I have heard it used unironically.

People in NYC and SF NEVER have anything but noble and well intentioned thoughts and comments about places like Texas? lol what an absolute load of shit

You know, I was going to let this go, or just post a snarky "totally not what I said, but you do you, ace," but no. What you did was take what I said, rephrase it to something that I absolutely did not say, and then attack your own rephrasing.

You're right. That is an absolute load of shit.

“virtually always” and “have never encountered evidence”

uh huh

Was he supposed to prove that this is true in every situation for all time or were we talking about general trends? Also New York at least sends aid to Texas in their time of need[1] unlike in the reverse when Texan senators make sure no aid goes to New York in the event of a natural disaster[2].

Actions speak louder than words and I don't see New York as a state treating Texas as a state to abandon while Texas is advocating for anything against NY.

[1]https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/alexandria-ocasio-co...

[2] Grep for `TX` to see the Texan senators vote on aid to New York for Hurricane Sandy relief https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1...

My main objection to their response was that when I said I'd never heard 'flyover country' used unironically (which remains true, by the way, I haven't), they restated it as "People in NYC and SF NEVER have anything but noble and well intentioned thoughts and comments about places like Texas" and attacked that. They could have just left it at, "Well, I have heard it used unironically," and it would have been fine. Instead, they went on to create exactly the kind of judgmental snobbish coastal elite straw man my original post was complaining about.

I’ve started using it unironically but only after years of that section of a country attacking my part both physically and politically.

It’s flyover country to me because I refuse to give them a dollar in economic activity and will not land in their state. I have spent additional money to take longer flights that put the money into states who do not talk about killing mine.

The sort of ironic thing for me is that I've really liked the time I've spent in Dallas, as recently as this year, and loved Lawrence, Kansas, when I was in a residential writing workshop there some years back. Kansas City, Missouri, was great when I was there for a world science fiction convention. If the politics in Texas weren't on track to go full fascist I'd probably have given Dallas a serious look at a place to retire to in a few years.

But, yeah, my whole beef with "flyover country" is, to put it less gently than my original post (trying to be fairly neutral didn't work because I got attacked for what I didn't actually say anyway), I've historically almost always heard the term being used by conservatives to justify liberal-bashing. It's not California politicos who go around saying "flyover country"; it's QAnon-spouting bible-thumping tea partiers rallying their troops by yelling "Nancy Pelosi calls this 'flyover country,' are you gonna let her?" who do.

> …also, you know California has kind of been America's wildfire capital recently, right?

This year, so far, New Mexico has reluctantly claimed that particular throne.

True, New Mexico is "winning" this year. Hopefully the rest of the fire season won't be as dire anywhere, but...

Was it a Wild Fire or a Federal Fire? Wildfire season has not really kicked in yet, although it is fast approaching.

They are called wild fires because they burn in "wild land". It doesn't describe whether they were started by one human, one government or a lightning strike. It contrasts with fires in villages, towns and cities where what's burning is mostly human constructed.