I live in one of the whitest places ever and I hate it.

[Lightning Count]

I live in a small town in rural Scotland, in one of the few places that votes Tory in the whole country, which I absolutely hate.

Pretty much everybody here is white the census shows the population is like 98% white. This lack of diversity really shows in the attitudes of people round here. There is also a struggle to keep young people around, there's no work round here so a lot of young people leave for the big cities once they get into university or find a decent job.

I work in a pub and the average age of the customers is roughly 60 years old. I hear casually racist bullshit on a daily basis and outright conspiracy theories are common. Customers regularly bring in shitrag papers that I hate like The Sun, The Express and The Daily Heil/Fail (Mail). I have to be nice to them because my job depends on it but talking to them is awful and I die inside a bit hearing them spout this shit on a daily basis.

All of these factors produce a highly concentrated and toxic mindset amongst the locals. The few minorities that do live round here face regular abuse either to their faces or behind their backs.

I swear if I can survive the cost of living crisis I am leaving this town and never coming back except to visit family members who stayed.

I consider this place important to my family history but I do not love it all, I look forward to the day I can leave.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I feel this. When I was a kid I grew up in a town that was similarly 90+% white. Even though we had a pretty sizeable school, there were so few people of color in my class growing up that I genuinely knew all of them by name simply by merit of the fact that there were just that few of them. My grandmother was a hardcore, unabashed, Fox News-addicted racist, as well.

It got so frustrating to be surrounded by such a monolithic view on the world that when I applied to colleges, I specifically went out of my way to try to go to schools with more diverse student bases in markedly different parts of the country, so I could actually be exposed to cultures and perspectives that weren't white, largely Protestant New England middle class folks. Since then I've lived in two of the US' largest population centers (and Boston, lol) and gone out of my way to try and meet people who aren't like the folks I grew up with.

I hope you're able to get out and meet tons of new and interesting people once things die down. Diversity is good for the soul, and homogeneity is exhausting.

 

[Viewt]

While I never felt entirely in tune with my hometown, Miami,FL, I'm grateful for having grown up around different kinds of people. I feel like it inspires people to be more curious.

 

[Antrax]

Diversity is good for the soul

Click to shrink...

Yeah, people generally become more positive and less misanthropic when surrounded by people from a diverse set of cultures. I grew up in a small white flight town, and college really helped me see a lot of good in people that I didn't have growing up. Most people in my hometown are bitter people even outside the bigotry.

 

[supkid]

There's really nothing exhausting about homogeny, most of the planet lived like that up until recently, I mean, this is an absolute absurd take. Living in a small town in Scotland, and complaining there isn't any diversity is akin to living in a small town in Nigeria and saying the same thing. It's really ridiculous.

 

[Lightning Count]

While I never felt entirely in tune with my hometown, Miami,FL, I'm grateful for having grown up around different kinds of people. I feel like it inspires people to be more curious.

Click to shrink...

I have mainly lived in small towns, but I have lived in big cities for about 5 years and it really opened my eyes.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

There's really nothing exhausting about homogeny, most of the planet lived like that up until recently, I mean, this is an absolute absurd take. Living in a small town in Scotland, and complaining there isn't any diversity is akin to living in a small town in Nigeria and saying the same thing. It's really ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

When all the people you're surrounded by have the exact same regressive, conservative, usually ironically-religiously-motivated "only I matter, everyone else can die freezing, why should I be expected to help anyone else" mentality, it's ABSOLUTELY exhausting.

The world is a big place. We're more interconnected than ever before, so of course someone seeing a world with so much diversity and so many different kinds of people would feel absolutely exhausted by living in a chalk-white slurry of racist old people. Like OP mentioned, these kinds of towns absolutely hemorrhage young people because of that.

 

[Lightning Count]

There's really nothing exhausting about homogeny, most of the planet lived like that up until recently, I mean, this is an absolute absurd take. Living in a small town in Scotland, and complaining there isn't any diversity is akin to living in a small town in Nigeria and saying the same thing. It's really ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

It really isn't the amount of racially motivated hate that is common is very toxic, everyday I hear someone blaming immigrants or non whites for pretty much everything.

