Typical small redneck towns...

[blas]

So last night my bf ambushed me and said we were going to have dinner with his older brother and his brother's gf. Back to his hometown. Yeehaw!

We drove for what seemed like forever until I lost sight of civilization...

His brother's gf is from Cali and is actually very similar to me. Likes to dress up and look pretty, takes really good care of herself, very cultured and knows that there's more out there in this big world than these little piss ant redneck towns of 500 people.

We stop at the local diner to eat, and all eyes are on me and her. Everyone staring at us like we are some crazy aliens from planet Hairspray and Eyeliner. You'd think everyone in that diner had spent their whole life in their trailer wondering about the big big world out there.

The staff was just the same. All the servers and the hostess kept staring at us like we were some foreign strangers.

Uncomfortable!

Advice for people who live that way everyday, GET OUT and explore the world and realize that not everyone is a farmer and small town redneck.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Oh, girl, you oughta see the reactions I get when I go visit my sister in the tiny little Idaho town I went to high school in. I show up in my 3 inch t-strap heels and my faux-vintage 30's era dresses, pin curled hair and tattoos on the backs of my legs and people just stare. We went to Wal-mart one day and got followed around by a gaggle of teenagers who just gaped open-mouthed as I wiggled down the aisles. My sister gets annoyed as she hates having attention drawn to herself.

And actually, it's just the opposite problem: people like that never wonder about the world out there...if they did they would have ventured out into it!

[daleduke17]

I'm from one of those small farming towns of 500 people. :-p It is a culture shock to go from the "city" (I live in a city of 130,000 right now) to the "hometown" of 350.

I can see how you would be uncomfortable. The first couple times going back home it was uncomfortable for me after moving to Bloomington. But for some reason I like going back there to have lunch at the restaurant now. My wife and I will go down and visit my father and chat with some of the folks I don't get to see a lot of.

I don't know about the small town diner you're talking about, but, if it is like any of the ones I've been in, just start up conversation with someone and be yourself. You'll fit right in.

[blas]

We just ignored the ignorant people and I got to know his brother and his brother's gf and we had a good time, save for every time we looked the other direction, someone was staring up a storm at us. I seriously wondered if there was something stuck in my teeth or on my forehead.

My bf sometimes even makes comments about people from small towns. He hasn't lived here long, but he's finally discovered that there is much more opportunity in the bigger city, and how much more accepting people are when they are exposed to different types of people at younger ages. Fortunately, he wasn't jaded at a young age like most small town kids.

My hometown was a town of about 8,000 people. Not big, not small. But hell, growing up, my parents taught me that the world is bigger than this small town, there are many different kinds of people out there, and the more you travel and discover different people, the better off you'll be.

[Ree]

I realize you are from a small town that's just a mile past Hicktown and one right turn away from Redneck City, but honestly, just because people are small town does not mean they are all stupid.

Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination that everyone was staring?

Sometimes, I will feel really out of place and think everybody is staring at me, only to find it was just because I was so self-conscious that I thought I was standing out like a sore thumb.

I mean, you're not exactly ugly, and you probably dress very classy, but I find it hard to believe that nobody in the place had ever seen an attractive, well-dressed girl before, that they would behave like some cliched extras from the set of the movie "Deliverance".

Now, I could be all washed up here, and the people really were making you feel like you were the main attraction at the Hickville sideshow, and if that's the case, then I apologize, but I guess, because I am from a small rural town, I get a little tired of the idea that small rural town=ignorant inbred.

Of course, there is the fact that you were just new faces, and that was what was causing all the attention, and not how you looked, or were dressed, at all.

[Gurndigarn]

Me, I feel the same way about cities. Wanting to tell all the people there that either it's OK to slow down, relax, and not live life in a blurry haze (yuppie towns) or that there are places in the world where you don't have to worry about image (ghetto towns).

[ArenaBoy]

Reading this reminded me of this story.

My cousin B lives in New York City and has lived there for 10 years. He is the stereotype New Yorker: well dressed, a fancy job, knows the ins and outs of NYC, and he has no intention of moving back to Michigan. His older brother R decided to play a great prank on him one day. B was visiting MI to visit his family, R was picking him up at the airport. B comes out of the plane. He looks around for R and is horrified and having a hard time not cracking up. R dressed like a small town guy. Flannel shirt, faded blue jeans, and the works. He even got an accent going saying things along the lines of "HEY LITTLE BROTHER! How's it feel to be away from the big city and all?" B just looks at him and says "R, forget about me visiting. I'm buying the next ticket back to NYC and you're going with me!"

Also for me, growing up I was used to seeing people who did things differently. It was normal to see guys in khakis and suits talking to guys wearing ripped jeans, faded t-shirts, and had long hair.

[JustADude]

I get a little tired of the idea that small rural town=ignorant inbred.

I wouldn't say it's so much a case of "ingnorant inbred" as much as "Cultural Isolation." Small towns, by the very fact of their low population, have much less in the way of diversity than a city, or even a large town. Because of that, most of the people aren't exposed to ideas beyond the locally accepted norm until something causes them to venture into the outside world.

[Ree]

Well, we do have TV.

[Rahmota]

Blas: I want to thank you for personally insulting me, my family, my friends and 90% of the real people I know in the real world.

