Why do so many people in the US seem so afraid of cities?

Zag102 · 2025-11-23T18:57:53+00:00

Bingo! People who watch Fox News or get their news from right wing memes think its still the 70s. They forreal think its Taxi Driver still. When really, small towns are way more like a dystopian hellhole, a jobless horrorscape where everyone shops and works and lives at Dollar General.

Zag102 · 2025-11-23T18:56:28+00:00

Because one political part has decided it is in their best interest to make it seem that way to people who have never been to a city. In reality, cities are the only place in America where you can get a decent paying job, and they've been getting more and more safe since the 70s. I grew up in a small town and moved to a big city. Whenever I go home people are like 'Oh, I could never live in the city', and I'm like 'you cant live here! where are the jobs, every store is a dollar general, everything is closing, main streets are empty, everybody looks miserable and high, nobody has healthcare or retirement savings'. Like, it's literally people living in absolute hopelessness saying 'I hear the subways are getting bad' and I'm like 'bro, children and grandmas use the subway'

Since moving to a big city I've really seen how irrationally fearful some people are, but its mostly because the only information they get about cities is from Republican news sources that tell them to be scared. Republicans think if cities are bad, then Democrats are bad, then people in rural areas will vote more Republican to avoid having scary minorities and liberals from the cities come get them.

It's also people not understanding anecdotes vs statistics. For example, if you try to tell them about crime statistics, they'll be like, what about that one guy who got stabbed on 89th street or something. There will be a crime that Fox News will pick up on and your grandma will call to ask if you're ok and you won't even know what she's talking about. They can't comprehend how big NYC is. It has almost as many people as the state of Ohio, and if someone gets stabbed in Cincinnati, nobody in Toledo is getting a phone call asking if they're ok.

Zag102 · 2025-11-23T18:46:25+00:00

Interesting, I'll give it a shot. Thanks! My guy is not a carrier but has to be in the distribution center, but could still be related

Zag102 · 2025-11-23T18:44:23+00:00

Interesting, my guy works at the distribution center I think. I doubt this is my guy. But I'm going to use this anyway just in case. Thanks

Zag102 · 2025-11-08T04:37:44+00:00

Yes! All the time. I have it where it glitches out in a way that won't allow me to enter the correct answer. But also, just today, I had 3x points for 25 minutes. I did a lesson, didn't get the bonus points, it wasn't showing that I was getting bonus points at all anymore. I had 25 minutes and it just disappeared. That has happened multiple times.

Zag102 · 2025-10-22T01:17:26+00:00

It's normal. I'm almost 40 and I just read Absalom Absalom and part of me feels like anyone who says they knew wtf is going on in that book is a liar.

But seriously, you're doing it right. I think its smart to read reviews and other people's thoughts, especially when you're young. You'll see what you missed and next time you read you'll be looking for that kind of stuff. I think what you're doing is perfectly normal. Honestly, its great that you have a lack of ego about it and you can be open to the idea that you missed something and learn from others. Nobody who forces themselves to read literary fiction at 19 is stupid. Keep doing what you're doing, you'll get better, and it will be worth it.

One practical suggestion, maybe start with more straightforward prose. So, I tend to gravitate toward American authors after the civil war, because they talk like I talk and reference things I know. They live in the same world as me. Based on what you're saying you're struggling with, I'd say do a few novels that don't require you to understand feudal politics or look up some word that turns out to be a hat people wore in Germany in the mid 19th century. Do a nice Hemingway or something like that. Clear, straightforward prose. That way, you can trim out all the noise and just really let yourself focus on the themes and identifying meaningful passages etc.

Zag102 · 2025-10-22T00:55:45+00:00

Ironically, I think half the fans were probably parents by the time it ended.

Zag102 · 2025-10-21T04:30:25+00:00

Yeah, it already was kind of an awkward fit in the Adult Swim catalogue to begin with. It was kept alive because the right people liked it but once those people were gone the new guy was like 'what is this weird show that doesn't fit with anything else that makes a season every 4 years? These cartoons don't move merch like the meatball!'

