Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[garbon]

Calling poor run-down neighborhoods "communities" in the context of opposing that to the cruel soullesness of "gentrified" i.e. not run-down neighbourhoods has to be  one of the most condescending/racist stereotypes around. If I were from such "communities" I would be appaled at the arrogance and condescending attitude of any sheltered idiots coming to my area's defense.  I would probably utilise them to avoid having to relocate/lose my juicy free council flat, but I would despise and hate them inside.

It's just another iteration of the "noble savage" myth that various collectivists have been perpetrating at least since Rousseau.

Please don't try to construct meta-narratives. Bit beyond your skill set, I'm afraid.

[Martinus]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Fewer shootings and less unsanitary food.

[garbon]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Fewer shootings and less unsanitary food.

How soon till you suggest we put them in camps?

[Valmy]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Chain stores and same-y houses and apartment complexes.

At the upper end, every house and store is filled with character - that just happens to be more or less the same as the "character" demonstrated in similar places located across the continent. 

My favorite example of rural gentrification was a restaurant in Oro-Mentone Township. It was called "The Settlers Ghost" and it was located right nest to a big new golf course and skiing area. It served high-end international type food - all proudly "locally sourced" and "organic". The fun part was the menu and decor, which featured a long description of how the restaurant was intended to "honor the settler families whose passing allowed the creation of this fine restaurant, chalet and golf course" (hence "Settlers Ghost"). The décor was all ye olde time-y farm stuff.

Thing is, this is still a partly rural area, lost of farmers (from settler's families) still live there, and farm. They are being pushed out by tourist facilities of course, but they aren't gone yet. However, they would be very unlikely to eat at a restaurant like this - and I wonder what they would make of being "honored" in that manner! 

Well my mother comes from a poor farming community in Oklahoma and they discovered oil and the place is booming and the locals seem to think it is all pretty fantastic. Not sure farmers are the snobs you seem to think they are. They think stuff normal people think is cool is cool as well. When they got their first nice restaurant they were lining up to eat there because something like that had never existed in that community before.

[Martinus]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Fewer shootings and less unsanitary food.

How soon till you suggest we put them in camps?

See, this is how SJW operate. If you want to reduce shootings and improve health safety in restaurants you are Hitler.

[Martinus]

My favorite is #7.  Yeah, to hell with safety.

It seems to me that the single overreaching principle of the left these days is to make sure everyone is equally miserable.

[Valmy]

Garbon is an activist? Who knew?

Anyway while moving out to the burbs may seem like hell to people who grew up in a tight knit urban community where everything was within walking distance and everybody knew everybody else it is not really a camp. There is nothing unusual about a little nostalgia for the old times.

What Spike Lee said about social services though is spot on. New York should take a look at that.

[garbon]

Garbon is an activist? Who knew?

Yeah, certainly news to me. I think SJW is just a tag that means 'someone Martinus dislikes.'

[The Brain]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Fewer shootings and less unsanitary food.

How soon till you suggest we put them in camps?

See, this is how SJW operate. If you want to reduce shootings and improve health safety in restaurants you are Hitler.

And if you want to delouse people.

[Malthus]

What do you guys mean by "soulless"?

Chain stores and same-y houses and apartment complexes.

At the upper end, every house and store is filled with character - that just happens to be more or less the same as the "character" demonstrated in similar places located across the continent. 

My favorite example of rural gentrification was a restaurant in Oro-Mentone Township. It was called "The Settlers Ghost" and it was located right nest to a big new golf course and skiing area. It served high-end international type food - all proudly "locally sourced" and "organic". The fun part was the menu and decor, which featured a long description of how the restaurant was intended to "honor the settler families whose passing allowed the creation of this fine restaurant, chalet and golf course" (hence "Settlers Ghost"). The décor was all ye olde time-y farm stuff.

Thing is, this is still a partly rural area, lost of farmers (from settler's families) still live there, and farm. They are being pushed out by tourist facilities of course, but they aren't gone yet. However, they would be very unlikely to eat at a restaurant like this - and I wonder what they would make of being "honored" in that manner! 

