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Interesting article on poverty in Appalachia
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:11 am
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:11 am
Came across this on NPR.com and found it interesting especially being from Kentucky and having been in the region myself. I've always said there's different kinds of poor and this isn't the same as the kind of poverty you see in urban areas IMO.
Thoughts?
LINK
quote:
Many people here say they're rich in things that aren't included in any official measure of poverty. Things like family and faith. So they're understandably a bit bitter about how they're often seen from the outside.
Owen Wright of the Christian Appalachian Project, one of the non-profits that helps Slone, says that outside perception can hurt the self-esteem of the people who live in Appalachia.
"We're probably one of the last few groups that it's still politically correct to make fun of," Wright says. "It's still OK to tell, you know, hillbilly, redneck jokes."
"Once that's been drilled into them for so long, it's easy for them to start believing that themselves," he says.
Thoughts?
LINK
6
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:30 am to BluegrassBelle
He's right. Everybody makes fun of poor whites and nobody really sees a problem with it. It's become very mainstream
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:35 am to BluegrassBelle
Well paved roads and in Northern Eastern Kentucky. IOW, a load of horeshit.
Visit Bell Co. or Harlan Co. Kentucky or any of the East, TN counties nearby and get back to me. There's no comparison beyond mountain folks having a culture that judges wealth by friendship and family. This is a feel good story, imo. It feels good for wealthier Appalachians to be able to give the media the finger they so richly deserve because they so often exploit us as though we're nothing more than animals in a zoo and a feel good story for the rest of the country that enables them to ignore the very real issues in Appalachia that have been ignored for generations.
Poor Appalachia, and not all of Appalachia is poor, lives in 3rd world conditions and I'm willing to take anyone on a guided tour if they think otherwise. Even in the poor towns you can find those who are doing well but poor Appalachia is as bad off as it ever was.
Not knowing any different doesn't make it better.
Visit Bell Co. or Harlan Co. Kentucky or any of the East, TN counties nearby and get back to me. There's no comparison beyond mountain folks having a culture that judges wealth by friendship and family. This is a feel good story, imo. It feels good for wealthier Appalachians to be able to give the media the finger they so richly deserve because they so often exploit us as though we're nothing more than animals in a zoo and a feel good story for the rest of the country that enables them to ignore the very real issues in Appalachia that have been ignored for generations.
Poor Appalachia, and not all of Appalachia is poor, lives in 3rd world conditions and I'm willing to take anyone on a guided tour if they think otherwise. Even in the poor towns you can find those who are doing well but poor Appalachia is as bad off as it ever was.
Not knowing any different doesn't make it better.
This post was edited on 1/19/14 at 12:43 am
Posted on 1/19/14 at 8:12 am to BluegrassBelle
quote:
Thoughts?
drink less Mountain Dew in Appalachia.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 8:48 am to Prof
The White Ghetto
That's a National Review article that went more in depth about some of the issues plaguing Appalachia. Prof or Belle, is this a more accurate description of the situation in Appalachia?
That's a National Review article that went more in depth about some of the issues plaguing Appalachia. Prof or Belle, is this a more accurate description of the situation in Appalachia?
Posted on 1/19/14 at 9:07 am to Prof
quote:
Poor Appalachia, and not all of Appalachia is poor, lives in 3rd world conditions and I'm willing to take anyone on a guided tour if they think otherwise. Even in the poor towns you can find those who are doing well but poor Appalachia is as bad off as it ever was
This is why I rage at Missionary trips to Mexico, Africa, Central America and have zero faith in the churches that I grew up in and have family and friends that pastor them.
frick raising money for Africa when there's people living in shacks with no running water, hollowed out school buses, and barely standing trailers just down the road. Our own people are shut out of proper healthcare and dental care, access to the internet, access to education, high tech training or even advanced skills training, and then to even be able to get an entry level job at 1 of the 3 Fortune 500 companies in NW Arkansas, they have to drive an hour to hour and a half each way.
There are some real core problems in Rural America, and the price of land, equipment, fuel, labor, and transportation locks them out of even attempting to use the one resource they have available to them living off the land.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 9:38 am to BluegrassBelle
That article reads like the people in Kentucky are upset that other people think they're poor. They are poor.
"People calling us poor makes us sad.
"
Well then stop spending all your money on liquor and meth and you wouldn't be so poor.
"People calling us poor makes us sad.
" Well then stop spending all your money on liquor and meth and you wouldn't be so poor.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 9:51 am to CtotheVrzrbck
quote:
This is why I rage at Missionary trips to Mexico, Africa, Central America and have zero faith in the churches that I grew up in and have family and friends that pastor them.
you rage because God was about all people and not one particular group?
