Florida is worse than a third world country
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Anonymous
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https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/curran-hatlebergs-florida-past-and-future
Sullenly, weeds (aftermath for sure) engulf graveyards or littered lanes, though a single insect, a mantis, provides some bemusement as it clings to a woman’s hand. The atmosphere is weary, post-consumerish. No one seems to possess anything. The men and boys are often shirtless, the cars cannibalized. There is beer, and there are bees bearding the faces of men; there is a peeling painted sign offering honey, but there is no honey. There is a picnic, but only watermelon is being served. Carved on the wooden bench is the old, rude, familiar greeting. An ice chest harbors only ice. No one is eating anything or making anything or going anywhere. … The lack of a door is not much different than the doors elsewhere depicted—the busted and broken ones, their screens keeping nothing out and nothing in, the boarded-up ones. … It is forgotten without ever being quite remembered. Lives can be lived without practice, without involvement or necessity. This is what Hatleberg’s patient eye discloses. Our celebrations have become obscure, our works enervated, our habitations derelict. The plastic flowers adorning our graves have been found to be not so pretty and enduring after all. ….. Wow. There are poor places in New England but at least there is a sense of the past or a return to nature or brooding time of prior economic activity. Florida dereliction looks 100x worse. Rust belt at least had bones that stayed up when everything else is crumbling. Detroit Is not this bad. |
Anonymous
| It’s pretty horrible there now. My dad was living there in a small house in what used to be a lovely little neighborhood and then in 2021, he and his neighbors started dying from Covid and related infections. His whole neighborhood just took a terrible downturn with so many abandoned homes and few city services. The little pond behind his house is now infested with alligators. |
Anonymous
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So, you've been drinking today?
I actually live in Florida and I've never heard of this place-apparently it is way up north and very rural. Trust me, the majority of 'Florida' doesn't look anything like that. It's not a crime to live in a rural poor part of Florida. Not everyone wants to live in Tampa, Orlando or Miami. |
Anonymous
| I would rather live in 48 other states than Florida. |
Anonymous
49. And me too. |
Anonymous
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My daughter just graduated from college and got a job in Miami. She said it’s pretty bad there now. Nothing like she expected. Luckily her whole company is going to relocate to California so she only has another year there.
She’s in one of those high-rise apartment building like the one that collapsed due to failed inspections and I hate it! Nothing changed after all those people were killed. |
Anonymous
Where 'exactly' is this? The housing market is on fire here. Where I am and commute to, they cannot build fast enough for demand and homes, even older ones, sell in hours. |
Anonymous
| So you pick the most obscure place in Florida then write an article about how all of Florida looks third world? |
Anonymous
Sure she’ll be able to afford a nice tent in Cali. |
Anonymous
| Florida has a horrific state government. It’s got the climate and land to be another economic powerhouse like California but never quite gets it together. Most of our citrus is coming from Mexico now. |
Anonymous
| A lot of snobs enjoying their poverty porn as usual. Hate to tell you, but someone could compose the same pretentious prose and worse about Baltimore or SE DC. |
Anonymous
No one calls California “cali”, PP. The salary increases will cover the differences in rent - and for apartments that don’t fall down! Imagine that! |
Anonymous
Or PA, or rural Oregon, or Bakersfield, or eastern Washington, etc. The writer and probably OP sound like they have not seen much of the US. And I think more people moved to FL over the past 2 years than any other state. I think some people just can’t accept that lots of people want to live there? I’m not sure. It’s like they need a whole state to punch down at to feel better about their choices. I grew up there — some parts are amazing, and I guess some parts are like this. But that’s America. |
Anonymous
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I'd happily diss Florida with you, but this is a RURAL POVERTY issue that you could find in most states, and indeed, most countries! Why do you think that poor rural areas vote mostly for the GOP? They're so poor, so lacking in services and education, that they fall easy prey to the "anti-government" wiles of the Republican Party. These people have been abandoned by successive governments, R and D. No wonder they vote (if they vote at all) for people who rail against big government. |
Anonymous
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Seriously? Have you ever been to the poor areas of DC? Do they represent what all of DC is like? You sound like a total moron.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why DCUM is regularly possessed by people who want to go on about how horrible Florida is. It's bizarre! The upside, however, is maybe it will stop some of the millions of people who keep moving here, but I doubt it. |