Last night was the first night in probably 8 months that I managed to sync up and head out on the town with my old hedonist party friend. The occasion: his cousin from out of town was in for the night, and wanted to party. He was from a tiny little town a few hours north of the city; a couple of hours from the oil patch. Born, raised, and is raising a family less than 30 Km from were he grew up.
I've never believed the whole 'city mouse/country mouse' dichotomy until last night, because quite simply I've never seen someone who has spent their entire life in an exclusively rural setting. The closest were a few people who lived on acreages outside the city as kids, but they still came in to town all the time.
Needless to say, it was interesting. He was a pretty chill guy, although a bit on the Good 'Ol Albertan Boy side of things. He's a heavy drinker, and as the night progressed he got sloppier. Not in an angry way at all, but at times unthoughtful. Racial and homophobic slurs started getting dropped around 1:30, but the way he was saying them sounded more from habit and ignorance than any real malice.
Which led me to think about how the majority of our opinions and personality are a byproduct of social normative pressures rather than any actual thought on any particular subject. The main pressure being against questioning in general; junior high peer pressure writ large across much of society. This guy, who was very friendly to me even though we've never met, likely has never been mentally challenged in his life. I'm not saying that every rural person is like that, nor that every urban person is highly intelligent, urbane, and so forth. But in his case, from how he was talking about his GF, family and friends, questioning the status quo is virtually taboo, and likely to get one ridiculed at best.
But then again, a sample of one makes for poor statistics.
I've never believed the whole 'city mouse/country mouse' dichotomy until last night, because quite simply I've never seen someone who has spent their entire life in an exclusively rural setting. The closest were a few people who lived on acreages outside the city as kids, but they still came in to town all the time.
Needless to say, it was interesting. He was a pretty chill guy, although a bit on the Good 'Ol Albertan Boy side of things. He's a heavy drinker, and as the night progressed he got sloppier. Not in an angry way at all, but at times unthoughtful. Racial and homophobic slurs started getting dropped around 1:30, but the way he was saying them sounded more from habit and ignorance than any real malice.
Which led me to think about how the majority of our opinions and personality are a byproduct of social normative pressures rather than any actual thought on any particular subject. The main pressure being against questioning in general; junior high peer pressure writ large across much of society. This guy, who was very friendly to me even though we've never met, likely has never been mentally challenged in his life. I'm not saying that every rural person is like that, nor that every urban person is highly intelligent, urbane, and so forth. But in his case, from how he was talking about his GF, family and friends, questioning the status quo is virtually taboo, and likely to get one ridiculed at best.
But then again, a sample of one makes for poor statistics.
