• EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yeah, the part about specifically going to poor towns is suspect, but, like, is there anything more true to the idea of touching grass than to leave your house and talk to people in real life with the intention of meeting a serious romantic partner? Granted, I don’t endorse hitting on service workers while they’re on the job, but politely asking the IHOP waitress if she wants to grab a coffee later isn’t exactly sex tourism.

      Normal people meet like this all the time and have normal relationships. This is 80% of the way to being extremely healthy and constructive advice, even if the other 20% came through the boomer filter.

      • TemutheeChallahmet [none/use name]
        hexagon
        ·
        5 months ago

        Thing is, I don't think anybody who reads this, which is from one of those right wing accounts harvesting grievances about modern women, is actually going to do this. This is just a nice little movie the reader can play in their head or a salve-daydream they escape into in moments of loneliness before returning to porn addiction, a hamster wheel job, or NEETdom.

        • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
          ·
          5 months ago

          That’s kind of the sad thing. This is obviously just engagement bait for reactionary boomers, but a lot of people would legitimately benefit from logging off and having a conversation with a stranger in real life instead of spending 12 hours a day alternating between arguing on the internet and watching porn. This is almost broken clock territory.

          • TemutheeChallahmet [none/use name]
            hexagon
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            The guy he's writing this for would do well to just attend a few social events at the local library first, there's no way he'd have the outdoors, offline comfort and social skills yet for a real road trip across towns he's never been to with completely different cultures.

      • EmoThugInMyPhase [he/him]
        ·
        5 months ago

        I don’t know if most normal people tell their waitress that they’re looking to marry her lol

        • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]
          ·
          5 months ago

          on the one hand don't hit on people at work, on the other hand the advice this guy is competing with for an audience is telling these dudes to cw:sa

        • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
          ·
          5 months ago

          Like I said, I don’t endorse that part, but “get off the computer and talk to people” is advice that a lot of people would benefit from taking.

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      It's pretty exploitative but certainly better than "passport bros." I wouldn't judge a lonely guy for choosing to do this over the apps though, as a last resort.

      E: maybe exploitative isn't the right word. But I would rather not use this method where the person you find is less likely to love you for who you are, instead they're likely to prefer you to the other options that were immediately available. It's only exploitative if you're a wealthy guy who goes to a poor area to do this and take advantage of desperate women.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        5 months ago

        I figure we're at a point where, in the US, marriage for purely economic reasons is on at least some people's radars, especially if it's a way to get out of a dying no horse town.

        • TemutheeChallahmet [none/use name]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          Yeah that or it becoming like some Asian countries where one parent in a married couple goes to the city for huge portions of the year to work as a nanny, etc. and send money back. Either could at least make it harder for people in those towns to believe the cities are always on fire and running amok with armed robbers.