>>939615404
I am not the OP or the dude you responded to , but I spent my summers in a small town in TN helping my grandad with his farm and now work in small towns in the south and appalachia advising them on how to revive their economies. I get paid good money to help them set a pathway to success and 90% of the time my work ends because I present the proven techniques for revitalization and they simply say "but we don't want to do those things."
The biggest thing is that they complain about how their kids fall into 3 categories:
1 - the smart ones that go to college and never come back
2 - the dumb ones that never leave and become drug addicts
3 - the in betweeners that may go off to school but come back because the competition is too fierce in growing areas or maybe take over their dad's hvac business or whatever.
When we try to discuss why the smart ones don't come back they say its because there is no opportunity in their town or something that basically blames everybody else, but when we talk to their kids (anonymously, of course) who are the ones who would create the opportunities, the kids say its because of the racism and intolerance overwhelmingly. An often received response is along the lines of "I can't stand going to social events back home with all the casual racism and ignorance and it depresses me. There is no way I would want that every day or subject my family to that."
