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The answer lay at the end of a very loooong paper trail that led me through the topics of World Population policies from the late 60's to early 1970's here in the US.
As many of the original documents had been declassified starting in the late 1980's I was able to feed my appetite for information fairly easily.
I am now very disgusted at what I found to be intentional targeting of American farmers & rural people. The thought process was that Farmers typically had large families; they were tatgeted as "least likely" to limit their fertility rates due to needing "extra-hands" on the farm. The US government actually saw the strong & prosperous "family farm" to be a threat to their main agenda: Control of Natural Resources via Population Control.
Some of these documents had very clear "Plans Of Action" (thats what they were literally called) designed to use propoganda as a way to discourage rural Americans from self-sufficiency & Agriculture.
Take people off the farms. Put them in cities (city "folk" have lower fertility rates). Encourage mass consumerism vs self-sufficiency as a way of life. Gain control of the resources.
Elementary school textbooks began to "morph" American History. Farmers were portrayed as dirty, sad looking people living in dugouts. Enter popular television programs like "Beverly Hillbillies" & "Hee Haw" portraying country dwellers as laughable & stupid.
Any "Plan of Action" that was effective in rural America was then considered legitimate to be implimented in the countries that were in the "real" crosshairs of this agenda; Africa, India & South America.
I realize as I proofread what I'm writing that I sound like a "loon". I sound like a gloom & doom crazy lady.
I have always been a "city girl". I personally have no dog in this fight. And I found MY answer to MY question anyway.
But when I read a query as to why the consumerism (shopping) that may be noticed in rural America; I really can't resist. If you want to read for yourself how this "Plan of Action" came into existence; here is a link to the National Security Study Memorandum 200. Issued in 1974, declassified in 1980:
I was just a kid when Willie Nelson started his "Farm Aid" efforts but it looks to me like he never had a chance.
Personally; this turned me off of my "Shop till You Drop" lifestyle. I don't like feeling like such a tool.
Exactly! That policy only now is bearing noticeable fruit in the mass migration OUT of rural areas and into dense population centers where "they" have an easier time controlling people by way of making them utterly dependent on externally-provided resources.
Someone bragged to me about how all the controls for his house were contained in one computerized panel. I asked him what happens if that panel becomes corrupted or powered off out of his control, or if he can't tell WHICH function is screwed up because it is giving undecipherable error codes.
On a much larger scale, making rural dwellers feel like they "need" high-speed Internet, cable TV, and so on serves the purpose of making them more likely to move to the city eventually, where they can get the highest speeds possible.
I also wonder just how making meth became such a scourge in rural areas? Was it really just a haphazard phenomenon (availability of ingredients plus seclusion) or is there a still-classified plan on how to destroy any outlying pockets of resistance to being herded, sardine-canned, and easier to keep tabs on?
AND has anybody else wondered who really benefits from sites such as C-D? Maybe it isn't the advertisers after all.
I don't shop as entertainment, I shop when I have a need to fulfill. I LOVE things like Amazon Prime, because they allow me to avoid setting foot in places like malls and big box stores, which I loathe.
I'm with you. If I enjoyed being surrounded by strip malls, big box stores and mega-grocery stores, I wouldn't be living in a rural area. Those are the types of things I was glad to get away from after growing up in suburbia.
Also, many chains do not come to rural areas because the economics don't support it. This is not where people with lots of discretionary income tend to live. Most people around here are not all that into "status" brands, or able (or willing) to spend hundreds of dollars on a handbag.
We have a Super Walmart, Lowes, Ingles, Food Lion, and a Marshalls, and of course a few dollar stores. If you want more than that, the next big town has all the chains, (an all the congestion and traffic too). I find what I need and want here, and my "entertainment" shopping is mostly yard sales and flea markets!
Some stores I have rarely, or never been in and could care less:
Old Navy
American Eagle
Publix
Whole Foods
Target
Costco
Trader Joes
Sam's Club
Aeropostale
Any of the "high-end" stores such as Under Armour, Michael Kors, Coach, blah, blah.
But I understand what the OP is saying. Some people on these threads act as though something vital will be missing from their lives if they don't have easy access to all of these places. To me, quality of life has nothing to do with what stores I shop in.
I have been in all of those stores except Aeropostale--don't even know what it is--and the ones in your last line. You are not missing much, although I sometimes miss Whole Foods. I take advantage of buying from those stores IF I am near one and IF I need something, but other than that I can take it or leave it.
It comes down to whether you shop for a defined need or want, or for entertainment.
Every Saturday, my little town becomes a ghost town because so many people run off to Iowa City, Des Moines, St. Louis, or even Chicago to go shopping.
Meanwhile, at the Mennonite-run Dutchman's store in the nearby town of Cantril, Iowa (pop. 200-ish) you can't find a parking place within a couple of blocks on Saturday because of all the people from Iowa City, Des Moines, St. Louis, and even Chicago who flock there to go shopping.
Exactly! That policy only now is bearing noticeable fruit in the mass migration OUT of rural areas and into dense population centers where "they" have an easier time controlling people by way of making them utterly dependent on externally-provided resources.
Someone bragged to me about how all the controls for his house were contained in one computerized panel. I asked him what happens if that panel becomes corrupted or powered off out of his control, or if he can't tell WHICH function is screwed up because it is giving undecipherable error codes.
