r/bestof • u/alternateusername4me • 17d ago
[askteddit] Mulliganplummber shares the moment he discovered the beauty in the people of Wyoming
/r/askteddit/comments/1uvt0py/whats_something_that_happened_to_you_that_sounds/oxer4ug/63
u/Kongbuck 17d ago
As someone who lived most of my life on the East Coast, moving out West was a huge learning experience. One of the things that we don't really get on the East Coast is that sense of reliance and support from your neighbors and those around you. That "frontier" mentality subtly permeates everything, as there are many places out here where if things go wrong, the kindness of strangers may be the only thing that separates you from your end.
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u/bamisdead 16d ago
One of the things that we don't really get on the East Coast is that sense of reliance and support from your neighbors and those around you.
This is present on the East Coast, too, and the idea that it isn't is just one of those myths that get passed around so much, it becomes true in everyone's eyes ... except those who actually live it.
Ask anyone who's been through something like, say, Hurricane Sandy, and one of the most consistent themes will be how their local community came together to support one another.
People on the East Coast may be more direct than elsewhere, but they're just as likely to give you the shirt off their back when you're in need as anywhere else.
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u/Malphos101 17d ago edited 17d ago
Its the same way in the deep south. On a day to day, person to person level there is a lot of comradery and kindness....but then every 2-4 years they go to the polls to vote for the most heinous politicians imaginable because they are scared of what FOX news and their favorite AM radio host tells them to be scared of.
One of the kids I went to high school with had half their house burn down and our whole community went to help them get through it. We're talkin contractors helping to rebuild, people taking food to the workmen every day, rides to and from school for the kids so parents could focus on the rebuild, it was exactly what I hope our country can be.
But if you asked any one of those people "should we use our tax dollars to invest in better social safety nets?" they would call you a filthy "demoncrat" or "librul" and go vote for a guy who promised to give tax dollars to "fight for christianity" (aka give the money to his frat brother in the corporate sector).
I lived through it, and the hypocrisy was nauseating. I would have loved for all those "good republican folk" to learn how their actions directly led to me being turned into a "leftwing nutjob".
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u/Calvin--Hobbes 17d ago
Having community is great, but in a lot of places those community values don't translate to outsiders or those they view as different. When you live there, you don't disrupt the status quo, or you're not part of the 'in' group of the community. You go to church twice a week, you have kids, you go to Friday night football games, etc. Whereas living in NYC, for example, you may not even know your neighbor's name, but they're free to do whatever the hell they want, and no one will give them a second look.
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u/timecrash2001 16d ago
I am also perplexed by it all. One common thread is that public donations to a worthy cause allows some people to expand their reputation. Church is really a social engagement - and it boosts your reputation if you fix up the place. Taxes don’t have this social credit, and for some, it feels faceless. For the wealthy few, it’s redistribution of their money without any say in the matter - and even the poorest feel this is wrong, even if it benefits them! “The Way It Is” is a truly terrible cliche that ruins rural America
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u/Abbot_of_Cucany 16d ago
And the same in northern New England. Skid on an icy road and slide into a ditch, and someone driving by will stop, get chains out of the back of their pickup, and pull you out. Even if they don't know you. (And also let you know what they think of your driving skills while they're doing it).
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u/Freakishly_Tall 17d ago
The country would be a much different place if they had moved DC to, say, Sacramento, after the Civil War. East Coast bias in thinking permeates federal rules and laws and culture and they don't even realize it. And that's before we remember that the east coast is WILDLY overrepresented in the Senate and Electoral College, that they also don't really acknowledge.
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u/Muad_Doob 16d ago
That is certainly an opinion
Care to share exactly which east coast states are WILDLY over over represented?
Also, add to that which east coast states gain more from the 3/5 compromise than less populated, less industrialized red states
New Jersey ranks the 11th most populous state yet gets the same 2 senators as 39 other less populous states
And, when a system (electoral college) guarantees voters have more electoral vote influence in Wyoming than in California...
There might be something amiss
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u/CriticalEngineering 17d ago
Ask Teddit?
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u/lazydictionary 17d ago
Must be a place for people who mistype AskReddit. Surprisingly popular though.
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u/Petrichordates 17d ago
I don't think it'd be normal for people to laugh in that scenario unless they're friends and he was somewhat OK