Places that are basically functioning monocultures is not good, it means the attitude is very close minded and actively foments hate toward other ethnic groups especially among the older population.

Also these places are increasingly full of older people as the younger ones pack their bags once they find opportunities. The only young ones round here are the ones who can't afford to move, few are staying by choice.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Yeah, people generally become more positive and less misanthropic when surrounded by people from a diverse set of cultures. I grew up in a small white flight town, and college really helped me see a lot of good in people that I didn't have growing up. Most people in my hometown are bitter people even outside the bigotry.

Click to shrink...

I feel like it isn't as simple as that. Look at regions like the former Yugoslavia or Afghanistan. Very diverse culturally and yet they kept having internal conflicts.

 

[entremet]

While I never felt entirely in tune with my hometown, Miami,FL, I'm grateful for having grown up around different kinds of people. I feel like it inspires people to be more curious.

Click to shrink...

I thought Miami was diverse? At least for Florida.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Diversity is good for the soul, and homogeneity is exhausting.

Click to shrink...

I know that you and I spent a lot of time in the same city, and by comparison I recently took a trip down to Atlanta for a long weekend trip. One of the things that stood out to me was naturally diverse everything was wherever we went. I'm so used to neighborhoods or sections of a city being homogenized little areas with people of similar race, background, age, and class and each one having a specific vibe because of that. I can't remember the name of the area we were hanging out in Atlanta, but it was such a refreshing and awesome thing to see a true blend of people from all walks of life just hanging out at the same places on a night out. The experience was definitely good for the soul. It felt like a small taste of what our society should be like. Maybe I got lucky on the nights we went out on, but it was awesome.

 

[DarthMasta]

You're just not applying enough imagination, with a bit of it, and you'll see that you're not living in a homogenous place at all, after all, white is a made up category.

Look to religion, maybe into ancestors, with a bit of elbow grease, and you'll find out the people around you actually aren't that similar at all, maybe they have some Spanish blood in them, or something exotic like that.

Also, I'm not sure having people with a different skin color would change all that much, it's no protection against being conservative.

 

[Venatio]

Is this the kind of place you live, OP?

 

[Bengraven]

I live in a small town in rural Scotland, in one of the few places that votes Tory in the whole country, which I absolutely hate.

Pretty much everybody here is white the census shows the population is like 98% white. This lack of diversity really shows in the attitudes of people round here. There is also a struggle to keep young people around, there's no work round here so a lot of young people leave for the big cities once they get into university or find a decent job.

I work in a pub and the average age of the customers is roughly 60 years old. I hear casually racist bullshit on a daily basis and outright conspiracy theories are common. Customers regularly bring in shitrag papers that I hate like The Sun, The Express and The Daily Heil/Fail (Mail). I have to be nice to them because my job depends on it but talking to them is awful and I die inside a bit hearing them spout this shit on a daily basis.

All of the factors produce produce a highly concentrated and toxic mindset amongst the locals. The few minorities that do live round here face regular abuse either to their faces or behind their backs.

I swear if I can survive the cost of living crisis I am leaving this town and never coming back except to visit family members who stayed.

I consider this place important to my family history but I do not love it all, I look forward to the day I can leave.

Click to shrink...

Fucking crazy because replace Scotland with Minnesota and Tory with Republican and you literally have me in one of my hometowns 20 years ago.

 

[Lightning Count]

Is this the kind of place you live, OP?

Click to shrink...

No, but it does look very picturesque.

 

[Venatio]

No, but it does look very picturesque.

Click to shrink...

How's the internet?

 

[Lightning Count]

How's the internet?

Click to shrink...

I only get copper telephone line broadband so not too great. I get 10mbps on a good day, it can be worse when the weather is bad.

I can watch 1080p videos ok but trying to stream anything more demanding tanks it.

Full disclosure fibre is available apparently but the interchange cabinet is full. I asked my ISP about it but for now no dice.

 

[BossAttack]

Time to get hell out as soon as you can. I hope you can soon.

