Considering Local Culture When Relocating or Selecting A Survival Retreat

Greg Ellifritz had linked to an interesting article on the subject of taking into account the local culture when selecting a site for a survival retreat or if relocating to a rural location. The article is by Christopher David entitled "Finding Home Part 2 of 4: Local Culture." This is a topic that I've touched on before in a roundabout way when I've discussed the fact that crime rates in rural areas may not be as low as you think, some farming communities are very heavily Hispanic (i.e., possibly not a good fit, culturally), political power may be concentrated in a few families or individuals, and people may not be all that welcoming to "an outsider". 

    David goes over some of these same topics based on his experience moving to an unidentified rural area in the Appalachians. He was dismayed to find, for instance, that the area he moved to is inhabited by what he terms "low class" individuals. He explains:

Low class has little to do with being financially poor but has everything to do with an individual’s thoughts, behaviors, and lifestyle centered on chronic bad decision-making and proclivity towards crime. This systemic inclination towards crime persuades me to believe that the majority of folks exhibiting low-class behavior actually stems from ignored/undiagnosed mental illness dominated by Anti-Social Personality Disorder. In my opinion, this disorder is one of the most dangerous expressions of mental illness, and we need to be on guard in areas where the local culture actually values the violent nature of ASPD.

Specific individuals may suffer from a mental issue, but what I suspect he is seeing is largely derived from the culture of the original settlers of the region--the Scots and, later, Irish--and that they come from what are termed "honor cultures." That is, that they take insults, slights and provocations very seriously. In fact, Thomas Sowell had suggested that the modern black ghetto culture has its roots in this Appalachian and rural Southern culture derived from the early Scot inhabitants. 

    But back to David's article, he goes on:

    Appalachia is an interesting place to live. Industry was the main reason for this region’s development. As most factories and mines have shut down, the small towns dependent on these businesses have been depopulating for decades. Those big businesses that do remain continue to extract important resources from the area and ship it out in a wealth-pumping scheme identical to the British empire’s wealth-pumping of India. The result? I foresee many towns in Appalachia going extinct as the stagnation of intellect, resources, and jobs erode any hope of restoration. Local governments are much too concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses” of modernity, favoring Dollar Generals, car washes, Dairy Queens, and the like as dependable cash cows for their mini empires while mom-and-pop stores file for bankruptcy. These short-term gains cause long-term malinvestment, which stifles any sort of future business dreams of young people and erodes the socioeconomic vitality of the area.

    Frankly, I do not have high hopes for this region with the current system in place. Like everywhere else, we have local government employees totally preoccupied with lining their pockets and seeking advantage over others to the long-term detriment of the common man. Couple this with an aging population and a flight of young intellectuals, and you are left with the residue at the bottom of the barrel- i.e., low class. Even local law enforcement agencies are rife with criminality that is going unreported and unprosecuted. In short, this place is truly turning into the Wild West of yesteryear.

He continues by discussing the crime, joblessness and poverty, the number of drug addicts that he sees (even on rural roads), corruption and so forth. He gives some warning signs to watch out for and advises you to follow your gut instinct over what a local or real estate agent might tell you about the place.

    Frankly, I think what David is experiencing is the result of the hollowing out of America due to our traitorous political and business leaders shipping American manufacturing and manufacturing technology overseas and importing hordes of menial laborers. And it has happened all across the United States. A lot of these areas were historically poor and, now that the economy has been sinking for several decades, have slipped back into poverty and seen their best and brightest head off to the cities for better opportunities. 

    But he is not wrong about being careful in picking where you move or to where you might need to "bug out". My own family's experience is a much a cautionary tale in that regard as David's. 

    My grandfather moved from a town in northern Idaho to the Seattle area when my father was in his teens. But after my parents had joined the LDS Church and had several children, my father wanted to raise his children around others of his faith and decided to move back to Idaho. Not back to northern Idaho where we had some relatives, mind you, but to Mormon dominated eastern Idaho. Not only did my parents suffer a significant drop in income, but the church congregation ("ward") we found ourselves in was distinctly unfriendly--more than one of us kids were recipients of beatdowns by other kids in the ward and their friends. I think it was because we were outsiders (i.e., hadn't had family in the area for generations) and that my parents were blue-collar workers as opposed to being farmers or professionals like most of the other families in the ward.  Fortunately, in the aftermath of the Teton Dam Flood, with our home largely uninhabitable due to the flood damage and my father's employment up in the air, my parents relocated to the Boise, Idaho, area hundreds of miles away on the opposite side of the state. Our financial situation wasn't that much better but at least I no longer had to worry about being beat up by the other kids at my church. 

    So if you feel impelled to relocate to a small farm or small town, you would do well to research the place thoroughly, visit it a few times at different times of day and different times of week (e.g., a weekday and a Friday night or Saturday) so you can get a better idea of what the town is like and the type of people that live there, making sure to visit a few businesses other than the main gas station or restaurant nearest the highway which cater to outsiders, visit the church(es) you might attend during a Sunday service, and so on. And keep in mind the warning signs presented in David's article. Your ability to survive and thrive will depend as much or more on the people in the area than on the geography or climate.