This reminds me of a town I ended up in when I got separated from the truck transporting me and actually had to do community service to fix up the roads.
Mendon, Missouri
91–100 of 206 posts
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> I think people are good overall. Until a certain amount of sacrifices have to be made. Then things start getting tribal. The sacrifices do not even have to be material, simply sacrificing or losing socioeconomic status relative to others is sufficient.
I have found otherwise good people are capable of intentionally doing awful things to another human, even if you have known someone almost your entire life, a switch flips and it is like a full psychopath is unlocked. Many only need the moral cover, certain they are right, to say and do awful things to another.
This was always true but it seems to me that social media, in all its forms, not only takes your privacy, it also takes your empathy. At the root of many mental health disorders exists narcissism and for the past few decades an increasing number of people have been added to the empathy erasing internet hate machine.
Just look around, the proof is everywhere.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#93Quoted 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…
You’ve put your finger on a fundamental problem in modern American political discourse.
Hubris is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. A significant but very vocal minority of Americans see politics as a means to validate their personal self worth rather than address common problems.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> 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
Totally agree and that is probably one of the reasons I never went back to my town. Sense of belonging and tribalism definitely comes with drawbacks but also builds a feeling of having to stay together to move forward which is what makes that things like the post happen.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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 tha…
...the cultural tapestry of the South.
This is sort of a "stolen valor" situation, because Mendon MO is certainly not the South. One could make that argument for parts of Missouri, but this ain't the Ozarks. Mendon is on the same latitude as Dayton OH, so only JD Vance types would pretend to be confused about this.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> I think people are good overall. Until a certain amount of sacrifices have to be made. Then things start getting tribal. The sacrifices do not even have to be material, simply sacrificing or losing socioeconomic status relative to others is sufficient.
> >Yes. I think people are good overall.
> Until a certain amount of sacrifices have to be made.
I remember some political philosophy online course from some reasonably reputable American college that was quite nicely set up - it had a lecturer and two token students (a man and a woman). At some point the lecturer asked the students (IIRC the topic was anarchism) if they thought that people were fundamentally basically good - the man was like "yeah I think people are basically good", the woman said something along the lines of "Well, I grew up in Yugoslavia, so not really..."
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#97Great story.
The day of the train wreck will live on in Mendon for generations, I'm sure. There will be kids and grand-kids telling this story in 50 years.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 tha…
...the cultural tapestry of the South. This is sort of a "stolen valor" situation, because Mendon MO is certainly not the South. One could make that argument for parts of Missouri, but this ain't the Ozarks. Mendon is on the same latitude as Dayton OH, so only JD Vance types would pretend to be confused about this.
Any state that was a slave state and member of the Confederacy is part of the South.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> I think people are good overall. Until a certain amount of sacrifices have to be made. Then things start getting tribal. The sacrifices do not even have to be material, simply sacrificing or losing socioeconomic status relative to others is sufficient.
Retake political science please.
The advent of the agricultural revolution, the telegraph, and the teletype each resulted in massive increases in "tribal size". To the point that after the teletype, it was a bipolar cold war.
So I don't think you have any qualifications to say a single word in this matter.
Re: Mendon, Missouri
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think people are good overall. Until a certain amount of sacrifices have to be made. Then things start getting tribal. The sacrifices do not even have to be material, simply sacrificing or losing socioeconomic status relative to others is sufficient.
Retake political science please. The advent of the agricultural revolution, the telegraph, and the teletype each resulted in massive increases in "tribal size". To the point that after the teletype, it was a bipolar cold war. So I don't think you have any qualifications to say a single word in this matter.
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 simultaneously, and constantly shifting priorities and allegiances as it suits them, and trying to figure out others’ priorities and allegiances.