 

[Fushichou187]

OP, if a lot people are leaving and the average age of customers at the pub are pensioners… is your town just.. dying? Or is there still an influx of people moving there from outside that unfortunately share the narrow mindsets of the locals?

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I know that you and I spent a lot of time in the same city, and by comparison I recently took a trip down to Atlanta for a long weekend trip. One of the things that stood out to me was naturally diverse everything was wherever we went. I'm so used to neighborhoods or sections of a city being homogenized little areas with people of similar race, background, age, and class and each one having a specific vibe because of that. I can't remember the name of the area we were hanging out in Atlanta, but it was such a refreshing and awesome thing to see a true blend of people from all walks of life just hanging out at the same places on a night out. The experience was definitely good for the soul. It felt like a small taste of what our society should be like. Maybe I got lucky on the nights we went out on, but it was awesome.

Click to shrink...

Honestly, it's one of the things I loved the most about living in Edgewater after my stints in Andersonville and Lincoln Park. I had two Ethiopian restaurants within two minutes' walk of my house (one being literally next door), a wonderful Thai place, two family-owned ramen joints, a local-owned hardware store with an owner who knew me by name and always made sure to help me as best as he could even when he didn't have what I needed, all kinds of stuff. It was just so nice to be around so many different kinds of people and know that this was all OUR neighborhood.

I've only been to Atlanta a couple times, but the parts of Atlanta I've been to have a similar vibe to Edgewater, just on a larger scale. Especially compared to places like Pittsburgh or Lincoln Park. I'm not gonna pat myself on the back for being a perfect progressive - there is ALWAYS more to learn and there are always ways to be better - but I wouldn't have grown as a person the way I have if I didn't go out of my way to expose myself to more cultures and more diverse people. I miss living in the city. I don't miss how expensive it was, but I miss that feeling, that energy. I hope I can get back to it soon.

OP, if a lot people are leaving and the average age of customers at the pub are pensioners… is your town just.. dying? Or is there still an influx of people moving there from outside that unfortunately share the narrow mindsets of the locals?

Click to shrink...

Based on what they've said so far, towns like OP's and mine generally tend to operate on a decay loop. Families move to them because property is cheap, raise their kids there, then their kids graduate and bail out, then the parents either stick around until they die or retire somewhere else, opening their households up for new families to move in and the cycle repeats.

The cycle basically ensures that the only people who stick around are the people who feel COMFORTABLE living in a place like that, which leads to a perpetuation of the mindsets and worldviews that ironically drive young people away and keep them from staying in town and helping it grow after they graduate.

 

[Lightning Count]

OP, if a lot people are leaving and the average age of customers at the pub are pensioners… is your town just.. dying? Or is there still an influx of people moving there from outside that unfortunately share the narrow mindsets of the locals?

Click to shrink...

Most people that move here are nearing pension age due to the low house prices around here.

There is no real work around there was a few factories before but they have all shut down or been sold off and dismantled except for one that manages to keep going. A lot of the shop buildings have sat empty for years, a few more just announced they are closing due to rising bills.

 

[supkid]

It really isn't the amount of racially motivated hate that is common is very toxic, everyday I hear someone blaming immigrants or non whites for pretty much everything.

Places that are basically functioning monocultures is not good, it means the attitude is very close minded and actively foments hate toward other ethnic groups especially among the older population.

Also these places are increasingly full of older people as the younger ones pack their bags once they find opportunities. The only young ones round here are the ones who can't afford to move, few are staying by choice.

Click to shrink...

There are always going to be places that are monocultures, are you saying we should get rid of them all? White culture isn't a monolith, the Scots are different to us Irish, and I don't see why it should be viewed that way tbh, fuck racist people, but the fact that small villages full of white people exist shouldn't be something that is denigrated tbh.

 

[Dary]

OP, if a lot people are leaving and the average age of customers at the pub are pensioners… is your town just.. dying? Or is there still an influx of people moving there from outside that unfortunately share the narrow mindsets of the locals?

Click to shrink...

As it's also known, SNAFUK

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Have you considered moving to Glasgow or Edinburgh? If you are able to do so, I hope you can do it pronto.

