Anywhere in the world if you fall off your bike someone will help you up.
As someone who fell off their bike rather hard in my case it was a 9 year old boy that found me and he really made my day in how he responded and organized help.
Mendon, Missouri
51–60 of 206 posts
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#52Is the author's claim that modern journalism doesn't contain enough feel-good human interest stories?
Is this a question you are asking in good faith, because I think it is clear that he is not making that claim?
> I think it is clear that he is not making that claim?
This is the second last line of the piece, where the author explicitly makes that claim:
>> Although we rarely hear about such acts of compassion and lovingkindness within our society, believe me, they happen. Every day. Every hour. Ordinary Americans will astound you with their goodwill. Sadly, ordinary American journalists aren’t interested in being astounded by such things.
Maybe that's not what they're trying to get across—if not, I'd like to hear what you think it is—but I like how you jump to "acting in bad faith".
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#53Americans 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.
The former feels like you’re doing something to immediate effect. The latter is invisible, both the solution and the problem, until it’s too late.
I don’t think it’s a uniquely American trait.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Quoted post unavailable.
Your comment suggests that there's "65%" of the country that just wants to get along. I'm disputing that.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you read a story of people helping people and all you can think of is "how do I make this reflect poorly on my political enemies"?
The story is a commentary on how wonderful the people living in small towns are. And, well, I disagree with the premise--- because it seems to deny that most people are wonderful everywhere, not just in small towns. Most people are also capable of terrible things in groups, too. A whole lot of people have had to flee small towns to avoid the kind of disgrace and judgment that only a really small community can give. A…
There are people who read every story they encounter through a political lens and judge every person based on how likely they are to be a political ally or enemy (without even knowing for sure... just stereotyping them).
It's a form of intellectual dishonesty, where the only thing that matters is someone's political beliefs and simply switching the paticipants would yield a different opinion.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The story is a commentary on how wonderful the people living in small towns are. And, well, I disagree with the premise--- because it seems to deny that most people are wonderful everywhere, not just in small towns. Most people are also capable of terrible things in groups, too. A whole lot of people have had to flee small towns to avoid the kind of disgrace and judgment that only a really small community can give. A…
>The story is a commentary on how wonderful the people living in small towns are. I don't think so, but I see how you got there. I think it is a story about empathy for others in a crisis, and the author argues that this is universal in America--including New York, Chicago, Mobile, Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Seattle, Indianapolis, Honolulu, and Charlotte.
This was the sentence that convinced me it's talking about something being special about small towns: 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.
The author blogs pretty much exclusively on the cultural tapestry of the South.
> and the author argues that this is universal in America-
I see a comment arguing that, but not by the author.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#57> 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 Ameri…
I'm old enough to have experienced the slow, quiet, patient love of Mr Rogers first hand; I'm not sure it's able to rise above today's noisy fears? I hope I'm wrong.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Quoted post unavailable.
A reasonable person reading your comment could infer that the “other 65%” of Americans are all in agreement on something, and the reply simply disagreed.
Sometimes when there is a misunderstanding of the writer’s intent, it is an issue with the clarity of the writing and not an issue with the reader.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
The story is a commentary on how wonderful the people living in small towns are. And, well, I disagree with the premise--- because it seems to deny that most people are wonderful everywhere, not just in small towns. Most people are also capable of terrible things in groups, too. A whole lot of people have had to flee small towns to avoid the kind of disgrace and judgment that only a really small community can give. A…
There are people who read every story they encounter through a political lens and judge every person based on how likely they are to be a political ally or enemy (without even knowing for sure... just stereotyping them). It's a form of intellectual dishonesty, where the only thing that matters is someone's political beliefs and simply switching the paticipants would yield a different opinion.
OK.
I grew up in a pseudo-rural, medium sized town.
There's a lot of good things that I could tell you about the people -- but I don't think they're qualitatively that different from people in most cities.
But I can also tell you that they're regressive, judgmental places. If someone thinks you screwed up or did something that is in their eyes wrong, everyone knows.
I can't disentangle the assertion that small town culture is somehow special (and I'm not sure whether the author's assertion this is true) from the kind of rigid roles people in this kind of place impose upon one another (which is inextricably tied to the politics of the place, too).
edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31978527 This comment explains what I'm trying to say quite well.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#60Earlier 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.
> 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. Man bites dog is news. Dog bites man isn't. Sorry to be cold and unaffectionate (I love the story though) but I believe it happens regulary. Big town, small town, there's good people everywhere.
> Man bites dog is news. Dog bites man isn't.
I become increasingly convinced that a significant part of our deficiency in reporting is that we've conflated "news" with "current affairs" long enough that we've forgotten that both are actually worthy of mental bandwidth.