<I have lived all over California, and the vast majority of people I have been acquainted with would rather live in the smallest town possible. "can always" is the phrase I saw you use, that I am certain you cannot corroborate. >
Scott, it's more accurate to judge actual behaviour than verbal behaviour. Around the world, people have moved from rural communities to cities.
They do that because they expect their lives will be better. Guess what? They are! That's why very few go back again, though there are always some.
For example, I joined the big smoke to earn money and go adventuring, but then moved back to the village for retirement. The village being a city of 1 million and we made sure we are handy to the centre [which costs a pretty penny rather than living in the hinterlands].
People have conflicting desires. They want mod cons but they also like squishing their toes in sand at the edge of the ocean. They try to balance their conflicting desires. That mostly means moving to cities. That's why few people stay in the outback.
Life in the outback is still far better than it was 100 years ago, but even so, people abandon that life for the opportunities of the cities.
So, they say they would rather live in the smallest town possible, but they don't do it although there is no authority stopping them or making them leave the village.
If their earning power in the village is not enough for a car, they can walk or maybe afford a bicycle. You see, they would rather do without the gossiping neighbours of the village and earn heaps in the city. Their verbal behaviour doesn't match their actions.
That's a big problem with market research too. People say they will buy something, but then they don't. Market research is usually a verbal test. People say things for all sorts of reasons and what they say has a limited relationship with reality.
<By the way, learn a little about the planet you live on. Or, may I ask, "What did you do with the real Maurice, and are others coming here too?">
Good catch! I got lazy. I assumed you were up to some silly trick with the missing 4 minutes +/- some seconds. I was focused on your reasoning about having only 24 hours to enjoy life and didn't immediately get the point, so skipped it.
<They have had "civilization" in India far longer than most places. Just because it doesn't fit the Roman Catholic Church definition, it nonetheless is considered "civilized" regardless of your flip dismissal for the sake of your position.>
Do you really think fried alive Moslems and Hindus is civilized? You are in favour of suttee as a way of disposing of widows? Capital flow restrictions are not part of civilized life. Lack of toilets and those which exist being filthy is not civilization. The government is holding everyone down with bureaucracy and ye olde British ideas about socialism.
Nevertheless, India is nice enough in many ways. I feel comfortable there and far more so than in downtown Los Angeles, where aggressive people are threatening, cold, uncommunicative. India is benign by comparison, for the most part. They don't go in for school mass homicide and for 1 billion people in poverty [generally] life seems generally harmonious, the odd whacking with a policeman's cane notwithstanding and violent family behaviour on the street as each gets put in their place.
I know the Mahatma Ghandi comment, when asked what he thought about western civilization; "I think it would be a good idea". It's funny, but there's plenty of truth in it. There is a LOT more to civilization than having a lot of money.
But the idea that a lot of people and civilization are incompatible is simply untrue. When there were few people, there was far less civilization than now. Civilization has enabled the relatively harmonious life of 6 billion people. The urgent need is for more civilization rather than more people, but more people doesn't reduce civilization. More people enables more to be done. More people produces more of the super-creative who open up possibilities for the rest of us.
My motto is to earn in the big smoke and spend in the village. It worked for me.
Mqurice |
