I guess I’ve always assumed that (like myself) many US city dwellers grew up in rural areas and migrated to the city because of the lack of economic opportunity. Many others grew up in generally conservative working class urban areas. So I’m constantly surprised that Substackers feel the need to constantly remind their audience that rural people are ordinary folks and don’t have forked tongues or whatever.

At the same time I feel articles like this one miss a lot of the real tragedy that goes on in US rural areas. For city migrants with fancy remote jobs there’s plenty to enjoy. But your children will have to leave the area when they grow up, at least to maintain a similar quality of life. Having moved to a medium-size city (and left my rural home at 18) I am contemplating the idea that my own children might live close to me after they grow up - or at least they could choose to. That’s exciting and I think trumps any amount of natural beauty I miss living in Baltimore. And over the course of my lifetime politics has become polarized in a very nasty way, largely due (I think) to the economic circumstances. You can ignore this but it’s still there.

Finally: if your friends in the city are pretentious, make some new friends.