 

[Lightning Count]

Have you considered moving to Glasgow or Edinburgh? If you are able to do so, I hope you can do it pronto.

Click to shrink...

Edinburgh is pretty expensive I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

I would consider Glasgow but I need to focus on getting through next year first.

 

[Nepenthe]

There are always going to be places that are monocultures, are you saying we should get rid of them all? White culture isn't a monolith, the Scots are different to us Irish, and I don't see why it should be viewed that way tbh, fuck racist people, but the fact that small villages full of white people exist shouldn't be something that is denigrated tbh.

Click to shrink...

It is important to consider that white culture is not the same as Scottish or Irish culture, and this not to conflate the two. A Black person can be born as an Irish or Scottish citizen and partake in those country's cultures. But they can never fully integrate to whiteness. So comparing a white village to even a Nigerian village isn't entirely an accurate comparison.

 

[Lightning Count]

It is important to consider that white culture is not the same as Scottish or Irish culture, and this not to conflate the two. A Black person can be born as an Irish or Scottish citizen and partake in those country's cultures. But they can never fully integrate to whiteness. So comparing a white village to even a Nigerian village isn't entirely an accurate comparison.

Click to shrink...

They are likely to be harassed with "Where are you really from?" bullshit.

Fuck, I am white but because I moved around and have a weird hybrid accent because of it, most people think I am American, even though I was born in the Highlands to a Scottish mother and have lived in Scotland for over 25 years.

 

[JustTeaThankYou]

There's really nothing exhausting about homogeny, most of the planet lived like that up until recently, I mean, this is an absolute absurd take. Living in a small town in Scotland, and complaining there isn't any diversity is akin to living in a small town in Nigeria and saying the same thing. It's really ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

It's exhausting if you notice, and you notice if you dont' share those homogeneous views.

 

[Bulletzen]

I live in a small town in rural Scotland, in one of the few places that votes Tory in the whole country, which I absolutely hate.

Pretty much everybody here is white the census shows the population is like 98% white. This lack of diversity really shows in the attitudes of people round here. There is also a struggle to keep young people around, there's no work round here so a lot of young people leave for the big cities once they get into university or find a decent job.

I work in a pub and the average age of the customers is roughly 60 years old. I hear casually racist bullshit on a daily basis and outright conspiracy theories are common. Customers regularly bring in shitrag papers that I hate like The Sun, The Express and The Daily Heil/Fail (Mail). I have to be nice to them because my job depends on it but talking to them is awful and I die inside a bit hearing them spout this shit on a daily basis.

All of the factors produce produce a highly concentrated and toxic mindset amongst the locals. The few minorities that do live round here face regular abuse either to their faces or behind their backs.

I swear if I can survive the cost of living crisis I am leaving this town and never coming back except to visit family members who stayed.

I consider this place important to my family history but I do not love it all, I look forward to the day I can leave.

Click to shrink...

You are not in Banff Scotland Are you? I was born and raised in the north east. I left over 30 years ago. Thank fuck!

 

[supkid]

It is important to consider that white culture is not the same as Scottish or Irish culture, and this not to conflate the two. A Black person can be born as an Irish or Scottish citizen and partake in those country's cultures. But they can never fully integrate to whiteness. So comparing a white village to even a Nigerian village isn't entirely an accurate comparison.

Click to shrink...

Why can't someone born in Ireland and not be white ever be "fully Irish"? That's absolutely stupid. Being Irish isn't being white, it's being Irish. What absolute nonsense.

 

[Lightning Count]

You are not in Banff Scotland Are you? I was born and raised in the north east. I left over 30 years ago. Thank fuck!

Click to shrink...

Glad you got out. I am not in Banff, but I have passed through it before.

I have lived in the North East most of my life.

 

[Fushichou187]

Based on what they've said so far, towns like OP's and mine generally tend to operate on a decay loop. Families move to them because property is cheap, raise their kids there, then their kids graduate and bail out, then the parents either stick around until they die or retire somewhere else, opening their households up for new families to move in and the cycle repeats.

