Reply With QuoteOutside of the major cities I imagine there's loads of poverty and dereliction. I'll watch that video later.
Something I find interesting are the drive throughs (with commentary and statistics) of small town America - showing the amount of deriliction in so many places.
Lord Spoda is one such Youtuber.
Anyone else watch these?
Outside of the major cities I imagine there's loads of poverty and dereliction. I'll watch that video later.
…it’s not just outside the major cities - it’s inside too. This is Detroit… Oct 2022.Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli
z
Last edited by zelig; 26th March 2023 at 17:42.
I find the below interesting, of course the principle applies to many countries. Might explain the 'lost' interior of the USA somewhat.
Once upon a time I drove from San Francisco to Miami, the changes you see are quite jarring both in landscape and culture.
Country singer Jason Aldean already mentioned 'Fly Over States'.
Three observations:
My US friend Don (he applied a few times to become a member here, sadly that hasn't happened yet) drives regularly from Missouri to New Mexico to find a new house now he's retired. At first, I thought: "What on earth would you do in Breaking Bad country). But he makes videos of his trips and his house-hunts. And he doesn't edit them. The difference between poor/rich, beautiful houses/derelict buildings is along a thin line! On the other hand, NM is really wonderful! Absolutely amazing.
I remember when we had our kids young and we went from Sanibel Island (FL) to Immokalee, east of Ft Myers for an airboat ride. Sanibel is rich, posh and Captiva a little to the north has million(SS) dollar houses. A trip inland to Immokalee shows endless citrus groves, backroads and trailer parks. From ultra-rich to ultra-poor.
Finally: friends of us applied for a trip to the Galapagos Islands year after year and they finally 'won' a ticket. Because they'd applied year after year and, just to be sure, they always booked another holiday as well. But one year, they were allowed to visit the Galapagos. So they went to Ecuador to travel from there to the Islands. A few week later, they toured the south of the USA. New Orleans, Memphis etc. Their remark after returning home: "We're not sure where there's more poverty... Ecuador or The South!"
Last edited by thieuster; 26th March 2023 at 19:30.
When I used to potter around the back roads of the New England states and upstate New York, I was constantly amazed at the dereliction and archetypal Clampitts-style, er, shall we say simple lifestyle?
Around the Finger Lakes is a global epicentre for front-porch-rocking-chairs, blue dungarees, junkyard dogs, and derelict F-type or Chevvy pickups. I can't begin to imagine what Arkansas must be like.
Last edited by unclealec; 26th March 2023 at 20:20.
Yep, I am a fan of lord Spoda! Always amazed at the walkabouts in “cities” with populations of low 000’s and nobody on the street. Rather taken with the tale of FDR’s bear complete with wooden statue in the main square of town.
Where is everybody? More dogs and cats than people
I must admit that some scenes of the Arkansas video reminded me of parts of former Eastern Germany, north and n/e of Berlin. With one difference: in those villages, the schools and village halls look wonderful as a result of the billions that were spent there after 1989
I also looked like the n/e part of France: Vosges, Alsace where our family has an old, now restored farm that we share as a holiday home. Where the local lawyer's wife sells butane gas for cooking to the villagers to make ends meet. Where we bought land for 10 euro cent/m2. And everybody was happy: the seller and the family.
Very interesting videos, thanks OP. Other than Wilmington and Oceanside, the clips I watched paint a pretty bleak picture.
Another fan of Lord Spoda here. Some of the towns I find quite appealing although I'm not sure why! (check out the drive in at 32:40 on)
Last edited by oldoakknives; 26th March 2023 at 23:47.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Thank you for sharing
On so many of them, when he is driving along the Main Street of the towns- there are only around 6-10 cars parked out front of the buildings. Seems like people drive to work, park up and spend the day in whatever office it is - in what is a bit of a ghost town.
As highlighted - the ‘cities’ around central Detroit are desolate places.
I read an article some years ago that suggested Detroit would be the first major western city to fail.
Partly Henry Ford's fault. He was one of the first manufacturers of luxury goods who had the idea to pay his workers enough to buy the goods they were producing, and so Detroit was effectively built around motor car ownership not just manufacture.
The factories were in the city centre, motor industry support businesses and others in a ring outside those, the line workers lived in a ring of suburbs outside the centre and drove to work, and the better paid managers, engineers etc lived in richer suburbs even further out.