On a much larger scale, making rural dwellers feel like they "need" high-speed Internet, cable TV, and so on serves the purpose of making them more likely to move to the city eventually, where they can get the highest speeds possible.
I also wonder just how making meth became such a scourge in rural areas? Was it really just a haphazard phenomenon (availability of ingredients plus seclusion) or is there a still-classified plan on how to destroy any outlying pockets of resistance to being herded, sardine-canned, and easier to keep tabs on?
AND has anybody else wondered who really benefits from sites such as C-D? Maybe it isn't the advertisers after all.
I just came back from a trip where I went to see my family's farm, which they had tried really hard to hold onto...it's still agricultural, but now part of a huge operation, planted in just soybeans & corn...there are no family farms left that I could see, & the little farm towns that, as a kid, I remember were bustling, are now desolate, mostly abandoned rural ghettoes.
On the way there and back on the Interstates, there were SO MANY huge billboards regarding meth...
I realize I'm off-topic, but it was sad & discouraging to see.
I keep seeing shopping come up in threads about moving to rural areas. Maybe I'm too set in my ways, but I rarely need anything I can't find at the supermarket, NAPA or the Farmer's Co-op. There's a Wal-Mart about 20 miles away. I was in it about 5 years ago, but my local membership discount store started stocking 5 quart jugs of motor oil, which was the only thing I bought there. Costco is just a little farther, but I let my membership lapse after I bought hearing aids and glasses the last time. I also bought about 20 LED light bulbs there. My local big box supermarket has prices as good as Costco with a better selection, so I'm not tempted to buy pallet loads of toilet paper. If I can't find something in town, I just buy it on the internet. I bought a tractor 12 years ago. How many tractors do you need?
Is shopping really so important to people that they have to seek out places to spend money?
20 years ago I would have said, yes. I probably wouldn't live where I do now, then. But with the advent of internet shopping, it's not a big deal any more. Even before I left the city, I had mostly switched over to shopping online. Not so much because I wanted to, but shopping in person was becoming more difficult. A lot of stores and malls were shutting down and the lack of competition was degrading the ones that were still open.
I really like shopping, but I find that eBay meets my shopping needs now. eBay literally has billions of items listed for sale. Even the biggest shopping mall would have a fraction of that, and the prices are good. I can buy a $2 item from Hong Kong and have it shipped direct to me free of charge, with the click of a button. Why would anyone need to shop in person, when it is that easy to find anything online?
The only disadvantage of online shopping I can think of, is that I have to wait four or five days for it to arrive. It's not as instant as shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, but I think the convenience makes up for that.
20 years ago I would have said, yes. I probably wouldn't live where I do now, then. But with the advent of internet shopping, it's not a big deal any more. Even before I left the city, I had mostly switched over to shopping online. Not so much because I wanted to, but shopping in person was becoming more difficult. A lot of stores and malls were shutting down and the lack of competition was degrading the ones that were still open.
I really like shopping, but I find that eBay meets my shopping needs now. eBay literally has billions of items listed for sale. Even the biggest shopping mall would have a fraction of that, and the prices are good. I can buy a $2 item from Hong Kong and have it shipped direct to me free of charge, with the click of a button. Why would anyone need to shop in person, when it is that easy to find anything online?
The only disadvantage of online shopping I can think of, is that I have to wait four or five days for it to arrive. It's not as instant as shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, but I think the convenience makes up for that.
That's because you're looking at shopping as a necessary evil for needs and then wants. Many who decry the lack of shopping in rural area (as if there should be the choices of an urban area there anyway) often consider shopping just as one does a hobby.
I love the variety and options to shop, the fifty different kinds of bread, the unique approach from numerous small companies to simple things like taco sauce, the ability to just go out of my house and be within 15 minutes walking distance of so many things, the whole scene of people hussling going here and there, etc, etc.
The online world has made a lot of this available to rural living now days, I moved to the urban setting before the online world come about.
However, I will not criticize anyone for not being into those things. Hell, I never, ever experienced into I was already an adult and moved out of my very small, in the middle of no where fly over state town. But once I experienced it, there was no way I could go back to a rural lifestyle.
But those people who move from an urban to a rural setting by choice, then complain about the things that make it rural, are just ridiculous. In my mind, they only like one thing about rural living; cheap housing, and then they spend their time trying to turn the place into an urban setting, or whining about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarciaMarshaMarcia
I just came back from a trip where I went to see my family's farm, which they had tried really hard to hold onto...it's still agricultural, but now part of a huge operation, planted in just soybeans & corn...there are no family farms left that I could see, & the little farm towns that, as a kid, I remember were bustling, are now desolate, mostly abandoned rural ghettoes.
On the way there and back on the Interstates, there were SO MANY huge billboards regarding meth...
I realize I'm off-topic, but it was sad & discouraging to see.
Yea, off topic but just wanted to comment; prescription drugs have overran the town I use to live in.
I never buy clothing in bulk, because my clothing size could easily change and the new clothes wont fit like they did 2 - 3 years ago, thats why I only buy what I need when shopping for clothing.
I had a extra pair of shoes I bought over 10 years ago, and tried to wear them recently and the soles fell apart, the stitching and the rubber soles separated just from age, poor adhesion, cheap clothing is disposable.
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