FunkyPunky wrote:
Just gonna say I've lived in one part of the Bible Belt or another all my life and I've never met the people Marknis seems to think are so common around here. Yeah we've got rednecks and country guys who enjoy hunting and fishing and stuff like that, but nobody believes in any "iron pumping alpha male social construct." He makes it sound like it's populated entirely by this weird combination of millennial dudebros and biker gangs and that's definitely not the case.
Same. I’m in the Mississippi Delta. We do have some of those types here, but the predominant culture is old farmer families. You have the 4-wheelers, pickups, beer chugging, smoking, etc. But most of those folks were raised with a sense of pride in themselves and the land, that they are above other people, so they tend to be extremely polite and encouraging to others. And, I mean, across the board they’re super-nice. If they don’t like you, you’ll never know it.
It also might be something that comes with maturity. I’ve taught some of their kids, and they tend to be little brats that behave almost exactly like what Mark describes. And I’ve seen kids who I thought wouldn’t amount to more than dog excrement who ended up being awesome—like, I never would have recognized them, they were just that radically different.
Black and Hispanic cliques are a problem here, but they are quiet compared to more affluent, urban areas.
I don’t fit in with the bar crowd, anyway, so I can’t really say that bars are a problem for me.
I’m getting into computer programming as a hobby (I suck). I like to read, preferably non-fiction, though. My secret vices are occasional Nora Roberts novels and The Bold And The Beautiful. I like anime series and films. I like EDM (specifically Goa and psytrance), ambient, space music, and most downtempo and chill out, krautrock, and am most passionate about Modernist music. LOVE 80’s hard rock. 70’s classic rock I’m like, meh. Old country = AWESOME. Much new country from Garth Brooks on = commercial trash. NOT a fan of Hip Hop.
And nobody picks on me for being “gay.” I play piano, clarinet, flute, alto recorder, and a bunch of other instruments. One of my students is black, one of the top athletes at this school, and HE’S learning clarinet and nobody gives him a hard time about it.
I don’t dobut there are tiny pockets of uncivilized society that feel rough and oppressive to Marknis. But for us the depth of depravity and human oppression by peers can certainly sound like some post-apocalyptic fantasyland. I find it difficult to believe that Mark’s situation really is exactly that low.
One explanation might be that one is dealing with such a degree of social and economic impairment that it’s easier to place the blame on local culture. I refuse to believe that I’m helpless in any situation, so I’ve been successful despite how so many people see me as weeeeeeeeiiiiiiiuuuuuuurrrrrrddddddd. But I also recognize that my condition doesn’t affect me quite as severely as it might other people. So if the problems that keep someone from winning friends or forging relationships with MOOS are literally things one can’t possibly change, it should come as no surprise that they view others as negatively as they do. You have to be sympathetic to people in that position.
But it’s not your culture’s fault, either, for things no one can help. I wonder if trying to help someone with severe disabilities move in that direction does more harm than good.
On the other hand, Hawking has managed to get into LTR’s, so there really is no such thing as a completely hopeless situation. It’s more a question of what something is really worth to you as to whether you’ll do what it takes.
02 Mar 2018, 4:00 pm
