How do people not understand wanting to live in the country?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I understand City life - I grew up in Rhode Island. That means NYC and Boston, two of the biggies, were NEVER far away, and Providence is nothing to laugh at.

I understand Suburb life too - again I grew up in Rhode Island, and the whole state was suburbs by the time I left.

What I don’t get is why SOME people in cities and suburbs seem to think country life is inferior. Not for them? GOT IT! Inferior? No.

What really drives my curiosity on the subject is that some of these city and suburb dwellers seem insistent on getting us country folk urbanized.

I love being in the country, where I can walk around the woods where man came from, enjoy the clean scents and sounds, feel the earth beneath my feet. I like that my dog can stretch out, maybe catch a squirrel, chase the deer. Yeah, the deer, I like having wild life in my back yard. I like sitting out on the porch, sipping a coke and watching the sunset while I catch a breeze.

That isn’t to say that I don’t like to go out to the City for a night out occasionally, but I shudder to think sometimes - I fear that the suburbs will cover the Earth, and there will be no place to be alone with your thoughts. I know it’s not happening anytime SOON, but the thought saddens me.

Anyone else feel that way? I don’t want to take away your City Life or Suburb Life - just let me have my country life.
Also - I’ve often seen country living linked negatively to conservatism. I’m fairly liberal. Actually, I’d say it is issue by issue, but the idea that everyone the country is a bible thumping brain dead hick with a shotgun double loader fer trouble is just nonsense.

2

What’s in the country?

More dirt. More cows. More space

Less of everything else.

3

More quiet. More fresh air. More privacy. More nature. More beauty. More peace.

4

The answer is economics. You can make more money off of urbanized land than rural.

5

We moved this last February from Suburbs to Country. There’s a cornfield across the street. We have this magnificent vista to watch sunsets or thunderstorms from our front porch. We can see the stars in the sky at night again. Okay, it’s a 35 minute drive to get to the grocery, or 45 minutes to work, but I think it’s worth it.

6

I certainly don’t see anything substandard about it. Right now I’m doing the suburban thing outside of a major city so that I can get my fill of musical acts and culture. Once I’ve decided “I’ve seen enough” I plan on moving out to a more rural area. But not that rural. I’d like a department store, a grocery store, and some other amenities under 30 minutes (this despite the fact that most of my non grocery shopping is done online).

Thankfully my job lends itself to telecommuting so I won’t run into the problem of my job description not matching my living location.

7

No argument from me
I don’t understand how anybody can want to live in the city but I’m glad they do. It leaves more country for the rest of us.

8

I grew up in a small town, not exactly country, but certainly lots of woods and farmland nearby, and yes you could see a gazillion stars at night.

I couldn’t wait to get away from hicktown and move to an urban environment.

I don’t begrudge those who like the isolated, country life - but it would drive me crazy after about a week, tops.

Great for a vacation, but sure as hell wouldn’t want to live out there.

9

While I am young, I prefer to live near the city. Actually, I’m living in the suburbs now and find I really would prefer to live in the city - which is a very new feeling for me.

I hate the country. Sure, it’s beautiful - for five minutes. Then you’ve got deer eating your plants, mosquitoes everywhere, it takes you 20 minutes to drive to the grocery store, you can’t walk anywhere except out in the woods, you don’t get plowed out quickly, your roads aren’t repaired as quickly, your street signs are vague and sometimes you don’t see one for miles.

Where I live is almost perfect. I live outside a medium city (Albany) and three hours from NYC. I drive 20-25 minutes and I make it to “country”. I drive 45 minutes and I’m truly in the boonies, it’s lovely, and then at night I can go back to where I like.

Someone said this once, and I find it rings true - I feel safer at night in the city/suburbs then I do in the country. That’s because I’ve been an adult in only cities - I know how to deal with the city dangers. I’m not crazy about country dangers.

When I am old, perhaps I’ll move somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Right now, I want to go to the theatre, go to the Y after work, have a short commute, be able to do several errands in my lunch hour, etc.