Well my mother comes from a poor farming community in Oklahoma and they discovered oil and the place is booming and the locals seem to think it is all pretty fantastic. Not sure farmers are the snobs you seem to think they are. They think stuff normal people think is cool is cool as well. When they got their first nice restaurant they were lining up to eat there because something like that had never existed in that community before.

I don't think they wouldn't eat there because they are snobs. I think they wouldn't eat there because the place is expensive, and most of the surviving farms are clinging on by their fingernails, financially speaking.

In this particular township, there are really two communities: the local farmers, whose economic situation has steadily declined; and cottagers and developers, who are creating all sorts of amenities for people from Toronto and Barrie to enjoy (ski chalets, golf clubs, and now, a new concert park), whose influence is steadily growing. The two don't have much in common.

Obviously, in a sense, this is great news for the locals, who can make big bucks selling their land, much of which used to be nearly worthless. However, obviously, that means moving out of their community, leading to certain tensions.

Edit: an example of a clash between the two: "Save Oro". http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2016/05/21/save-oro-takes-concerns-to-queens-park

[Valmy]

I don't think they wouldn't eat there because they are snobs. I think they wouldn't eat there because the place is expensive, and most of the surviving farms are clinging on by their fingernails, financially speaking.

In this particular township, there are really two communities: the local farmers, whose economic situation has steadily declined; and cottagers and developers, who are creating all sorts of amenities for people from Toronto and Barrie to enjoy (ski chalets, golf clubs, and now, a new concert park), whose influence is steadily growing. The two don't have much in common.

Obviously, in a sense, this is great news for the locals, who can make big bucks selling their land, much of which used to be nearly worthless. However, obviously, that means moving out of their community, leading to certain tensions.

In an era of high farming prices how have their economic situation declined? I know during the 70s and 80s the farmers had it super rough but these days they do pretty well. It seems to defy all economic logic that their economic lot has declined in the past thirty years. Of course we have our commie subsidization of farms, maybe the Canadians do not have that.

[derspiess]

Damned snobby farmers, with those nice shiny tractors they won't let me ride

[Malthus]

I don't think they wouldn't eat there because they are snobs. I think they wouldn't eat there because the place is expensive, and most of the surviving farms are clinging on by their fingernails, financially speaking.

In this particular township, there are really two communities: the local farmers, whose economic situation has steadily declined; and cottagers and developers, who are creating all sorts of amenities for people from Toronto and Barrie to enjoy (ski chalets, golf clubs, and now, a new concert park), whose influence is steadily growing. The two don't have much in common.

Obviously, in a sense, this is great news for the locals, who can make big bucks selling their land, much of which used to be nearly worthless. However, obviously, that means moving out of their community, leading to certain tensions.

In an era of high farming prices how have their economic situation declined? I know during the 70s and 80s the farmers had it super rough but these days they do pretty well. It seems to defy all economic logic that their economic lot has declined in the past thirty years. Of course we have our commie subsidization of farms, maybe the Canadians do not have that.

Small family farms in that part of the world are uneconomic without subsidies, and subsidies have not kept pace with inflation in other areas.

The problem I think is that Oro-Medonte was never particularly good farmland. It made its living by its proximity to major population centers (particularly Toronto). With decrease in shipping costs, that's not as big an advantage as it one was: the whole buy local thing can't turn back comparative advantage wholly.

Combine this with the explosive growth of Toronto (and Barrie turning into a commuter city for Toronto) and subsidized family farms find it hard to compete with developers.

[Valmy]

Well if they are small uneconomic farms then...

I don't know if I owned a money losing unprofitable business and somebody offered a stonking amount of money to take it off my hands I probably would be thanking my lucky stars even if it had been in the family for years. Nothing lasts forever right? Why want to be condemned to poverty for the sake of some kind of nostalgic commitment?

It kind of reminds me of the English obsession with the tragedy of land enclosure and coal mine closing. As if being a peasant or a coal miner is some kind of fantastic privilege that is now tragically unavailable to us. But maybe that is my not-having-grown-up-in-a-miserable-dying-industry privilege speaking.

I mean those farmers' ancestors had moved from someplace with bad prospects for the opportunity provided by that land in Canada. Seems downright un-North American to not continue in that tradition.

[Admiral Yi]

What's the difference?

Colored people is an archaic and discredited term for blacks.  People of color is a recent term that lumps all non-whites together.