jjquantz
Full time employment: Posting here.
I'm sure you realize this is an incredibly broad brush you are using. In my experience, "towns" don't accept or reject people, people accept or reject other people. And if we want to find either accepting, open-minded people or closed-minded people who believe their POV is the only one that is legitimate, we can find plenty of each in any big city--or any small town
A very important difference is that when you are in an isolated town of 25,000 people, if you don't hit it with the locals you are out of luck. If you are in a big city, if you can't find some compatible people the reason is likely you, not everyone else. And as regards university communities, they are down with color, ethnicity, gender and orientation aspects, but try to get much acceptance if you are an outspoken conservative, unless it is a religious or avowedly conservative university.
It's like dating, mo' choice is better, and cities have mo' choice
Ha
samclem, yes, I do realize that I was painting with a very broad brush and I shouldn't do that. I apologize. But, even after 20 years, there is a lot of frustration that I, apparently, need to vent. I think that Ha actually summarized my point better than I did. I was unable to find matches for my interests in my past small town experiences and have been much more successful in larger and more diverse communities. Although I have some wonderful memories from growing up in and around small towns, I will rephrase my wager, "I wouldn't bet my retirement on finding people to share my interests in a small town."
And Ha, 25,000 - that IS a big city for some people. My experiences are in towns of 5000 and less.
Also, I've met many conservatives in university towns, but Ha is right, they tend to keep their heads down to avoid confrontation.