When the manufacturers and suppliers started closing Detroit factories to operate in cheaper places like Mexico the managers and engineers left for pastures new. House prices plummeted in the outer suburbs and line workers who hadn't been laid off moved out there and still commuted in their cars. As more and more factories closed businesses and even farms sprang up in the city centre but couldn't pay good enough wages for workers to commute in from the outer suburbs (exacerbated by the fact Detroit was built around the car and so there was poor public transport infrastructure) and so many of these closed also. Vicious circle.
Last edited by Ruggertech; 27th March 2023 at 10:49.
I can't watch that video without thinking the bloke is Ned Flanders.
Detroit is the only place that I have (knowingly) had a gun pointed at me.
It was Toronto for me. Three policemen with what looked like Uzi's, very frightening.
Obama was in charge for 8 years when the decline was in full flow, followed by Trump for 4 years and old sleepy Joe who has done 2 years and not one of them has ever seemed to be that worried.
Messers Blair, Brown, Cameron, Madam May and Boris have done well in comparison.
That's the thing with living in a huge country and away from the metro areas. I guess some people like it and property must be pennies.
Compare and contrast with the UK with so many inhabitants in a very small country, you are never far from a major town/city.
That said, no matter how lavish your lifestyle over here you are never much more than 10 miles from deprivation.
Cheers,
Neil.
East Berlin ( Schönefeld airport), Istanbul airport, New York City, Paris… Not sure one gets used to it, though.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I found the same driving between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Queensland - 2 vibrant (for Australia) metro hubs, with shanties in between.
Maine for me, by a crazy camp site owner who we´d spoken to on the phone earlier that day to ensure He was O.K. with us arriving a little later than his Office customarily remained open, pump action shotgun. Same chap addressed our questions about local sites to visit, upstairs to his Mother whom we neither heard reply, nor saw! Yup just like the movie.
I´m not ´sensitive´ but Maine´s gotta weird vibe, Stephen King country innit...bloody fantastic road side lobster shacks though.
We´ve done a bit of driving around Carolina, away from the urban centres, wow they´s still a lotta po folk, pretty depressing.
West Virgina, we tend to add a a´tucky on the end, so Virginiatucky...We encountered a skunk while staying in a camping cabin, I´d just got the steaks on the grill outside when larger than life Pepe Le Pew comes trotting up like he owned the place...the next morning Missus P mentioned it to the lady in the office, ´´Oh he´s a pet´´, Missus P expressed some doubt- concern over the possibility of a pungent spraying... verbatim ´´Awww they make great pets, you gotsta remove their stank bags though, and many vets nowadays won´t do it!´´
Oh and the abundant signs reminding visitors, their children, not to try and feed the bears and-or take a photo.
When in Rome´tucky, huh.
Last edited by Passenger; 27th March 2023 at 15:03.
Some pretty mediocre wine as well I thought up around the Finger Lakes, though I´m generally not much for whites.
Rome'tucky lol.
Last edited by Ruggertech; 27th March 2023 at 16:57.
It looks like Mississippi is one of, if not the worst - for rural blight...........................
American life expectancy compares extremely unfavourably with the UK. The English seaside town of Blackpool has been synonymous with deep-rooted social decline for much of the past decade. It has England’s lowest life expectancy, highest rates of relationship breakdown and some of the highest rates of antidepressant prescribing. But as of 2019, that health-adjusted life expectancy of 65 (the number of years someone can be expected to live without a disability) was the same as the average for the entire US.
This means that the average American has the same chance of a long and healthy life as someone born in the most deprived town in England. If you then explore how life expectancy varies across the income distribution in both countries, the results are not pretty. This is especially alarming when you consider that the UK is far from top of the class when it comes to life expectancy in Europe.While Americans and Britons living in the richest neighbourhoods of their respective countries have similar, high life expectancies, at the bottom end it’s a different story. People born in the very poorest pockets of Blackpool are expected to live fully five years more than the poorest in the US.
https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-...d-c34a0b774303
And yet surprisingly in the area shown, the crime rate is about a third of the US average.
Average house prices of $49,000 too.
Cheers,
Neil.
How much is unreported though? A high percentage black population won't trust the police, usually with very good reason.
Really enjoyed that video OP. I've often thought about taking a road trip around the more obscure areas of the USA. The idea very much appeals to me.
