Keepin' it real in the 'burbs

Rod Dreher, in an interesting post about popular culture and its discontents, quotes one of his commenters on the difference between the hip city-dweller's superficial worldliness and the sqare suburbanite's deeper appreciation of what really matters:

One of the great conceits of our balkanized, affinity-based culture is that single people with good incomes living in large metropolitan areas often assume their experience of the world is very broad -- especially in contrast to the supposed superficiality and unthinking conformism of the suburbs.

In my own experience, it's the life of trendy restaurants and cutting edge fashion that's dull and shallow. Raising children, OTOH, provides a permanent stake in the community and a deep appreciation of the things that matter. The "Entertainment Industry," however, has no collective understanding of this basic reality. That, I suspect, is a big part of why Hollywood box office receipts have been in long term free fall. So many people who have grown up, settled down and had kids have abandoned going to the movies altogether.

(Via Michael Blowhard)