ETA: One more thing. Sure, not everyone in the country is bible thumping inbreds, by a long shot. What they are, almost universally, are white. Now I’ve spent all my life integrating into white communities, and it’s not like I’m not used to it…but in the city there’s a lot more acceptance of non-whites. It’s very awkward being the only non-white person in an area. We were in Maine a couple of weekends ago, and I started counting non-white people - I came up with three. Five including us.

That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t welcome us with open arms! I have no idea what country folk would do. Just that it would constantly be awkward, every day, always trying to fit in. I just don’t want to do it.

And of course, someitmes, they don’t welcome you with open arms. :frowning:

10

I do agree with that - country folk tend to be a lot less accepting out of hand, but I do find them to be just as accepting (barring a few scum-of-the-earth types) in the long run.

11

This has been my experience with country folk.

Passing through? Need a quick hand? Salt of the fucking earth. They will get out their tractor and pull you out of a ditch with their own hands if need be. They will make fun of you to your face while they do it, and they won’t hurry, but they’ll go out of their way to help you, especially if you are a woman.

Moving in? Fuggedaboutit. They’ll make sure you are “the new people” for years to come. :frowning:

12

I would die. Possibly, once I am retired or if I were working only from home would I consider living in the country. If I get sick for lots of fresh air and beautiful vistas, that’s what camping is for.

13

Country for me, please. Cities are fun for a few hours, then I get claustrophobic and twitchy. I’m a curmudgeon and a hermit at heart; I need solitude, I need the sounds of nature, I need the sweet smells of growing things, I need to not hear other people’s squabbles and revving engines and thumping bass tunes. Cityscapes at night are pretty, but I prefer stars. And I’ll take mosquitoes over cockroaches and silverfish :stuck_out_tongue:

FWIW, I’m about as leftie as they come, kidless by choice, and am an atheistic agnostic pagan. I’ve also just moved to rural South Carolina, and I LOVE it, despite to 30 min drive to work and the good grocery.

14

I don’t like isolation. I want to walk outside my door and see people doing stuff. If I don’t have that, I start feeling lonely and disconnected. The country just isn’t for me.

15

I grew up in the country, and to me country life represents social isolation. Like even sven, I want the culture that city life offers.

16

Is this the Straight Dope thread version of the sitcom Green Acres? :smiley:

17

I’m about as introverted as they come, and borderline misanthropic, but I absolutely hate the idea of living in the country. I don’t begrudge people their preferences, but I honestly don’t get it, beyond the basic idea of “people like different things than me”.

I feel awkward in a very small town, like people notice me (anyone) too much. I like blending in to the background, and you can’t do that when you’re the only person in Joe’s General Store. And if you live there, you will usually know some of the people you run into, meaning you have to have your “social face” on at all times and be ready to chat. I like to do my errands without having to chat beyond please-and-thank you to the people who work there (I find unplanned interaction with anyone but my immediate family highly stressful).

In the mass of people in the city or a big suburb? I’m average enough that no one notices me, and it’s unlikely I’ll see anyone I know. This is great. I suppose living as a total hermit in an extremely isolated mountain would fix this (no other people at all!), but I’d get bored. I like going to stuff. Museums, restaurants, concerts, walking in a park without the threat of bears, etc. So city it is.

18

I like living in the country. But I want my shopping and medical care no more than 20 miles away.

I wouldn’t want to be hours away from anything. Thats too isolated for me.

19

Frustrations and challenges in the country come from the environment.

Frustrations and challenges in the city come from other people.

I’m much happier being frustrated at environmental challenges than I am at societal challenges.

20

Man did not come from the woods. Man came from the savannah, a grassland ecosystem characterized by trees spaced far enough apart that the canopy does not close. Typical savannah features tall grass, such that evolution favors an upright posture. In fact, many palaeoanthropologists believe that leaving the woods was the speciation catalyst that caused humans to split off from other primates.

I often see people romanticize forests, the open prairie, the sea, or other stereotypical representations of nature, saying “ah, this is where we humans truly belong.” But no, they’re usually wrong.