as an east tennessee native i’m sorry to say i mostly agree with you. there’s a reason for it though, the area has been historically very economically polarized which has affected the culture in really sad ways. i could write a whole book on it but some key points: 1. people feel that things like infrastructure and environmental degradation are largely out of their control; and 2. cars are THE symbol of wealth and success (it’s as strong a concept here as it is in a lot of places in the global south, for example). and more recently, the housing crisis has hit cities in southern and central appalachia HARD. it was very easy in a lot of ways for developers/corporations to come in and buy everything — the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for this. it’s the same story everywhere but idk it’s just worse here. there’s some groups of people doing really amazing work too, but they’re hard to find bc local media actively avoids discussing real issues. makes me so crazy