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