Where To Find Polite?

Mrs. 3M and I are slowly getting to where we can relocate, and while we have a bit of a short list already I've been thinking more and more about the local culture of our eventual destination. That little something is polite and courteous behavior.

I've lived over fifty of my sixty some years within a few miles of where I was born. The culture here has vastly changed over the years, and not for the better. There is not just a lack of common courtesy any more but instead it seems people are in this "I must win at your expense mindset". It's everywhere and in everything, from subtle to blatantly rude.

I'm a pretty polite person myself. It's how I was raised but it's also my nature. If I see somebody who needs assistance, it's second nature to help. For example, if I see someone carrying something or perhaps is herding children and needs to open a door, I'm happy to do so without being asked. In days gone by I would have been thanked. Over the last few years I don't even get acknowledged. I don't do nice things to get the thanks, but it grates me that people don't feel the need to reciprocate courtesy.

Everything here seems a competition, from cutting people off in traffic, to the line at the grocery store check out. It's just gotten very cold and people have gotten completely self centered.

Done bitchin' and whinin', just wanted to give background for my question: What parts of the country do people still treat each other with respect and decency, or is that as gone as black and white TV?

 

Robbinsville NC. Wellborn FL. Ya gotta get a little creative and suffer that "newcomer" period in any small town. But there's a start.

 

Northeastern PA. Folks still open doors and say please and thanx.

Now, yderizmororzizazzizdenderizorziz on the interstate, well that I do NOT know.

 

Any of the "Mountain" towns and small cities in the Rockies are old school in the way they treat each other! Anyplace up on the platue all the way to the Front Range would be ideal, just plan for the winters and fire seasons, and your good to go!

 

Yes sir ,, i was going to say,, look for them smaller outlying cities ,, find the ones that haven't experienced a big growth spurt in the last 10 to 20 years would be a guess for me ,, those growth spurts means they got a bunch of outside younger folks ,, that could have brought in the wrong attitudes . Just my take on it. Good luck ,, but ,, kinda like Madmax mentioned,, Robbinsville NC, is one of those small towns,, haven't been there in 30 yrs ,, but I'm kinda partial to NC . Google search them small towns and check their past politics,, might give ya another view of the towns your interested in . Theres 50 states with hundreds of towns each to search ,, you've got your work cut out for ya.

 

I've definitely noticed that if a city's population is above about 50K that there is enough anonymity that people are free to act more like animals than smaller communities. The bigger/denser the worse it gets and to a point the smaller the better it gets, at least to a point.

I also think a lot of the issue here is the influx of people migrating from large population centers out of state, and tend to have a certain attitude.

 

GUNS, cause armed people are polite people!

 

You wanna see a real travesty?
Sweet Home Or, where I was born and spent the first 8 years, was once a sleepy little old logging town, is now over grown Lake Tahoe, where old parts of town, whole tracts have been bulldozed and new McMansions have sprung up and absolutely ruined it, and guess where all those assholes came from???
Yup, the very same crowd who took over Sisters Or, and turned it into yuppy vill with the multi million dollar horse ranches! It's utterally discusting to see these towns destroyed by maga money from then damn furigners!

 

That's so sad. Haven't been there in many years. I think I'll pass any future opportunities so I will remember it as it was.

Took a short trip to Bend a few weeks ago. On one of our side trips came back into town on Century drive. It ain't Bend anymore. Drove through so many roundabouts (5 of them) about a block apart I dam near got dizzy. Later took the dog for a walk and struck up a conversation with another guy and was talking about it and mentioned that Bend used to be the Tom Tom at one end and a gas station at the other, that I'd wanted to live there when I was a kid, but glad now that I hadn't. He chuckled and told me his folks owned the Tom Tom and grew up there and felt the same. It's a completely different world.

I want a time machine and I want it now! I want to snoop around Larry's bargain basement, then go to Joe's so I can by new ceramic eyelets for a rod I was working on and a can of gunpowder, then the stuff I need for an oil change. Maybe I'd go back a bit further and talk Tom McCall into letting me man a 50 cal at the border. If I showed him what was happening today he would have set me up in a heartbeat.

