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Mendon, Missouri

seandietrich.com

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Re: Mendon, Missouri

#61

Post by skeeter2020 »

melenaboija wrote: post #43
ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #35

> 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…

Although I agree with it I think that small towns have something that is lost in big cities which is the sense of community, and that is simply because in towns you know every single person that has some impact in your daily live. My family is from a small town who moved to the city right before I was born and there is something my mom said to me when I was a kid that got stuck in my mind which is the awareness of de…

smaller communities exist in big cities too. They might be neighbourhoods like a small town, or interest, cause or activity-based. The trick is not to defer to government to provide them for you, which I think is harder in big centers.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#62

Post by logifail »

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…

> 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.

I spent a lot of my time telling my three kids they have to learn to compromise [with each other!], since the alternatives are much, much worse.

Q: What's the plan for reconcilling "very, very different views" if one is not going to compromise?

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#63

Post by rustymonday »

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…

You must not drive out in the country often. Railroad crossing with lights are not common outside busy roads. The most you'll have is a railroad crossing sign. Certainly a flashing light system is safer, but you (and that news article) make it sound like it's absence is unusual.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#64

Post by kweingar »

jxcole wrote: post #37

Quoted post unavailable.

I see your point, but helping people at the scene of an accident is not incompatible with bad views on social issues.

Almost all of the heroes of the Titanic, or the Allied soldiers in WWII, would share all of these views. Many of the first responders at 9/11 shared most or all of these views.

Not endorsing or excusing these views, just pointing out that the idea that this is hypocritical is very new

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#65

Post by realo »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #36
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #33

Earlier 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 “Trump nationalists” is a bit too indulgent for what they really are.

Try “Trump’s gang of domestic terrorists” instead, for what they actually are and/or represent.

Then what you call “the middle” suddenly takes on a very different , much less reasonable look.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#66

Post by formerkrogemp »

melenaboija wrote: post #43
ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #35

> 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…

Although I agree with it I think that small towns have something that is lost in big cities which is the sense of community, and that is simply because in towns you know every single person that has some impact in your daily live. My family is from a small town who moved to the city right before I was born and there is something my mom said to me when I was a kid that got stuck in my mind which is the awareness of de…

> Although I agree with it I think that small towns have something that is lost in big cities which is the sense of community, and that is simply because in towns you know every single person that has some impact in your daily live. My family is from a small town who moved to the city right before I was born and there is something my mom said to me when I was a kid that got stuck in my mind which is the awareness of death, in big cities is like people don't die because you don't know about it.

Cities have plentiful and varied communities, but it's easier to be lost in the masses. Many people lose empathy amongst so many other humans, or so some claim.

I was raised in a small town. Every coin has its other side. "Every single person has an impact on your life." Certainly if the community disapproves of your appearance, skin color, or religion, they can ostracize you, they'll each take turns with their individual impact to turn your life to shit.

Small towns can be bucolic, beautiful, and communal, however your mileage may vary dramatically from in-group to in-group and tribe to tribe. Beware your own scarlet letter, whether it's your skin color, religion, or otherwise.

> Although it may sound macabre I think that knowing about death helps me better understand being alive.

Wise words.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#68

Post by Clubber »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #54
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Your comment suggests that there's "65%" of the country that just wants to get along. I'm disputing that.

>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.

Neither of the political parties are doing anything other than lip service to entice jobs back. Trump was the only one to really bring it up in probably 40 years, and he was lambasted.

>Your comment suggests that there's "65%" of the country that just wants to get along. I'm disputing that.

Based on what? There are only a few wedge issues, I think aside from those, most people aren't that far off, even on the issues they are passionate about. The biggest impediment is that the political parties are both extremely economically conservative.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#69

Post by davidro80 »

Stories like this are extremely motivating to me after seeing non-stop streams of pure social negativity or bad events unfolding in the news.

Unrelated, but it did make me think of 9/11 and “The Man in the Red Bandana”:

https://youtu.be/S77KYbkmjwc

The opening question sets the stage for the context:

“What would you do, in the last hour of your life?”

I love humans even with all of our negatives. Everyone has the potential to “rise to the occasion” in their own way big or small.

Happy 4th of July to my US HN friends!

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#70

Post by stevetodd »

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…

Being a pessimist is easy and lazy. You don’t have to lift a finger. Things can actually get better and do when people believe it and do even just a little bit.
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