system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
I think one of the oddest things to me is people who are basically poor, and one paycheck away from financial calamity, feel superior because they live in a large city, and thus they're automatically better than some redneck from Mississippi who at least owns the property their trailer home sits on.

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When I graduated with my liberal arts degree, I clung to it because I didn't have many other accomplishments I could cling to. It didn't make me a superior person. It just made me an asshole for thinking I was better than a mechanic, plumber, or Walmart cashier just because I had a degree.
gpt
As someone who was born in and grew up in and around a big city, then moved to a town of less than 700 in the rural midwest and spent a quarter of my life out there:

* I can't recall a single instance of people here in the city vocalizing their disdain for country folk. I'm 100% sure I've witnessed it, but I honestly can't think of one case to recount.

* I've experienced plenty of rural folk voicing their disdain for city folk, on the other hand. Loudly, and often.

In my experience, it's more a case of rural folk having a chip on their shoulder and feeling like city folk look down on them, when city folk honestly couldn't be bothered to spare a thought for people out in the sticks.

And that's the rub I guess. It's a difference in fundamental worldview;

* People in the city are crammed together into vertical highrises. We have to navigate streets full of other people. For us, a deserted street is a reason to be cautious, an empty subway car is a sign that something's wrong. Solitude is hard to come by; even indoors, you're rarely far from another person (and the noise they make).

* In the country, people are so spread out that you sometimes have to go out of your way to have contact. It's not about avoiding social interaction, but seeking it out. Open spaces with few people are the norm.

So city folk tend to mind their own business, and expect the same. Country folk tend to want to know what other people are up to, and expect the same.

Yeah, I'm painting with broad strokes here, but that's par for the course on this thread.

And Yes, there are city folk who deride "fly over states." There are also city folk who look down on other city folk ("the bridge and tunnel crowd")

But I think many rural folk have a vastly inflated sense of the realestate they occupy in city folks' internal collection of fucks.