Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,813 posts, read 34,657,307 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by English Dave
As soon as I read that, I thought of 'Easy Rider.' Now, that was a real interesting film showing the America of that time. I watched in amazement at the reaction to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper from older Americans.
When they got shot at the end, I thought, "what did they shoot them for? What did they do wrong?"....
Some great scenery in that movie. I have always liked American films which show the wide open spaces.
That spoke to a lot of attitudes towards young people especially hippies, at time, that was fueled by the outrage about the Vietnam War. Many young people were outraged about the draft that sent boys to the jungle war & potential death in an undeclared war. Older people were furious, because of what they went through in WWII. Really, it was that simple.
Of course you also has 2 separate civil rights movements going on, concurrently. That was the toxic stew de jour.
I have also puzzled over immigration policy into the United States. I read that President Johnson changed the policy to mainly third world immigrants, and stopped immigration from Europe. I hope I have that right. This policy has changed the population from a high percentage of white people, to an incoming minority. Even I wonder why that would be? Why would a country import so many poor, uneducated people? To deliberately change the racial mix?
At the same time, massive illegal immigration from across the Mexican border. President Reagan gave an amnesty, and promised things would change, and illegal immigration would be curbed. The opposite happened instead. Well, as a white man myself, I can put myself in that position, and think why is this happening? For the benefit of who?
Also, in the same time frame, jobs leaving the country to places like China. Money being poured into the Chinese economy. What did Americans get in return? Cheap, poorly made crap? Not much of a deal I guess. Then, along comes Donald Trump, who promises he can make it all better. Really, it was pretty obvious looking back, that he was going to win. Especially against such a poor candidate for the Dems as Hillary Clinton. All this is still unravelling, and will make great study for future history students.
Looks like history is already being re-written. Prior to the election, Hillary Clinton was the best-qualified candidate ever nominated. She became a poor candidate after she lost.
As you alluded to earlier, there is a difference between the urban and rural United States. By my observation urbanization engenders alienation from the more general necessities of life, vacillating between specialization and dependency. People also tend to be a less valued commodity in urban areas. In urban areas people see people they absolutely do not care about and social interaction happens between networks, not based on the locale. In rural areas its whomever is one's neighbor.
On the whole , specializations in the urban areas leads to great economic output, based upon the division of labor , and as such the sophistication and refinements of it are vastly superior. However as to the effects on the populace, it makes them ill-suited for many generalities of life. There is more hive mindedness than in the rural areas due to the dual nature of their specializations which are insular and unconnected. Thus the connections that remain are quite sterile and simplistic more like a fashion than a thought, in these urban areas. Its ironic that the lip service of compassion coming from the urbanite is not reflected in their behavior, except within their own social networks.
I have always wanted to visit rural America. For some reason, it has always been Iowa I want to go see. My wife just refuses, and I won't do it alone.
30 years ago I had the chance, but I made a bad mistake. When I got on the bus going from NYC to Los Angeles, the idea in my mind was to get off the bus when we arrived in a small rural town. I didn't know the bus just went from city to city. I remember when we arrived in Pittsburgh, I was ready to give up, I needed to get off that bus, and get on one going to more rural areas. I didn't even have the names of any towns to head for.
So, I rode on until we got to Zanesville in Ohio. It was dark, and about 10pm. I'd been riding that bus for about 15 hours. I was so desperate, I just got off the bus, hoping I would find a motel. I did, and spent some time wondering round the town the morning after. I was very impressed with the big old wooden houses, with the porch, like in the movies. I even saw a kid riding his bike, throwing newspapers into yards. But, it wasn't what I was really looking for.
I gave up, and headed back towards NYC. I did get to Atlantic City though.......that was an interesting episode. I eventually ended up back in NYC, and I stayed there until time to fly home. That was my chance to go see rural America, and I blew it.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,813 posts, read 34,657,307 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by English Dave
I have also puzzled over immigration policy into the United States. I read that President Johnson changed the policy to mainly third world immigrants, and stopped immigration from Europe. I hope I have that right. This policy has changed the population from a high percentage of white people, to an incoming minority. Even I wonder why that would be? Why would a country import so many poor, uneducated people? To deliberately change the racial mix?
At the same time, massive illegal immigration from across the Mexican border. President Reagan gave an amnesty, and promised things would change, and illegal immigration would be curbed. The opposite happened instead. Well, as a white man myself, I can put myself in that position, and think why is this happening? For the benefit of who?