The cycle basically ensures that the only people who stick around are the people who feel COMFORTABLE living in a place like that, which leads to a perpetuation of the mindsets and worldviews that ironically drive young people away and keep them from staying in town and helping it grow after they graduate.

Click to shrink...

Most people that move here are nearing pension age due to the low house prices around here.

There is no real work around there was a few factories before but they have all shut down or been sold off and dismantled except for one that manages to keep going. A lot of the shop buildings have sat empty for years, a few more just announced they are closing due to rising bills.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the responses. I work in affordable housing here in the U.S. (Northern CA) and am frequently asked by older folks that live in smaller towns or more rural unincorporated areas why there's a lack of affordable housing development in their areas. The root of the problem often being what you both are describing.

Ultimately I just tell them that the housing built needs to be open to all that qualify, not just them, and that their community needs to be less hostile towards those that don't think or look like them if they have any hope of attracting any kind of affordable development in their area.

 

[supkid]

It's exhausting if you notice, and you notice if you dont' share those homogeneous views.

Click to shrink...

The idea that being Scottish somehow carries an inherent need to be white is absolutely absurd.

 

[GamerJM]

Is this the kind of place you live, OP?

Click to shrink...

My dream is to live in a small town that looks like this but actually has diversity and I don't think that exists anywhere in the world.

 

[Alligot80]

Welcome to every town in Rural America

 

[JustTeaThankYou]

The idea that being Scottish somehow carries an inherent need to be white is absolutely absurd.

Click to shrink...

I have no idea how you got from reading what I said to responding with this sentence, but yes I agree 100%.

 

[Viewt]

I thought Miami was diverse? At least for Florida.

Click to shrink...

Oh, it is. That's what I'm saying - that even though I didn't love growing up there, I appreciated its diversity.

 

[Lightning Count]

The idea that being Scottish somehow carries an inherent need to be white is absolutely absurd.

Click to shrink...

It is absurd but the racists do think and say stuff exactly like this.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

The idea that being Scottish somehow carries an inherent need to be white is absolutely absurd.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, white supremacy knows no borders. And there are large portions of the populace who rank whiteness as more important to their cultural identity than their nationality when the chips are down. Unfortunately, the kinds of homogeneous small towns that the OP and I are talking about are breeding grounds for that kind of mentality.

That's not to say you won't find white supremacists in big cities, of course. They absolutely exist, and I've encountered them in Boston, Chicago and New York City just in my own personal life experience. But all in all, the people who move as far from major population centers as they can so they don't have to run the risk of bumping into someone whose face is darker than theirs in everyday life tend to clump up together and form isolated microcommunities where their fear and hate is considered acceptable, even if they don't outwardly talk about it.

Like for fuck's sake, there are sundown towns in fucking Massachusetts.

 

[Nepenthe]

Why can't someone born in Ireland and not be white ever be "fully Irish"? That's absolutely stupid. Being Irish isn't being white, it's being Irish. What absolute nonsense.

Click to shrink...

If you took a second to comprehend my post, you'd understand I never said that.

Irish culture is not white culture, even though a lot of Irish people are white. Whiteness is not a necessary qualifier for being Irish anymore than being cis is a necessary qualifier, even though the majority of Irish people are also cis. If you're born in Ireland, you're Irish. End of.

However, a Black Irish citizen will never be white, and thus in our current society they will always be a second class citizen on that front.

Whiteness is nothing more than sociopolitical construct that was initially used to justify colonialism and slavery, and is still used today because the enduring legacy of colonialism and slavery is a pretty sweet deal for those who get to be in the club of whiteness. However, whiteness only really works if people identify with it, which in in turn requires cashing in some of your ethnic identity, as you risk being othered and ostracized if you don't (see Irish and Italian oppression in America). So whiteness is also assimilating and destructive too.

That's why comparing a white town to a Nigerian town makes no sense. These are not equivalent labels of identity.

 

[Carn]

I feel ya OP. I do think its a bit of the cliche "rural-conservative vs metropolitan-progressive" thing you'll run into into most of Western Europe. I grew up in a decendly sized town in The Netherlands but when I go visit a bar there I'll hear exactly the same shit you are describing.

