I have been a lot of the places mentioned here, and the vast majority of them are just places, with people. No matter where you go, humans rarely improve a place over what it would have been without them. At the same time, everywhere is full of folks just trying to keep living. In the “best” places, I have been in multimillion dollar homes that stunk and were cluttered with trash and filth. In the “worst” places, there are still good people doing the best they can, sweeping that dirt floor every day and offering you the best they can manage if you come to visit. Some of the best beans and tortillas I ever had were at a family’s “home” in the city dump outside Reynosa, Mexico. There was meat with the beans, a rarity for folks in that place. Of course, the water donkey had died that afternoon, so…
The best places I have ever been were those without a human or evidence of their existence in sight. The worst places to me are always those where the humans are overcrowded and lack resources. Forty head of cattle on a section of good grass is always better than four thousand head stuffed into a feedlot, from an aesthetic standpoint. But the cows just want to live, no matter where they are. What some of us call a schithole is just someone else’s home. Not everyone is able to just move to a better place. And I would rather eat beans and tortillas in a stinking dump with good people than be living the high life around politicians or globalist sociopaths. The cafeteria for the House of Representatives or the Senate? Now THERE is a schithole.
Excellent perspective. I haven't traveled extensively, but I'll share what I was told by to people who have. One of my teachers, British, had lived in China during the early 1900s, had been interred by the Japanese and ended up in India by way of a prisoner exchange. Said India was the worst country he had ever been in. The other was a Taiwanese lady married to a professor and traveled with him around the world. She said Egypt was the worst.
Stupidity has its way, while its cousin, evil, runs rampant.
Grandpa Whitey used to say that Portsmouth, Ohio was the anal sphincter of the Universe. I don't know exactly what pissed him off about the place. He didn't expound much on the subject. Then, I went there. I understood. I was on one of my family "emergency" camping trips, and I'd piled the kids and the wife into the Blazer and headed to Shawnee Forest for the weekend. I'd just gotten the bug on a Saturday morning and called "Wheels up in Fifteen!" I used to do that a lot before we got the farm.
BTW: Shawnee Forest is a great place to camp and hike. I recommend it heartily.
We didn't shop for the trip until we had the tents pitched. Portsmouth is the nearest town. We drove in to shop for dinner. It took a while to find the IGA. It was situated in the middle of a war zone neighborhood. The closest thing to a sirloin steak was only a 1/4 inch thick. I looked for something to spice it up. No A1. No Worchestershire. They had ketchup. I did find a bottle of something called Country Bob's.
It turned out Country Bob's was the highlight of the trip.
It's kind of like a toothless hillbilly version of AP Sauce. It has a way of looking back at you from the plate and saying, "Your lips sure look pretty." Anyhow, the kids liked it and we didn't have any arguments about cleaning their plates. I call that a win.
In the US, I'd have to say Memphis, followed by both Virginia's, then all of New Mexico. I live in CA and was blown away at the filth and third world country communities in other states... Black folks on the east coast are flat out primitive savages, a few little pockets in the south had some domesticated coloreds scattered around but for the most part it was like encountering an unknown species.
In the US, I'd have to say Memphis, followed by both Virginia's, then all of New Mexico. I live in CA and was blown away at the filth and third world country communities in other states...
Grandpa Whitey used to say that Portsmouth, Ohio was the anal sphincter of the Universe. .
Went there for a festival once, told the policeman working that we drove there from Cincinnati to attend it and his response was "I'm sorry"
I have camped at Shawnee and like you we went into Portsmouth for breakfast. It was rough.
Portsmouth is in a beautiful part of the country though, its a shame the city is not very appealing..
back to India for a second, if anyone has ever flown into Mumbai, you know exactly what this family guy skit is about. The airport is relatively normal, but you notice every square inch of the surrounding airport fence is tarps where people are using the fence to make a leanto to live, ostensibly to beg money from non-indians who arrive
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
I worked in Camden, NJ for a week. The place I worked was across the street from the jail. I would look out and see people standing on the street using hand signals with the people in jail to communicate, supposedly according to the contractor, for drug deals. This was maybe 2003ish?
The contractor has a special arrangement with the city for people working 3rd shift. They didn't have to stop for red lights in town between midnight and 5am, because of the likelihood of them being shot or carjacked.
so, you know.....sounds like a great place to live and work.
Last edited by KFWA; 10/16/23.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
In the early 90's Venezuela was light years ahead of Ecuador and Columbia IMO. Ecuador, especially, was probably the worst place I have ever been. For a place that is supposed to be a resort of sorts Rio de Janero has a very nasty underbelly.
In the US, Memphis TN and parts of Houston, plus several border towns.
I worked in Camden, NJ for a week. The place I worked was across the street from the jail. I would look out and see people standing on the street using hand signals with the people in jail to communicate, supposedly according to the contractor, for drug deals. This was maybe 2003ish?
The contractor has a special arrangement with the city for people working 3rd shift. They didn't have to stop for red lights in town between midnight and 5am, because of the likelihood of them being shot or carjacked.
so, you know.....sounds like a great place to live and work.
I was taking a load from Laredo to Camden in the big rig in 2014. The way my schedule was running, I could have driven until 11pm and parked at the terminal in Camden, and slept there in my truck for an 8am unload. I often did that at terminals in Laredo, South Carolina etc. I called the terminal in Camden at 4pm to ask if I could park out front for the night.
The secretary gal said, "Don't you have a wife and a mother who want to see you alive again? Because if you do, you don't park for the night in Camden." Hell I had never been to New Jersey before but I took the lady at her word and arrived there at 9am instead. Driving around Camden is an unbelievable experience, 48 percent nigs and 47 percent wetbacks, it has the highest crime rate and the highest rate of drug addiction of any city in the US.
I saw over 3,000 abandoned houses and apartment buildings. Camden was the most prosperous city in America in 1945. Huge shipyards building destroyers for the Navy. World HQ for Campbells Soup, and RCA records. New Jersey is The Garden State and they shipped those tomatoes to Camden to make soup. Camden had a race riot in 1970, the nigs burned half the city down, and all the white people with jobs left.
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