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How to live on $432 a month in America

(shagbark.substack.com)
526 points cactusplant7374 | 1 comments | 23 May 25 16:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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energywut ◴[23 May 25 21:13 UTC] No.44076644[source]▶
> any American could live an earlier iteration of the American Dream

If (and only if) you aren't socially different from the communities you'd be moving to. Being gay or trans, for instance, might mark you out as a target in a lot of the places where you could live this cheaply. Plenty of race, religions, or political beliefs that would make it untenable.

It's hard to claim that any American can achieve this.

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nkurz ◴[23 May 25 21:51 UTC] No.44076947[source]▶
Maybe you have more direct experience with this than I do, but I'm not sure I agree. I don't follow the lifestyle the author describes, but I do live in an economically and culturally comparable town in Vermont that's much smaller than Massena. The town is full of gay and lesbian couples, and it really doesn't seem to be an issue. The few racial minorities seem to be well accepted. Religion is a surprisingly small factor.

Political beliefs do divide the town, but national politics are actually less divisive than I've experienced in larger places. Trans folk do have it harder, but we seem to judge the few we have as individuals. I'm sure there are other towns where these things are much less true, but I wouldn't automatically assume it couldn't work in Massena for anyone with the right attitude. I think it would come down to the individual.

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1. shagmin ◴[23 May 25 23:40 UTC] No.44077605[source]▶
Guess it comes down to the individual's attitude either way and what they're willing to tolerate but I wouldn't underestimate the aggressive ignorance you can find out there. Vermont is a short drive from the so-called lesbian capital of the world, one of the few parts of the country where democrats consistently win a majority of rural voters, and is in the most secular corner of the country. It's almost the complete opposite of the rest of rural America.