 

[supkid]

However, a Black Irish citizen will never be white, and thus in our current society they will always be a second class citizen on that front.

Whiteness is nothing more than sociopolitical construct that was initially used to justify colonialism and slavery, and is still used today because the enduring legacy of colonialism and slavery is a pretty sweet deal for those who get to be in the club of whiteness. However, whiteness only really works if people identify with it, which in in turn requires cashing in some of your ethnic identity, as you risk being othered and ostracized if you don't (see Irish and Italian oppression in America). So whiteness is also assimilating and destructive too.

That's why comparing a white town to a Nigerian town makes no sense. These are not equivalent labels of identity.

Click to shrink...

Mate, if you knew anything about Ireland, you'd know we were slaves in our own country. But being Scottish you're probably used to being the oppressor anyways.

 

[L Thammy]

There's really nothing exhausting about homogeny, most of the planet lived like that up until recently, I mean, this is an absolute absurd take. Living in a small town in Scotland, and complaining there isn't any diversity is akin to living in a small town in Nigeria and saying the same thing. It's really ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure that Nigeria is way more ethnically diverse than Scotland, with the largest ethnic group only being 25% of the population by itself. From Wikipedia:

Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups, with varying languages and customs, creating a country of rich ethnic diversity. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, together accounting for more than 60% of the population, while the Edo, Ijaw, Fulɓe, Kanuri, Urhobo-Isoko, Ibibio, Ebira, Nupe, Gbagyi, Jukun, Igala, Idoma, Ogoni and Tiv account for between 35 and 40%; other minorities make up the remaining 5%.[221] The Middle Belt of Nigeria is known for its diversity of ethnic groups, including the Atyap, Berom, Goemai, Igala, Kofyar, Pyem, and Tiv.[128][222][223] There are small minorities of British, American, Indian, Chinese (est. 50,000),[224] white Zimbabwean,[225] Japanese, Greek, Syrian and Lebanese immigrants. Immigrants also include those from other West African or East African nations.

Click to shrink...

 

[Shades]

I grew up in the rural Midwest in the US - I know how you feel

 

[Nepenthe]

But being Scottish you're probably used to being the oppressor anyways.

Click to shrink...

Bitch, I'm a Black American.

 

[supkid]

I'm pretty sure that Nigeria is way more ethnically diverse than Scotland, with the largest ethnic group only being 25% of the population by itself. From Wikipedia:

Click to shrink...

I'm not going to get into it, but white people from all over Europe make up the Scots, from loads of small tribes that existed all over Europe for millenia.

 

[supkid]

Bitch, I'm a Black American.

Click to shrink...

I'm not a bitch, so try be fucking polite, being a yank won't get you anywhere with that attitude.

 

[supkid]

Double post

 

[DBT85]

I understand you OP. I'm whitey mcwhiteface but where I grew up the diversity was huge, when I moved into the flat in New Cross it was even bigger and we lived opposite a church that was frequented every weekend by people wearing every colour of the rainbow. Fuck if I'd had a church like that near me as a kid I might just have gone.

Now we're in the Midlands in one of the whitest parts and diversity is a problem unless we're in the actual city itself. My kid is growing up in a school of 50 kids and they are all white, and will go to high school with probably 1500 kids and from what I can see there's hardly any diversity at all.

And it's not just ethnic background or skin colour where that lack of diversity shows. With it comes a lack of tolerance for others that don't fit into that old world view. The barber that did my hair last week is gay and she won't even hold hands in town because they get looks still which again is less of an issue in the city itself with a younger more diverse population that the sleepy surrounding towns and villages.

All we can do is make sure our kid knows diversity is great in all its forms.

 

[L Thammy]

I'm not going to get into it, but white people from all over Europe make up the Scots, from loads of small tribes that existed all over Europe for millenia.

Click to shrink...

Sure, but Africa is also where humanity comes from and has been in the longest, and hence has the greatest natural genetic diversity. It's also up there in terms of languages - I believe only beaten by Asia.