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Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

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Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#391
post #387
post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family is not in a city, I do not misunderstand. A lot more than farmers live in rural areas. The kind of take you have isn't unusual for HN though. Most people from HN have spent their entire lives in cities or suburbs, so their empathy is short.

As a numerical fact, over 80% of people in the US live in cities and suburbs. I am going to go back to your original comment: you think we should change the fact that most jobs are in cities and suburbs. I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and…

> I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and go out to towns like yours. Your town would turn into a city in its own right.

Good that you can read between the lines. That is the goal. Bring prosperity to these areas rather than extracting from them so regularly.

> The fact that most people concentrate themselves into denser areas makes your rural lifestyle possible in the first place.

Again, another HN fallacy. Rural is not a "lifestyle". Most people don't just move to a place where there's no ambulance services out of a "lifestyle choice". That line of thinking on HN as a default needs a swift and sharp death. Usually it's economic situations. If you start to drift away from the federal definition of rural, which is incredibly specific and not accurate to the average Americans definition, it includes a lot of small towns and cities. There's a lot of overlap as to why people live in those places and, again, it's generally not lifestyle.

> I am not sure what I’m supposed to have empathy for here. I never said that rural people are dumb or bad or that nobody should live in rural areas. I have plenty of empathy for humans in general. I personally don’t prefer rural life but I also don’t have any negative feelings toward anyone who wants to live that way.

Empathy isn't just a trait you have or don't have. Not only are there different kinds of empathy, but humans practice empathy selectively based on experience (largely). I'm saying it sounds like you lack perspective based on the things you've said, which often equates to a lack of empathy. Now, if you were raised in a city or suburb and have never left then that explains it. That doesn't make you awful or anything bad, at least in my view, if that's what you need to hear.

> I’m just being realistic: concentrated areas where humans live in communities has been our reality since nomadic hunter-gathering was replaced by agriculture.

Those tribes were how big? Nowhere near the density of tech cities or any city with the appropriate concentration of jobs I referenced. My idea is to spread the population out more and make better use of land and resources.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#392
This is because more and more people are moving to cities.

When you are in a city, you have everything at your fingertips. You don't like your current friends? No problem, 1 million people live here, I can find more.

When you are in a rural area, you live in a town of 1,000 people, you know everyone and everyone knows you. You can't be alone. You can't go out and find new friends. You can't find a new plumber or electrician - there's only one of each in town.

Rural areas have much more connectiveness, but not urban areas. There are so many people, I really don't care about the people who live 2 doors down. In a rural community, you do.

Of course, not all people in rural or urban areas are like this, but generally yeah.

I remember one time, after living only in a large city for 2 years and never leaving it, I went to a rural area and went for a walk along this street. Some dude was walking the other way. He smiled at me and said "Hello." My immediate reaction was, "What do you want? I don't have any money to give you." That was my automatic thought. I knew he wasn't a panhandler, that is a city thing, and the rural area I went to was upper middle class rural area. But that was my first thought. "Why are you talking to me, what do you want, I have no money to give you."

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#393
post #391
post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a numerical fact, over 80% of people in the US live in cities and suburbs. I am going to go back to your original comment: you think we should change the fact that most jobs are in cities and suburbs. I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and…

> I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and go out to towns like yours. Your town would turn into a city in its own right. Good that you can read between the lines. That is the goal. Bring prosperity to these areas rather than extracting from th…

[deleted]

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#394
post #391
post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a numerical fact, over 80% of people in the US live in cities and suburbs. I am going to go back to your original comment: you think we should change the fact that most jobs are in cities and suburbs. I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and…

> I’m just being realistic here: that is not possible. The human population dispersing from cities and suburbs doesn’t make physical sense. You wouldn’t live in a rural area anymore if Manhattan decided to move out and go out to towns like yours. Your town would turn into a city in its own right. Good that you can read between the lines. That is the goal. Bring prosperity to these areas rather than extracting from th…

[deleted]

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#395

Fortunately as a socially coy software engineer with limited social skills, I've somehow managed to find a partner with similar interests who gets me. However, after dating in New York for a few years, even with more candor my conversion rate to a third date from Hinge was 5%. This is based on around 40 dates in 2021. For some reason, dating is more palatable for skinny weird guys on the east coast? Women have insane…

You’re a very physically attractive man if you managed to get 40 dates in one year. Your experience will be nothing like that of an average looking man.

I'm maybe a 6/10 on a good day. I went bald at 24 and chronically have black circles under my eyes. First dates don't really count, conversion is what counts.

Somehow, you can be somewhat successful in NYC if you're a skinny 5' 10" man, but it rarely leads to a real relationship, especially if you dislike drinking / partying.

Re: Americans are choosing to be alone, but we should reverse that

#396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're the only one introducing "Toxic Individualism" in this thread. I wonder what do you mean by it? Because, just as well, there's an aggressive collectivist movement which directly attacks individuals (and individual choices). It's really easy to switch from "I like to do my things alone, let me be" to "society is evil" after having been made a pariah by the "collective".

It's also really easy, I'd say even more common, for people to be made a pariah because of their behavior and then blame the collective. You could say it's a hallmark of toxic individualism. Activism and narcissism is rampant in modern society now. The old guard of moral conformity no longer exists. That pendulum has already swung and the heros/villians have traded places. To be fair, its extremely rare for groups to…

You reply makes no sense. On a grammatical and conceptual level.
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