Yesterday’s post on small town weirdness has generated a variety of interesting responses:
Which is funny since I left the hustle and bustle of the city after decades of dealing with it up close and personal, in my profession. I live where birds sing, there is no traffic, very little crime, where people are basically kind and my stress level has dropped exponentially.
Are people more weird in smaller places? No,I’d say that they’re actually less anxious and more calm and have a greater sense of who they are. I also know after working in healthcare in the inner city that I see a heck of lot less craziness and a lot more productivity where I am at. Individuals anywhere, ALL have eccentricities. I believe that everyone is neurotic in their own special way.
Commenter Bob Long also championed small town life, arguing that creativity and productivity is no longer tied to geography:
Being “ambitious and energetic” where I live is no longer tied to where I work, and I have chosen to raise my family in a Texas town with a population of 2,500. The schools are far superior, the people are much nicer, the cost of living is much lower and quality of life much better. In Texas we don’t take our “cultural cues” from anyone, much less the miserable self proclaimed elites that populate the upper east side of the NY or any of the bankrupt blue states.
While comments skewed against my thesis, reader emails were more supportive. For example,
I work small town America and i wouldn’t send my kids to school in small town America any more than i would downtown LA. The drugs and the wierd (sic) is what defines a small town in America today. My friend and i call it “shadow America” no one wants to talk about. Underclass of poverty and welfare.
And Dan Gainor thinks I missed the obvious:
These are some strong responses– and wholly understandable, considering the emotional ties people have to where they live.
This strikes me as an ongoing conversation. Charles Murray was hardly the first to point out the inherent problems associated with elite citizens behaving badly in public, and he won’t be the last.