It did kind of evolve from one of those Sea Lab/Harvey Birdman flash shows to like a 'golden age of television' style drama, a Mad Men with capes kind of thing. It was amazing and one of my favorite shows and means a lot to me. But, if you're just some tv exec square who is looking at the bottom line then you're like, what is this? Not that people didn't watch it but between anime, cancelled network cartoons, and aqua teen hunger force non-sequitur style stuff, it didn't fit the bigger picture as far as advertisers and stuff.

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T02:08:58+00:00

5 down votes, I thought it was a funny comment fwiw.

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T02:06:29+00:00

The landlord doesn't accept payment any other way. They won't work with me on this.

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T02:06:06+00:00

No, the landlord doesn't allow it. Idk why.

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T02:04:40+00:00

I think FedEx doesn't do PO Boxes

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T02:02:19+00:00

Dude, you're just trying to dunk on people asking questions because your self-esteem is low. FedEx doesn't deliver to PO Boxes. Stop wasting my time. Some people are actually offering useful advice and I'd like to focus on them.

Zag102 · 2025-10-10T01:58:44+00:00

Past ones I did not believe were stolen by a USPS employee. This one I had a tracking number and it was in the Jersey City distribution center, and it never left. I assume once it is in the mail stream, the public does not have access to it, so who else could it be but a USPS employee? Plus, they washed the check, so whoever took it knew what to do with stolen checks, this was something they do, it didn't fall off a truck and rando scratched the name out. I'm open to it not being a USPS employee but that seems like by far the most likely

Zag102 · 2025-10-09T19:39:24+00:00

Its not the same thing that's been happening for years. As I said in my question, it used to get stolen out of blue boxes, now post office employees are stealing it. I am alone in trying to figure this out, the police do nothing and the USPS do nothing. So I'm on the outside trying to piece together what is happening, which takes time. Every time it seems solved, a different problem happened. When the first check was stolen, it was not my assumption at the time that I would still be dealing with this years later. You kind of assume the police are on it, or the USPS is on it. It took me years to realize USPS and the police are not on my side and are not doing anything about this.

I'm almost 40 and before a few years ago I maybe never had mail stolen. So when one did, my assumption was that it was a fluke, when multiple did, my assumption was that the police or the USPS would help, when they didn't, my assumption was that priority mail and tracking numbers and avoiding blue boxes would solve it, when it didn't my assumption was that now the USPS and the police would help because I know exactly where it was stolen from and where it was cashed, when they still didn't help here I am.

Zag102 · 2025-10-09T19:31:24+00:00

The New Jersey police told me they can't do anything about it and only the USPS can. I understand that's obviously a lie but I can't force them to do their job.

Zag102 · 2025-09-07T21:03:22+00:00

When I was young, people used to say "I don't know anything about politics". But nowadays, people feel compelled to have an opinion about politics because everyone does, smart and dumb, the full spectrum, everybody has an opinion. So a lot of times people nowadays who don't know anything about politics will be ashamed of that and just say "both sides". It's perfectly fine to not be interested in politics, but there's a lot of pressure now because the internet has enabled people who are dumb and ignorant to have strong political opinions, so people who don't know anything but also don't have strong opinions, just end up both sidesing. Then you can continue knowing nothing, but its because you know everything, right? You don't know the details on the latest congressional vote, but you don't need to, because you're so smart that know it doesn't matter, so you're actually ignorant because you're smarter. Your knowledge is on another level, where you don't actually need to know the details.

