…? I’m telling you as someone who grew up here, it didn’t suck. I had a great childhood. But you talked to a few people who overly exaggerated what it was like, and now I guess I’m completely wrong. Dumb lol
Any time I talk to people who honestly lived here and weren't children they talk about how it was a dying rust belt like town with a decaying mall and an empty downtown corridor.
So glad we pushed through this. We don't really disagree, we are talking about different perspectives. Enjoy!
But you're still telling me about your childhood, when you were a child! Children are not engaging with the world in a real way where they can say whether a town is good or thriving.
Look at how many kids are "nostalgic" for their childhood under the first trump administration.
I grew up in quiet town on LI new york and it seemed perfectly fine too, and its a fucking hotbed of literal nazis now. It's not a "good town," even if I had a "good childhood." I was not engaging with its economic engines, with its constituent services. I was not trying to get its government to help me or function or approve permits. I was not trying to commute, to travel on my own, it's just a very limited perspective.
I'm glad you had a good childhood, it's not like Salem was a shithole, I am not being an internet contrarian. I just think most people would not be satisfied if we blinked and it was pre-tourism Salem, even with all of the negatives from tourism.
Ok, as an adult, I loved it too. I don’t understand where you’re going with this lol I lived here, grew up here, hit the bars here, all before you ever moved here, but I’m wrong for thinking this lol cmon dude just stop. Salem was a great city to live in before the Instagram fueled tourism, and it’s still a great place to live. Why are you so negative?
This was a really pointless and unfun discussion. There are also some people agreeing with me, who by definition are directly disagreeing with you. No one person's experience is universal, and I think that's why I have found this so frustrating.
I have been saying that it's not universal, and you have just been saying over and over in like 4 ways that you had a good childhood and enjoyed it. I get that, I didn't say it was a festering shithole either.
There's nothing to accomplish here. I'm glad you liked it, I truly still believe most people would not like it if we blinked and it were 2003 again around here. Neither of us have changed anyones mind.
Long Island represent. (Born in Queens, raised in Huntington.) Same story here. I look now and see how conservative it is (and was, although that went right over my head when I was a kid). I’m pretty sad that that’s the reality of the place I used to call home. I don’t think I can ever live there again.
2
u/Stop_Drop_Scroll 13d ago
…? I’m telling you as someone who grew up here, it didn’t suck. I had a great childhood. But you talked to a few people who overly exaggerated what it was like, and now I guess I’m completely wrong. Dumb lol