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I am one of what I assume are many of the goons who live in Orange County, CA. I grew up in the upper midwest though and the experience is radically different. I grew up in rural North Dakota. Politically, it's hard right, but not so hard right that people won't call you out for racial slurs and such (most of the time...). It's also economically pretty hard right as well, except for a State-run bank (which everyone loves) and a State-run Mill (which everyone loves). This kind of political bipolar-ism is pretty common in ND, and I'll get to that in a bit. Socially, any part of ND that isn't Fargo doesn't take kindly to minorities of any kind. This is especially true if you are Native American (The only racial minority that really exists in the state), which nearly everyone sees as second-class citizens. If you'd like to see this in action, you can read up on the Dakota Access Pipeline. The long and short of it is that they wanted to lay a pipeline across the state. Originally, it was planned to run across a city that's populated almost entirely by white people. They had a fit because if it'd leak, it'd damage their water supply and do other unpleasant things. The solution that has been planned since is to just lay it across the Indian Reservation instead such that if it leaks, it'll damage their water supply instead. I poo poo you not, this is a real thing that is happening and both the general population and the state leaders don't give a poo poo because 'who cares about natives?'. Almost as bad as being a Native is being gay or transgendered or any kind of 'sexual deviant'. I'm gay, but didn't really come to terms with that until college because it was hammered into me so hard that being gay is wrong and against the Will of God and all that. It's not necessarily dangerous to be out as gay (unlike parts of the deep south), but it won't do you any favors and will generally bring a kind of shame upon your family. As a result, exactly one person in the state knows I'm gay and I intend to keep it that way because it'd be somewhat of a disaster for my family if it was well known. Economically, the state is run very poorly. Oil is (was) the big thing there as of late, but the taxes and fees are set such that infrastructure to support the oil industry loses the state money every year unless oil is really expensive (which it is not!). The population doesn't understand math in general so where the state used to have a comfortable surplus every year, it is now facing major shortfalls because of piss-poor planning and a block of residents and state leaders who are relatively uneducated and fail to make good decisions. The real problem with North Dakota, and the US in general is that I think wild partisanship between states is inevitable. For STEM/highly educated people, ND doesn't offer much. Fargo has some high tech/high skill industries, but ND generally bleeds people who have even a 4-year degree. Those that do exist almost exclusively in either Bismarck or Fargo. The remaining blue collar workforce makes up the majority of the population and no amount of education will fix it, because once someone has marketable skills, they tend to leave the state. To be clear, the rural residents of ND are not bad people and are more willing to help a stranger on the road or neighbor with problems than most. Whole communities operate successfully only because so many people put in a huge amount of volunteer time to make things better for everyone there. I've never seen anyone take so much pride in their community or population in CA as I have in ND. However, it does dictate politics and I fear that instability will forever be a part of the state because of it. ND does have some neat regional food that's hard to find elsewhere in the US like Fleisch Kuechle, Shoop Noodla, and Knoeplha Soup. Also, if for some godawful reason you like fish preserved in lye, you can get lutefisk here pretty easily. It's absolutely disgusting (everything else is pretty tasty!) ------ Anyway, CA! Lots of people live here! Everyone knows of my evil sexual deviancy here and no one cares. Brown/Black minorities don't have it *as* good as whites/asians, but they definitely are not nearly as socially marginalized as they would be in the midwest. I live in a relatively conservative and affluent area of Orange County, but 'conservative' here is still pretty drat liberal compared to the Midwest. CA is very liberally socially and pretty liberal economically. We recently banned the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, raised taxes to pay for a school fund and moved to legalize weed and extended income tax on those who make more than $250,000. I like it a lot more here than I do ND. Where I felt ND had some food dishes that really define it, CA seems to just have all the things. If it is a food, you can find it within 20 miles in Orange County and I absolutely love it. ------ Comparing the two, I very much like the politics of CA a lot more. I feel safe and secure here way more than I do in ND, where I constantly had a cloud hanging over my head. I do however miss the sense of community and the attitude of 'we're all in this together' that defines rural ND. They really are vastly different places. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jan 30, 2017 |
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Jan 30, 2017 00:01
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Tony Montana posted:Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. There are certain regions where a lot of people have a lot of guns, but very few places do people 'open carry' as much as some might have you believe. Most people in the gun-happy areas are just gun collectors more than anything else. quote:How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? It doesn't! Blind nationalism from an ignorant populace makes that work. Healthcare in the US is great if you have a lot of money and a joke if you have none. It's really dumb. quote:Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Yup. quote:Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? Less arrogant, more ignorant and if I were to be frank, quite dumb. quote:How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I'd imagine the rest of the world is quite sick of our bullshit, especially when it comes to dictating international politics in some really stupid ways. I'd imagine they perceive our internal issues as quite stupid. quote:Where else have you been in the world? (this is a direct question to whoever answers my questions) Canada. I'd love to go to Europe. quote:What is great about being American? When we eventually destroy our environment because of our incredibly stupid policies, we'll have enough guns, boats and planes to take someone else's without anyone else lifting a finger. I think I'm supposed to say, 'Freedom™' or something as well. e: Also, being a native english speaker is very nice in this year of our lord 2017. Not exclusive to the US of course, but it's a nice perk. quote:What was the last meal you had? In detail please Huge tofu burrito ft. avocado, tomato/red sauce, sour cream, cheese, rice in a wheat tortilla. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 03:11
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Pharmaskittle posted:I live in Mississippi, on the gulf coast. Also, this is a thing I've heard said almost everywhere at least a couple times. Mississippi's crazy low cost of living is that way for a reason.