Also, in the same time frame, jobs leaving the country to places like China. Money being poured into the Chinese economy. What did Americans get in return? Cheap, poorly made crap? Not much of a deal I guess. Then, along comes Donald Trump, who promises he can make it all better. Really, it was pretty obvious looking back, that he was going to win. Especially against such a poor candidate for the Dems as Hillary Clinton. All this is still unravelling, and will make great study for future history students.
The immigration quotas were set in the 1920s. The immigration allowed people based on quotas set, based on the immigration of the late 19th/early 20th century. It was seen as being more fair & more likely to curb Mexicans sneaking across the border.
"Young people die for a lack of insulin they cannot crowdfund."
When did this happen?
Shane Patrick Boyle, died in March 2017 because of complications from Type 1 Diabetes.
Story goes - he moved from Texas to Arkansas to care for his sick mother, and because he left the state (meaning he had his prescription drug coverage through an ObamaCare exchange most likely), he lost his reduced price benefit for insulin. He started a GoFundMe trying to raise $750 for insulin, and ended up $50 short at only $700.
The conclusion is that he died not from type 1 diabetes, but from high drug prices, cruelty and apathy. It's never mentioned why a grown man with a known condition that affects over a million other adults was in such dire straights both regarding his physical and financial health, nor is it mentioned why Boyle waited to start his GoFundMe until he was literally knocking on death's door, but like the rest of the OP article, no context, no closer examination...just claim cruelty in drive by monologue.
Nope, we as a society owed Boyle all our resources to keep him alive regardless of his input, actions or behaviors. That we did not all run to Boyle's rescue is proof of America's "unique cruelty."
I have always wanted to visit rural America. For some reason, it has always been Iowa I want to go see. My wife just refuses, and I won't do it alone.
30 years ago I had the chance, but I made a bad mistake. When I got on the bus going from NYC to Los Angeles, the idea in my mind was to get off the bus when we arrived in a small rural town. I didn't know the bus just went from city to city. I remember when we arrived in Pittsburgh, I was ready to give up, I needed to get off that bus, and get on one going to more rural areas. I didn't even have the names of any towns to head for.
So, I rode on until we got to Zanesville in Ohio. It was dark, and about 10pm. I'd been riding that bus for about 15 hours. I was so desperate, I just got off the bus, hoping I would find a motel. I did, and spent some time wondering round the town the morning after. I was very impressed with the big old wooden houses, with the porch, like in the movies. I even saw a kid riding his bike, throwing newspapers into yards. But, it wasn't what I was really looking for.
I gave up, and headed back towards NYC. I did get to Atlantic City though.......that was an interesting episode. I eventually ended up back in NYC, and I stayed there until time to fly home. That was my chance to go see rural America, and I blew it.
The United States is a huge country. You cannot see it all in one trip. Even people who have lived here for decades have not seen most of the country.
Another post (was it yours?) touched on this, and I agree that Calvinism has a significant role in our attitudes as a society. It's become so ingrained that it influences even those who don't have the slightest idea what it is.
Hi there Catgirl, about those Calvinists, English Puritans et al ...
Quote:
...Most settlers in the American Mid-Atlantic and New England were Calvinists, including the English Puritans, the French Huguenots and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York), and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the Appalachian back country. Nonconforming Protestants, Puritans, Separatists, Independents, English religious groups coming out of the English Civil War, and other English dissenters not satisfied with the degree to which the Church of England had been reformed, held overwhelmingly Reformed views. They are often cited among the primary founders of the United States of America. Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century, who became known as Boers or Afrikaners. ...
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,813 posts, read 34,657,307 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by English Dave
I have always wanted to visit rural America. For some reason, it has always been Iowa I want to go see. My wife just refuses, and I won't do it alone.
30 years ago I had the chance, but I made a bad mistake. When I got on the bus going from NYC to Los Angeles, the idea in my mind was to get off the bus when we arrived in a small rural town. I didn't know the bus just went from city to city. I remember when we arrived in Pittsburgh, I was ready to give up, I needed to get off that bus, and get on one going to more rural areas. I didn't even have the names of any towns to head for.
So, I rode on until we got to Zanesville in Ohio. It was dark, and about 10pm. I'd been riding that bus for about 15 hours. I was so desperate, I just got off the bus, hoping I would find a motel. I did, and spent some time wondering round the town the morning after. I was very impressed with the big old wooden houses, with the porch, like in the movies. I even saw a kid riding his bike, throwing newspapers into yards. But, it wasn't what I was really looking for.
I gave up, and headed back towards NYC. I did get to Atlantic City though.......that was an interesting episode. I eventually ended up back in NYC, and I stayed there until time to fly home. That was my chance to go see rural America, and I blew it.
If you got to Atlantic City you could have gone 10 miles or less & hit rural.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