 

Little town of 300 I grew up in..... same story. It is surrounded by "Insert Whatever" Estates That range from 350k on the low end to 2mil on the upper end. Last time I went back make me sick to see what happened to what was a rural little coal town and the destruction of every thing Natural around the town.

 

I'm constantly surprised in Tucson, Az, holding the door for people, especially at the post office, gets "thank yous".
And that town has gone down the liberal tubes in the last three decades. Guess there are a few who appreciate courtesy.

Too few, that's why I'm planning an exit. Crime in parts of the town has grown exponentially. Eventually it will swallow the whole place.

Originally I came from a small town on the east coast called Hockessin, in the northwestern part of Delaware. Simple life there. But even in the late 60s and early 70s the money moved in and began to ruin the place. moved out in '76.

 

Y'all head on down here to SC. As long as you stay out of Charleston or Columbia it's great people, good food, and decent weather. NC isn't bad, but has a liberal government and lots of metropolitan areas are becoming yuppi-fied.

 

Won't find much in Texas thanks to the influx of Commies from out west, Commies are not polite people,
A true Texan is polite only if you have big ta-taa's, This is if you're only a young woman since a Texan wants to see you going and coming.
Texans hogggg the left lane for some reason and won't get their dumb asses over in the right lane from time to time so people can pass.
Never talk to a Texan about you're dog.
If your dog has 3 ticks on its ear a Texans dog has 5 ticks on his ear,
We refer to Texans as horses asses, The state animal

Canucks? Keep yalls cheap,rude asses up Nawth please

 

North Idaho. People are like-minded - meaning - common sense and respect is given and expected. I wouldn't even consider living anyplace else in the USA right now. I have been here 6 years now and if I leave it will either be to a different country (highly possible if they stack the USSC and the people tolerate it) or in a box. Yes, the Fascists have made a few inroads, mostly down South, but those are few and have been recognized being fought tooth and nail and are in the process of being reversed. I'm pretty proud of Idaho and its citizens. Just a few tidbits...Constitutional carry, a new and stronger Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA) and a Bill just passed to ensure this Critical Race Theory nonsense is not taught in our schools. Common sense and respect.

 

I agree we live 30 miles north of Charleston in a sleepy little town of Mcclellanville. People wave to you when driving and kids still say yes sir and yes mam. No such thing as play dates kids get-together on their own. I've been here 40 yrs and sad to say it is changing with people from the north moving in wanting it to be like where they came from-----all f -up

 

We taught many of the politeness of a Canuk and its way.
Where I LIVE , And i have seen men have a strong talk with a young male who has just yelled at his girl ..
WE MEN WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT IN PUBLIC !
Politely have your discussion in your area only and never raise you voice or hand !!
Sloth

 

Easy on our friendly Canuck neighbors up Nawth, they is usually good folk, the kind you want as neighbors looking out for ya!

 

Lol, I knew Sloth would bite, Surprisingly not much as a nibble from Texans....lol

 

Fairhope, Alabama was settled by Iowegians as a single tax colony and is filled with affluent Fairhippians that drive golf carts costing more than my first three houses did. They shop in Boutiques that sell $30 bottles of flavored olive oil and $300 shoes. Except for the Karens, everybody is polite to a T. Manners and gentry are always present, except for Karens, but they think they are on a crusade. Walk across any street and cars will rush up to you out of their way just to politely stop and let you cross the road. Everbody waves at you and speaks to you except Karens, they tend to glare from behind their soccer-mom masks and mumble. Free $100 puuppies are advertised everywhere for a few hundred dollars in rehoming fees. Apparently dogs need a lot of emotional and financial support to change from one McMansion to another. Welcome to Alabama's hidden treasure. We drak whiskey in a bar at the Grand Hotel yesterday while awaiting them to fire their daily cannon across Mobile Bay. One of the whiskeys was $360 a shot but it was only $3.00 more if you wanted a double. I plan to use my retirement money next month to just purchase the second shot and sell them half price to wannabe Fairhippians.