Let's just talk about small town values for a sec here.

Every single time I hear some idiot republican start going on and on about "small town values"... I want to punch a wall. Seriously.

Republicans like to talk about small towns like they're these magical Capra-esque places, filled with only people who are magically decent-licious. Unlike big cities where we're all kniving assholes, out to get all we can- or something like that. I've seen Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. I know what they're thinking.

It's amazing to me that "small town people" are presented as being more trustworthy than people in cities, because if there was anything that taught me not to trust people, it was the time I spent living in a small town in Massachusetts. It taught me that if you are vulnerable for two seconds, it will bite you in the ass. When I moved to Rochester, finally, I thought at first that everyone who was friendly to me was doing it as a joke, and that as soon as I was friendly back, they'd laugh at me for falling for it. Which is exactly what happened to me myriad times in that trustworthy small town.

It's amazing to me that small town people are presented as being warmer and friendlier than city people. Because I have never had to eat lunch alone in a bathroom stall in a city because no one would sit with me. And sure, in a small town, everyone knows your name- but it doesn't mean they're going to talk to you- except, of course, in the case of screaming racial epithets at you on the bus because it upsets you (yes, it happens in Massachusetts).

It's amazing to me that they act as though people in small towns have better morals than people in cities. I can't think of a more important moral than being kind to people- and if anything, I think the main reason I was targeted was because I wasn't afraid to be stand up for other kids who were getting picked on. And let me tell you, I don't want to brag- but the one thing I am proud of is that they never, ever took that away from me- they never got to me on that one- I did it right up until my last breath in that small town, and I did it with every ounce of vitriol in my being. And I have a lot of vitriol when it comes to that shit.

Since then, I've lived in more "citified" places, and have never had that kind of trouble with anyone- and have found people to be much, much kinder and more decent, and more upstanding, etc. etc. And while I'm not saying that every small town on earth is filled with that sort of people- or even that everyone there was like that- it probably just seemed like it at the time because those people were the stronger personalities and other kids were afraid of them- I just think it's unfair to go and paint cities with the evil brush and small towns with the good brush, when that has most certainly not been everyone's experience.

With that said, I've never met anyone who wasn't dying to get the hell out of a small town, so what does that say?