Thursday, October 02, 2008

An Unsual defense of City Dwellers

Steve Chapman's latest article is directed at Sarah Palin's defense of those who choose to live in the in small town rural areas, and her simultaneous decision to slam those of us who choose to live in the city.
Most Americans, it seems, can tolerate hearing of the superiority of the small town, as long as they don't have to live in one. You wouldn't know it from listening to country music stations, or to the governor of Alaska, but four out of every five Americans choose not to reside in rural areas.

. . . One of these days, the 80 percent of Americans who live in more populated areas may tire of being obliquely insulted. Most urbanites and suburbanites don't think they're any better than their country cousins. But Palin might want to think twice before telling them they're worse.
Of course this argument hasn't gone over very well with Townhall readers who know that us city-folk do look down our noses at country folk. And they let Chapman know that they don't take to his defense of urbanites.
Chapman says:"Most urbanites and suburbanites don't think they're any better than their country cousins."

Now there is a lie. Therefore the whole premise of this article is a void

How Much Did Obama Pay You . . .to write this column?

Palin was defending rural Americans against the very snobbery that you just published.

Nice try. Get out of my country you America Hating Hack.

Go be a snob in some other country where they can fully appreciate the aroma of your eminations.
I have to say that Chapman's assertion that City Folk don't think they are better than Country folk is at best a half truth. I don't know that we dwell on them as much as Country folk seem to dwell on us. But if you choose to do something, you generally think you've made the right choice.

If you decide to live in the country you've decided the benefits of living in the country outweigh the benefits of living in the city. By the same token if you live in the city you think that's the right choice. That's human nature. Where it becomes problematic is hen you make judgment calls about the sort of people who make the opposite choice. I don't understand why some people choose to live in the country; but I have to take on faith that they have good reasons for it.

And my experience is that Country folk are more apt to make the argument that living in the city makes you a lesser person and a lesser American.

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