[throwaway894345]

> Also, he says he came from a small town so I don't think it is fair to characterize him as a coastal elite.

I'm sure he came from a small town and perhaps the "Dylan is a coastal elite" take is inaccurate (I'm also not sure that's what the parent is suggesting), but the following seems pretty unambiguously elitist-there's no more charitable interpretation that doesn't flout reason.

> In small town USA, the local culture usually is inferior.

[oneplane]

It's not necessarily the culture that is inferior, but the monoculture with a requirement of conformism being inferior.

I have not travelled all over USA to have a taste of every possible small town, but the ones I did visit that had monoculture often also had a very 'conform to us or leave' type of vibe.

[dylan604]

>It's not necessarily the culture that is inferior, but the monoculture with a requirement of conformism being inferior.

Much better phrased than I was able to do it.

>I have not travelled all over USA to have a taste of every possible small town, but the ones I did visit that had monoculture often also had a very 'conform to us or leave' type of vibe.

With the size of the US, even traveling within the US it is still similar everywhere you go. An interesting bit about Europe is that you can visit totally different culture with a few hours travel by train. I can travel the same distance and still be in my same state, so traveling to new cultures is difficult. It's just a unique state of things, not a claim of better/worse

[throwaway894345]

> With the size of the US, even traveling within the US it is still similar everywhere you go. An interesting bit about Europe is that you can visit totally different culture with a few hours travel by train.

I agree, and I love this about Europe, but what you're experiencing is monoculture at national scales. You have large regions with single dominant cultures (as opposed to a Europe that is a uniform blend of every culture). I also suspect this is key to Europe's minimal inequality--it's a lot easier to get things done when most people have similar values and when people are willing to conform to the system there's obviously going to be much less inequality (they're not working against the system).

[refurb]

But at the same time, Europe has a fetish for national differences that the US doesn't. The decedents of France and Germany who came over to the US don't fight over the things they do in Europe.

We just look at Europe and say "guys, you're just white, leave it be".

[throwaway894345]

I think there's plenty of conformism in cities, but it may not chafe those of us who are liberal or progressive the way we are chafed by smaller towns. That said, I certainly think this is more agreeable than arguing that small town cultures are inferior.

[refurb]

Dylan should take a trip to San Francisco and see how non-conformism to the local politics works!

[dylan604]

You say that like I've never been there. I choose not to live there for reasons. Just because one city is more fucked up than others doesn't mean it's the proof of anything. Outliers happen in any statistical view.

[refurb]

“If it doesn’t conform to my world view it’s an outlier, if it does it’s an important data point”