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Mendon, Missouri

seandietrich.com

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Re: Mendon, Missouri

#111

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

sovande wrote: post #77
alasdair_ wrote: post #38

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.

On a larger scale, the US Marshall Plan to help Europe back on its feet after WW2 was immensely important for Europe and for individuals. My uncle got help funding a successful garment factory in Bergen, Norway. He could employ over a hundred women, many widows. Those who still remember are forever grateful to the US. The same uncle also told me about how the Flesland airport outside Bergen was constructed. For years…

Thank you for writing this. Reading it in the USA on our Independence Day reminds me how wonderful my country can be.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#113

Post by sixothree »

Ancapistani wrote: post #79
sixothree wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in the deep south, it's easy to see the paradox. Vehemently, deeply racist and judgmental people willing acting so selflessly at random occasions. Southern manners are usually just a facade masking hatred. I hate to say these things, but it is true.

I’ve heard the following said: “Southerns will hate the group but love the person. Northerners will love the group but hate the person” Obviously that’s way oversimplified, but it’s broadly reflective of what I’ve seen. I’ve seen open casual racism in the South followed by kindness and empathy toward individual members of that race. I’ve seen public “performative” condemnation of racism in the North followed by quiet…

We can talk Missouri in particular. Just a year or two ago there were anti-blm protests. I saw signs people were carrying with the n-word on them. This was in public and on television.

And I'm guessing this same person will use their southern manners accordingly when they come across a black person in their daily life.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#114

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

logifail wrote: post #62
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…

> 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…

There is no plan. These things get resolved by some combination of:

1. civil war 2. political power (domination) 3. secession 4. overwhelming economic prosperity

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#115

Post by mlyle »

kortilla wrote: post #110
lotsofpulp wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea what your comment is trying to convey, but to help clarify my comment, this might help: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-wh... I posit that at the root of all societal friction is the widening income/wealth gap within the US, along with shifting socioeconomic statuses with some losing ground and some gaining ground. Note that people are in many tribes of many sizes simultaneous…

> I posit that at the root of all societal friction is the widening income/wealth gap within the US, Why would you think this when there is little meaningful difference income-wise between Democrats and Republicans? A significant chunk of the US votes on single issue matters that have nothing to do with economic status (abortion, gun rights).

I don't agree that the root is the income/wealth gap, but it certainly is playing a big role in the divide.

> little meaningful difference income-wise between Democrats and Republicans?

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-stu... is striking-- and when you look into the sub-demographics of the lowest and highest band it gets more interesting still-- e.g. that 27% in the lowest income band is shockingly rural.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#116

Post by tootie »

sixothree wrote: post #30
manor wrote: post #16

Quoted post unavailable.

Having lived in the deep south, it's easy to see the paradox. Vehemently, deeply racist and judgmental people willing acting so selflessly at random occasions. Southern manners are usually just a facade masking hatred. I hate to say these things, but it is true.

People can be nice while simultaneously not being good.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#117

Post by njarboe »

Great to hear these people helping out. I didn't like when people started using the phrase "First responder" for police, fire, ambulance people. If you are at the scene of a problem, you can be a first responder and be there sooner than the "first responders". You can be a zeroth responder.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#118

Post by karaterobot »

mlyle wrote: post #73
exar0815 wrote: post #45

I have witnessed something quite similar. During the flash-floods in 2021 in Germany, locals in the Ahr region absolutely rose to the occasion. Farmers were evacuating people in head-high water with their tractors during the night, local restaurants were already providing hot food and water the next morning wherever they could reach, pharmacies were loading whatever they had available on ATVs to somehow get much-need…

Yes. I think people are good overall. I think the biggest reason people in small towns may be a bit quicker to help is that people in cities are a little conditioned by the bystander effect to assume that people around them, or the authorities, are better equipped to help. But any random individual asked for help in a city is likely to go well beyond their duty and be quite helpful.

> But any random individual asked for help in a city is likely to go well beyond their duty and be quite helpful.

Fortunately yes, though I think I'd still give the edge to small towns for this. In cities, people are a lot more wary of being scammed, since it happens more often in areas with more people.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#119

Post by jessaustin »

forgingahead wrote: post #46
jxcole wrote: post #37

Quoted post unavailable.

What is striking to me about the discourse amongst American elites is that they easily otherize their own countrymen, and swallow hook, line, and sinker any story about the "others" that help confirm their smug beliefs. If you had 24/7 coverage in the news about how X group in another country is bad, you may pause and think this coverage is a little one-sided. But against your imaginary political enemies, you cackle…

If you had 24/7 coverage in the news about how X group in another country is bad, you may pause and think this coverage is a little one-sided.

You might want to reconsider the news coverage you may have seen of Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Bolivia, China, Iran, etc.

Re: Mendon, Missouri

#120

Post by mindslight »

cagey wrote: post #104
kodah wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I believe that this is incorrectly simplistic, if only because these sorts of situations by definition exist at the interface between a railroad and either a private or government road. Having the line operator (which I'm taking to mean railroad owner, in this case BNSF) bear 100% of the burden of providing full crossing protection creates an unbalanced situation (in terms of the cost to be borne). I'm not an expert,…

This cost sharing hot potato is itself part of the problem. It's ridiculous to have privately-owned infrequently-used tracks having precedence over well-used public roads, and then making mitigating the resulting contention into a shared responsibility. It's akin to someone putting up a yield sign on the road next to their driveway, and then just pulling out without caring because they technically own up until the center of the road.

Rather BNSF et al should be paying for the full cost of their own infrastructure, either by building out the necessary safety devices or simply ending the full-speed aspect of the crossings they don't want to pay for. And I say this as someone who like trains, has taken the Southwest Chief cross country a few times, and wishes we had more passenger rail in general.

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