Woo...What do you think of this city dwellers radical idea?
Chicago-dwelling college teacher
says people should not live in rural areas: 'The solution is to give them
generous grants to relocate among other humans'
August
22, 2022
Adam
Kotsko says people should not live in rural areas - TheBlaze
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Chicago-dweller Adam Kotsko, a faculty member at the Shimer
Great Books School of North Central College, has publicly opined that
individuals should not reside in rural settings.
"In discussions of reducing car dependency, one often
hears, 'What about people in remote rural areas?' And my gut instinct is --
people shouldn't be living there in the first place. The solution is to give
them generous grants to relocate among other humans," tweeted Kotsko, who is also the author of multiple books.
"'But what if they like living in remote rural areas?'
Sorry, you can't always get what you want. A lot of people would like to live
in dense, transit-rich settings but can't -- either because they can't afford
it or it simply doesn't exist where they are," he tweeted. "And if this sounds harsh -- don't worry, it will never
happen, because our governmental institutions are INSANELY biased in favor of
rural areas. They'll be fine. I'm just a guy over here having an opinion,"
he added. He also wrote, "'Isn't it mean to imply that rural people's lifestyle is
bad and wrong?' As someone who lives in Chicago, all I can say to that is: cry
me a river."
Kotsko said that in his understanding, individuals living in
sparsely populated areas are poverty stricken and "essentially
trapped."
"My understanding is also that a lot of people in remote
rural areas are desperately poor and essentially trapped there,"
Kotsko tweeted.
Kotsko also issued a series of tweets discussing ideas about
such an urban-centric society.
"My ideal land use distribution (based heavily on KSR): all
agricultural land is collectively owned and scientifically managed to balance
quantity, quality, and variety of food against sustainability and ethical
practices. No single-family or corporate for-profit farms," he declared. "Young adults have to do a period of public service, and
one option would be a 'tour of duty' as a farm worker for a few years. Everyone
would at least know someone who knows firsthand what goes into food
production," Kotsko continued.
"The overwhelming majority of people live in a handful of
ultradense urban cores, connected by high-speed rail. No car-based suburban communities exist. A handful of
people stay in rural areas full-time to manage the work brigades or run
wilderness retreats or whatever," he added. "The human
footprint would be vastly less in this system -- all land not used for agriculture
would be left wild. Another public service option would be dismantling the
suburbs -- stripping copper wire and other useable resources, removing toxins,
then leaving them to rot."
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