Posted on 1/19/14 at 10:07 am to diddydirtyAubie
quote:
you rage because God was about all people and not one particular group?
I agree with him, why wouldn't you want to help a neighbor before you cross the globe to help a stranger?
Posted on 1/19/14 at 10:14 am to diddydirtyAubie
quote:
This is why I rage at Missionary trips to Mexico, Africa, Central America and have zero faith in the churches that I grew up in and have family and friends that pastor them.
quote:
you rage because God was about all people and not one particular group?
I find this odd as well. Mission trips aren't paid by host countries or gov't handouts - they are paid with post-tax money worked for by the missionaries. It's nonsense to get angry no matter who the money goes to support.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 10:16 am to rb
quote:
I agree with him, why wouldn't you want to help a neighbor before you cross the globe to help a stranger?
Fair point, but I have never heard of a growing church that didn't start with local mission work before doing overseas one.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 10:19 am to rb
quote:
I agree with him, why wouldn't you want to help a neighbor before you cross the globe to help a stranger?
All the churches I know of do local and foreign missions. Jesus said to spread the Gospel to all people groups.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 10:37 am to diddydirtyAubie
quote:
All the churches I know of do local and foreign missions. Jesus said to spread the Gospel to all people groups.
Yep, our church does both. We support a soup kitchen, Habit for Humanity and Christmas in April locally and sponsor missionaries helping in foreign countries as well.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 11:42 am to davesdawgs
Truth is we have enough wealth to do both easily, what we can't finance anymore alone is stability for the world economy.
Most other wealthy nations don't do shite for anybody else or for the global economic interest because we have always picked up the tab.
Most other wealthy nations don't do shite for anybody else or for the global economic interest because we have always picked up the tab.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:06 pm to CtotheVrzrbck
quote:
frick raising money for Africa when there's people living in shacks with no running water, hollowed out school buses, and barely standing trailers just down the road. Our own people are shut out of proper healthcare and dental care, access to the internet, access to education, high tech training or even advanced skills training, and then to even be able to get an entry level job at 1 of the 3 Fortune 500 companies in NW Arkansas,
What a ridiculous statement.
Our poor have access to health care, dental, housing, food, and all the education they are willing to access via the federal dime.
The reason people go on mission trips to help the poor is because the poor in some of those places have no safety net, little access to water, sometimes have famine and little medical care.
If you're starving in the USA, you are simply avoiding the help that's there. Hell, the homeless here in Juneau eat better than the average American did 70 years ago.
This post was edited on 1/19/14 at 12:07 pm
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:15 pm to Duke
quote:
That's a National Review article that went more in depth about some of the issues plaguing Appalachia. Prof or Belle, is this a more accurate description of the situation in Appalachia?
Thanks for the article. And yes, it provides a more accurate snap shot IMO. Like I said, it's a different kind of poverty there than in urban areas. There's an expectation that they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do better, but their options are pretty limited due to proximity to major stores, schools, etc. As it said, the ones that "do better" are basically the ones that get the hell out. It's not like here where you have job opportunities within a 10-15 minute drive or bus ride (if you're willing to do the labor), schools out the wazoo (that the government is willing to pay for you to attend when you're that poor), and other options in the city. There it's basically a coal mine, a gravel road, and a holler that is difficult to get out of in the winter months.
And while the state of Kentucky is worried about not growing hemp because it looks too close to weed, you essentially have a whole area of your state ODing on Oxy while your "War on Drugs" resources are being targeted at a plant that's impossible to OD on. Oxy is probably the worst thing to ever happen to Appalachia.
It's definitely a multi-faceted issue with no easy solutions.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:18 pm to BluegrassBelle
Hillbilly Heroin
Posted on 1/19/14 at 12:23 pm to BluegrassBelle
quote:
As it said, the ones that "do better" are basically the ones that get the hell out
This has generally been true for a century or more, since the days of industrialization. Some come back, most don't. Areas with limited resources will always be poor, but poverty is relative.
We have villages in this state where most people earn less than 3,000 a year, and most of that is direct cash assistance but they don't want for food or housing.
There's nothing there, except a subsistence lifestyle.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 1:00 pm to BluegrassBelle
There are some sketchy spots in rural north East TN. Some wrong turn type areas that If you go missing they won't find you. It's beautiful and ehhh mixed together
A lot of those people still have dirt floors and no running. It's wild, quite literally.
A lot of those people still have dirt floors and no running. It's wild, quite literally.
Posted on 1/19/14 at 1:34 pm to RogerTheShrubber
Its called a "brain drain"
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