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I don't mind it, TBH. The vast majority of times I hear it, it's used to convey pity towards the residents of these towns (even if often misguided pity) rather than anything resembling contempt.
Oh, I think there's plenty of contempt for people "clinging to Bibles and guns".
Quote:
Originally Posted by danielj72
You are right that all the rust on everything because of the weather is part of it. The rust is also on the closed factories and that is where the stereotypes of unemployment and urban decay come into play. The term basically denotes the industrialized portion of the Midwest that has struggled economically for decades, has miserable weather, urban decay and yes lots of rust. That is the way I have always seen it and heard the term used.
I think the term "rust" also comes from the steelmaking. Steel rusts.
I don't mind the tern Rust Belt, as many places have taken ownership of the term and it is less meaningful in the descriptive sense since most of the former steel mills have long been torn down, buried, and replaced. There is much less actual rust than there used to be.
Steel Winds, former site of Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna plant on Lake Erie, immediately south of Buffalo. (additional towers built since this photo taken along with an added solar array farm)
I agree that the Great Lakes region is kind of bland scenically compared to much of the country, but I would put much of the Lower Midwest and Great Plains above it - and much of northern New England and the coastal South are about on par with the Great Lakes, just a bunch of forests and water without much to distinguish them.
Besides, I think the goal is for there not to *be* a "junkyard" region.
A couple of bland pictures I took of local forests and water, not much to distinguish the Great Lakes from the Great Plains.
Oh, I think there's plenty of contempt for people "clinging to Bibles and guns".
But that's usually applied to people in the South and Appalachia, which have been culturally conservative essentially since the dawn of the Atlantic slave trade. The Rust Belt is fairly liberal and voted mostly blue until 2016.
But that's usually applied to people in the South and Appalachia, which have been culturally conservative essentially since the dawn of the Atlantic slave trade. The Rust Belt is fairly liberal and voted mostly blue until 2016.
You are right that all the rust on everything because of the weather is part of it. The rust is also on the closed factories and that is where the stereotypes of unemployment and urban decay come into play. The term basically denotes the industrialized portion of the Midwest that has struggled economically for decades, has miserable weather, urban decay and yes lots of rust. That is the way I have always seen it and heard the term used.
I find this interesting, because I live in SE Michigan roughly an hour from Metro Detroit and I never see rust on anything on a daily basis, it is just not a part of the landscape. Honestly, people here drive nice, newer cars for the most part that are treated to prevent rust and it is not a daily occurrence to see a vehicle with any rust on it, certainly not any more common than in other areas I have visited, such as the Southeast. Wages are higher here than in some other parts of the country and people can actually afford nice things without rust on them.
I also take issue with the term "miserable weather". We do sometimes have cold, snowy winters, some years not so much, but this lasts from roughly December through mid-March, which is what, a little over a quarter of the year? The weather here from April through November is mostly sunny and very temperate and our summers, which run from mid-May to late October are simply to die for. Warm days that aren't miserably hot, cool evenings that are not miserable cold...basically green and gorgeous. I would not trade May-October here for anywhere else in the country.
I also don't see economic depression on a daily basis. The small town where I live, for example, is thriving and there are new McMansion subdivisions popping up everywhere, along with businesses like Starbucks and other chain restaurants and stores that do not cater to the economically depressed. Sure, the large cities struggle with this, but is there a large city in the country that doesn't? I have been in cities in other parts of the country, LA, New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix, etc. that have areas in them that are down right scary, no better than the cities here, along with nice areas that are considered desirable places to live, again, just like the cities here.
The part of the "Rust Belt" where I live has quaint, well kept small towns, prosperous farms, and good paying jobs. I laugh to think that people from outside the region call this area the "Rust Belt" because it is really quite lovely with a great quality of life.
The term was applied during a time when new and shiny suburbs with shopping malls were "in" and old, industrial cities were "out".
In many ways, this trend has reversed with older, industrial places and buildings with character, grit and all, being sought after and redesigned into cool condos, shops, etc.
So while the term "Rust Belt" has a negative sound to it, its potency has become somewhat diminished by becoming obsolete.
If the United States is going to have to have a junk yard, the Rust Belt would probably be the best region for it, when you consider the land scape of the Rust Belt region is among the most boring, the least interesting and the least attractive, and has the fewest amount of breath taking scenic views and distant panoramic vistas of all the regions in the entire country, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Which region of the country would have been a better region to pollute and rust out than the Rust Belt?
Maybe that’s because all of their forests were cut down and replaced with corn fields, so that people on the coasts could eat.
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