I am really really not happy with your assumptions and comments and how would you like it if I started spouting off about how unpleasant, crack headed, arrogant egotistical and insulting and rude and evil city dwellers are? You know I am 4th generation on the famly farm. I tried the escape from the farm and get a big city job and all that BS and discovered that rural life is far far superior to me than city life. I live now in a place where the nearest town is one of under 300 people. All of them the nicest and politest and ggood people.

I lost sight of civilization

No honey you went where true civilization begins!

We stop at the local diner to eat, and all eyes are on me and her. Everyone staring at us like we are some crazy aliens from planet Hairspray and Eyeliner.

Well did you apply your make up with a trowel and spray can or do it tasteful? I mean lets get a grip here. Most country people take care of themselves and look good too. Maybe not up to the uppity city standards of pretty as makeup does run for people who really go out and work...If all eyes where on you then maybe you where making a spectacle of yourself. Either that or since you are outsiders and strangers people where checking you out to see if you where going to be nice and start a conversation or if you where goign to be a typical city tourist and stick your nose up and look down at the simple country people.

Advice for people who live that way everyday, GET OUT and explore the world and realize that not everyone is a farmer and small town redneck.

You know you should take some of your own advice and realize that not evyone likes to, wants to or otherwise cares to live in the stuck up yuppie appearance matters over substance shallow city dwellers world. Not everyone who lives in the country is an inbred ignorant hillbilly with no cultural comprehension or wisdom. In many ways I have foud country people to be a lot more in touch with the real world than most of the city dwellers I've dealt with.

I am sorry raps or any other moderators but this time I could not hold my tongue about it. I come on here and see people slam country folk quite frequently and I say nothing. This time it crossed the line and that big reed button not only got pressed but jumped on. As it is I am still translating what I want to say into something a bit more polite.....As this is the last time I'll probably be able to post on here for a few weeks anyhow since I have work harvesting to do for that time I'll be too busy to waste time online as much I'll be goign into self imposed exile. Maybe by then I'll have calmed down.

Blas an apology would be nice from you for your insults. Thank you good day.

[Gurndigarn]

Well, we do have TV.

Damn, they're ruining civilization even out in small towns.

[Ree]

Blas: I want to thank you for personally insulting me, my family, my friends and 90% of the real people I know in the real world.

OK...I don't think it was her intent to hurt anyone.

I was a little upset by her inference as well, and perhaps I should have just chalked it up to the youthful zeal and zest for life, and the pursuit of all things exciting and cultured and much more sophisticated than the little backwater towns that surround her.

Rahmota, I respect you very much and I know this is totally out of character for you and you really must have been upset to have responded as you did.

We have a report button for a reason, though, and I will remind you to use it in the future.
Perhaps, if a post like this pushes your buttons as badly as it has, step away from the keyboard for a few minutes and regain your composure, and then, if you are still upset, PM the member and put your cards on the table privately, so it can be worked out away from an open forum, and it won't come across as a personal attack.

I think blas is a decent enough person that, if she knew she had inadvertently hurt your feelings she would be more than happy to apologize.
She does not strike me as the type who is intentionally cruel.

We are all on the same side here, guys.

[kerrisan]

I'm slightly irked by this post too.

Not everybody likes to dress like you. I'm sorry you feel that you were put on the spot as "city folk." It's never fun to be stared at. I am going to school in a small town, and the people here are the nicest, friendliest, most hard working and down-to-earth people I have ever met. Sounds like the small town you went to just gives other small towns a bad name. I promise they're not all like that. Please don't assume they are.

[blas]

Wow...

Rahmota, I'm really sorry that I got you so riled up over it. My choice words weren't that great, but I really didn't know how else to describe it. Like Ree described the movie "Deliverance", I felt like I was in some really scary movie where the characters take a wrong turn way into the country and come across serial killers and other weirdos (like Hills Have Eyes, House of Wax, etc). I felt like my boyfriend's brother's girlfriend and I were being inspected up and down and the people there had never seen anyone wearing dress clothes before.

I would like to point out that I am not a yuppie nor a yuppie wannabe. I love the big city only because I feel these people have been around more cultural diversity and are less apt to use racial slurs and I'm able to understand them better. From my point of view, the people in the bigger city are friendlier, because there are many places where the kids can hang out and get to know one another and make many friends at a young age and meet many new people as time goes on. There's always employment options around here and many, many people move here every year. Kids like it here because there are so many different people. You can see from a lot of my posts that I hate spoiled rich kids and yuppies.

My father's family is a small town farming family. I don't mean to disrespect people who harvest and farm for a living, or choose to live in the country because it's more peaceful and quiet and easier to see the stars and traffic isn't as bad, I just have a problem with people who have never ventured out of their small town and seen different people. The people who act like they just saw Freddy Kruger when they look at me bother me. I want to shake them and ask them what is wrong with them.

I still deer hunt (both bow and gun), race snowmobiles and participate in activties that could be branded as "redneck", so I don't stick my nose up at people who do that stuff for fun and for those who seek good venison in the winter. I only stick my nose up at people who cannot act civilized and the sole reason (or excuse?) is their upbringing.

Again, no disresect meant to CSers who live in the country or farm or live in small towns.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Since some people were able to get a few things off of their chest, and blas was able to apologize, can we no longer snip and snap at each other?

I'm certain that we all have some strong opinions on this matter, as many of us would love to defend where we live or have lived. As a man who spent the first 18 years of his life in a town of 130 people, and is currently living in a town of 1 million, I'll admit that I have a strong opinion on the OP.

But let it rest, people. If you still have a problem, use the report button.