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Feb 9, 2017 09:34
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God Hole posted:Pipelines bring money and jobs to an area. Maybe not as many permanent jobs as the oil companies have the locals believing, but then again US citizens have never really needed much justification to poo poo all over Native Americans. In the interest of time, I'm going to be short and trite here, but bear with me. North Dakota operated on a comfortable surplus before the oil. They made a bet that oil would always be three figures / barrel. If they were right, they'd get even more surplus, but if they were wrong... Right now, because of the way the taxes and fees are setup for oil companies, North Dakota no longer has a surplus and is operating at a deficit because of the infrastructure costs. The break even point for ND is between $60 - $80, depending on who you ask. The entire deal was structured to give the oil companies a win/win situation such that when the price of oil is low, the citizens of ND pick up the bill for infrastructure costs incurred by oil companies. It was structured this way because either the politicians who did so don't care, are too dumb to know, or are paid for by the oil companies -- which one it is, who knows. What I'm getting at here is that the pipeline they are laying isn't going to do ND any favors and will likely incur additional cost to the state and it's taxpayers, on top of the environmental risks it represents. The general population generally thinks the oil companies are the Good Guys™ though and they support them because they think they bring money into the state, even though a quick glance at the balance sheet of the state would suggest otherwise. On top of that, the buying power of a dollar has dropped dramatically in the western third of the state where many people were forced out of their homes when property taxes soared to amounts they couldn't pay due to the cost of living sky rocketing. The reason for all this happening is complex and kind of loops back to my first post in this thread, but to sum it up in seven words: North Dakotans are on average, pretty stupid.
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Feb 13, 2017 01:22
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reagan posted:I'm not trying to defend people's attitude re: native americans, I am just stating a fact. People in this state do not care about them. I lived in Bismarck when this was actually a point of discussion: Mid 2014, not 'last year'. The plan was submitted in early-ish 2014. Local government had to sign off on it. A discussion was had. Local residents were mad because the pipeline was supposed to come in north of Bismarck, which meant that any leak there would damage the Missouri River. The city told Dakota Access that if it didn't reroute, the city would formally deny it. Dakota Access, not wanting to deal with Bismarck, DA submitted a new route that went north of Standing Rock and far away from Bismarck. Sioux county did not file a formal complaint against the new route, but whether or not they were actually told how or when is pretty unclear. This is the major talking point that some people use as an argument for 'laying that loving pipe' -- The county hosed up. They informally protested it of course and since then because of various people in higher government, we are where we are today. I sat in one such discussion about the pipeline. I too objected to it going north of Bismarck. No one said, 'Why not just run it through the rez?'. Everyone said, 'Not in my backyard'. Of course, it's much easier to force it down the throat of the natives than it is the state capital, where people with resources and power live.
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Feb 15, 2017 06:28
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LogisticEarth posted:Like, my dad is Lutheran and my mom's family is Roman Catholic. It was never really a big deal, but my sister and I were Raised Catholic(tm). We'd do Christmas Eve at my dad's old church but that was about it. You'd notice small stuff, like my dad not going up to receive Communion and such, since he wasn't confirmed. There is a divide in what communion means to Catholics vs Lutherans. Lutherans believe that communion is the flesh and blood of the Lord is 'In With and Under' the bread and wine. Catholics believe in an idea called Transubstantiation, which says that when the Priests blesses the bread and wine, they become the body and blood of Christ. A combination of this plus what is taught in their respective Confirmations is enough of a rift to not make them compatible in each other's eyes. You want to start a slap fight between the two, ask them what the qualifiers for a Sacrament are... You might think this doesn't really matter but Lutherans, especially the LCMS variety, don't really like Catholics at their communion and Catholics don't really like Lutherans at their communion and each denomination generally respects that. Canine Blues Arooo fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Apr 3, 2017 |
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Apr 3, 2017 18:17
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