I'm not from a city, and I would argue that you lose the sense of community and humanity even in small village if you don't get out of your own way.

I'm not as critical. It seems like a 'scam' at worse ('reality embellishments' rather than a true scam), a nice place at best, and a fun experience in most cases. I do not think those challenges are particularly hard (especially because California weather is very soft, and winter is always the harsher time in communes in my experience). I'd say 'let them try'.

But I get your point, nowadays peddling this kind of imagery feels scammy.