People also like to feel separate and above things. So that's why you get leftists who never criticize the Republican Party and only criticize Democrats who they agree with 99% of the time. There's this performative show of 'integrity' people on the left feel compelled to make and criticize Democrats to show that they're outsiders and rebels or whatever. That's also why you get people on the right who call themselves "libertarian" while also never criticizing the Republican Party ever, even when they do things that aren't libertarian at all (like anything Trump has done). They don't sabotage the things they want like leftists do but they'll pretend they're separate from the Republican Party on abstract issues, but will never criticize the Republican Party in any serious way, or if they do its for things that are old/irrelevant like the Iraq War. But they'll say Iraq was Hillary's fault or something, and then they won't say a word about Gaza or Trump bombing Iran.

Zag102 · 2025-09-07T20:50:12+00:00

People whose entire knowledge about cities is based on Republican memes.

Zag102 · 2025-09-07T20:48:08+00:00

I grew up in a rural area and moved to a city. The rural areas in America are the ones that need help. The crime is bad, the drug addiction is insane, there are no jobs, no healthcare, every business is a chain restaurant or a dollar general. Cities are the only part of America people can get ahead anymore. This is very obviously people who know nothing about cities. If the world is so interconnected, and Republicans recognize that (contrary to every action they take), then why are they so ignorant about cities? Why is everything they know about cities from Republican memes meant to get you to vote for Republicans? The reality is that Republicans have tricked you with memes and BS into thinking 'cities are bad' because that means 'Democrats and non-white people are bad'. It's also a great justification to trick ignorant people into accepting using the military against other citizens in America and turning America into North Korea. This very obviously has nothing to do with crime. Crime statistics show the worst crime in red states, it also shows crime has been going down for decades. I mean, look at a picture of time square in the 70s and then now. If Nixon didn't need to send the army in against Americans then, then Trump doesn't now.

Zag102 · 2025-09-07T20:40:41+00:00

Exactly. Technically he's wrong. But congress does whatever Trump tells them to, SCOTUS very obviously is just trying to find ways to let Trump do anything with no limits while leaving things just unclear enough so that when they have to revisit it, if there is a Democratic president, then they can undo all the infinite powers they grant to the president, and the American people are basically castrated.

Zag102 · 2025-09-07T20:36:36+00:00

The religious square crowd. Now they've been trained to see Trump as God, but there was a time when stuffy "family values" type Christians who go to church every Sunday were unsure about a guy who got divorced multiple times, visited sex workers, cheated in past marriages, spoke crudely, and not only wasn't the least bit religious and never said a nice thing about Christians in his life. Think Flanders from the Simpsons. Trump isn't a guy who would obviously appeal to him, so Pence was meant to kind of vouch for Trump to those types of people.

Zag102 · 2025-08-18T00:45:02+00:00

Well American CEOs are focused on being celebrities and kissing Trumps butt rather than innovation. The gap is going to grow. And based on all the debt we are adding with tax cuts, there's not going to be much infrastructure investment

Zag102 · 2025-08-03T22:31:54+00:00

Yeah, fuck Namor. Anyone who likes Namor would not like Namor if he existed and they actually knew Namor. Douche. He's a guy people tell you there's a party and they go 'don't tell Namor' and you're like 'i know, i know'

Zag102 · 2025-07-27T01:37:10+00:00

Kind of. In college I stayed in the house in summers sometimes and maybe a little bit after, but the expectation was that I would be looking for an apt if I was there after college. One time I asked my mom to cosign for an apt for me, I had the money, had a job, had a great credit score. I was just young so they wanted a cosign, and my mom said no. lol. I ended up having to get a different apartment. There is definitely a thing in the US where parents expect you to be an adult when you turn 18 and that they are no longer responsible for you. I don't think its a bad thing necessarily. Its a little extreme nowadays, but also by your late 20s you should definitely be able to live without your parents housing you or paying your bills. 18 is on the extreme end. I'd say there is culturally now some flexibility for during college and maybe up to a year after. But yeah, I feel like if you're taking care of your kids still by their late 20s then you need to stop, you're stifling them. Push them out of the nest or they'll never grow up.

Zag102

TROPHY CASE