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by goodJobWalrus 3884 days ago
> Someone who is forced to live in a tiny apartment because they can't afford anything better isn't really making a free choice, even if they rationalize it by claiming that it is.

Of course, but I wasn't referring to those people. I was talking about the people who prefer to live in apartments, like, for example, my parents who moved from a house (that was actually in a great location) to an apartment by choice (in a worse location, and some years after that in another apt in a better location). Now they live in a house again (not by choice), but keep their city apartment. And my mom keeps telling me how she hates the house, and can't wait to move back to the city apartment :)

and she even has a housekeeper so it's not like she has to do the whole work around the house by herself. This is why I say it's really deeply culturally embedded. You are not able to step out of your cultural conditioning and imagine that there are people who really truly prefer to live in apartment.
1 comments
Turing_Machine 3883 days ago
You're talking about specific people (your parents). I'm talking about society as a whole. Are there people who prefer living in an apartment? Sure, but most people, regardless of "cultural conditioning", will choose a large country dwelling over a small city apartment if they have the resources to do so. This is true everywhere, in every society and culture, and across all of known history.
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goodJobWalrus 3883 days ago
It is actually fascinating how convinced you are that your worldview must be the prevailing one. Yes, you accept that it is possible for the "specific people" to have different preferences, but no way that these can be anything else but individual quirks of the few, and not embedded in a culture, despite you not knowing anything about the culture in question.

Really, you exhausted all my arguments.

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Turing_Machine 3883 days ago
"It is actually fascinating how convinced you are that your worldview must be the prevailing one."

Look, you have admitted that rich people (i.e., the people who actually have a choice) prefer country dwellings.

This was true in Ancient Rome. It was true in Victorian England. It was true in the Soviet Union. And it is true wherever it is that you live.

"Really, you exhausted all my arguments."

No, the facts on the ground have exhausted your arguments.

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goodJobWalrus 3883 days ago
> Look, you have admitted that rich people (i.e., the people who actually have a choice) prefer country dwellings.

No, I haven't. I am totally disinterested in rich people and what they prefer, but I'm not sure that there are fewer rich people living in cities such as NYC or Shangai than in the country.

> And it is true wherever it is that you live.

Right. Good to know. I'll let you get on with it now.

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