Jackson Mississippi - by a different Youtuber..........
Crap narrator, but vids and stats - interesting
I just watched all of that - wow, what a sad depressing place.. Unbelievable to think somewhere like that exists in one of the richest countries in the world...
Last edited by bry nylon; 19th June 2023 at 16:18.
Fascinating video, America is a country of ridiculous parallels. I remember watching a documentary about deprived families in Virginia with a colleague from DC, who struggled to fathom that it was the same country.
None so blind as those who will not see. Half of Washington's suburbs are actually in Virginia.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Whenever I see these docs of dilapidated places I always think of American Pickers.
Cheers,
Neil.
It was a crossbow in a pub in Loughborough for me, not quite the same as a machine pistol.
Although apparently Vlad or his predecessor had an ICBM pointed at me when I was at RAF Chicksands.
Last edited by oldoakknives; 19th June 2023 at 16:21.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
To be honest I would rather live out in the sticks like that than in a densely populated area. But then I've never really been a fan of town or city life.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
If it was a longbow in a pub in Chester aimed at me id have real problems boyo ;)
Back in the day it RAF St.Athan for me Ian.
I'll watch the full film later but the start just reminds of Rambo First Blood!
I still watch these occasionally - but this one caught my eye....................
I’ve travelled to many parts of the US not on the tourist map, and it’s not the America we are used to seeing.
“Don’t look back, you’re not heading that way.”
Far right extremism, religious fundamentalism, massive opioid abuse, poverty... a country I almost emigrated to a few decades ago (I have immediate family there) but one I now hold in very low esteem.
Whilst this is probably more widespread than it ever has been, I can recall the US of many years ago where anywhere off the beaten track had numerous dilapidated houses with a succession of cars rusting outside. It feels just more so now looking at these images and videos.
And not much to steal either...
Last edited by redmonaco; 19th August 2023 at 16:15.
I played on cruise ships for many years. The last contract I did was with Disney in 2013. We regularly docked in Alaska. The immediate Dock area was pristine with smart shops and jewelers to trap the tourist dollars but a few minutes walk and you are into a completely different world of poverty. Loads of grotty thrift stores and derelict buildings with masonic symbols on them. I used to walk to the local library in Juno for WiFi (and funnily enough this is how I came to TZ as I wanted to buy a watch so started doing some research) and it was full of apparent homeless people. Quite upsetting actually.
The US is full of incredible juxtaposition. My wife and I love road trips, so at least once a year we fly into Vegas and drive through the Mojave and Joshua Tree (over the mountains, stay a night in the desert, etc.). There is an area called Wonder Valley that always blows my mind. It's miles and miles of barren land with small little shacks spread out along the road. Most of them derelict and abandoned, some just carcases of tiny houses, but some still inhabited. They look to be so "off the grid" that I can't actually comprehend how they could be lived in. Apparently it was a failed 1950's experiment to populate the area, which has been largely abandoned, but has since become fashionable with artists. What I thought was complete dereliction has been embraced by hipsters.
But my first experience of the US was in 1995 when I was a refugee there. We were placed in a shelter downtown Portland, and my sister and I were going to a nearby school. To leave the building in the morning we literally had to push the homeless people sleeping in the doorway with the door so we could exit. It was a really rude awakening to the American Dream.
The pandemic has made it much worse as well. I go to New York for work every October, for an event at Javits near Times Square. It was never a nice place, but going back the first time post pandemic, it has got so much worse. Walking to the convention centre in the morning, on 38th, there are people on the ground, rolling into the street with needles still in their arms. I know it's what happens, but I've never seen it so out in the open with seemingly no care given at all. It was the same story in LA, where you can drive from Rodeo Drive just a few blocks and there are tent cities by the freeway (and two weeks ago what looked like a dead body in an abandoned car).
I stayed in a hotel on miami South Beach a 18 years ago South Beach was nice had a bit of a walk round and 2 streets back from South Beach certainly weren't places you would go after dark
Sounds a lot like Blackpool to be fair
A high percentage of the black population won't trust the police to not steal?
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
I don't understand RM's reply either.A high percentage of the black population won't trust the police to not steal?
R
To be fair, I hardly ever understand what he is on about. Most of the time safe to ignore as it is probably racist.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Posting Permissions
