Ya know, it's not uninteresting...

[PCIntern]

many years ago I went up to the Williamsport, PA "suburbs" (read: Appalachia) to visit a friend of mine, also a dentist. He lived at the time in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road where there were 'houses' every 200-500 yards. He was expecting me at about 8 PM, but I got there at about 10, so I was pretty late and there were no cellular phones in those days. I knocked on his kitchen door, and he answered the door HOLDING A SHOTGUN BARREL DOWN. He greeted me warmly and I almost immediately asked him why he was armed. He told me that you never know in the "country" and it didn't do any harm to protect oneself, and that most of the folk approached knocks on the door the same way out there.

I have no idea if that was true or false, but he went on to tell me that "self-protection" was so ingrained up there that although the area was quite depressed what with the closure of Bethlehem Steel and the Sylvania plant, as well as most of the other industry, if someone ran for office and promised that they could obtain for the region new roads, improved infrastructure, industry, jobs for everyone who wanted one, new schools, adequate cable TV (almost absent in those days up there), and general economic improvement, BUT they wanted to ban private ownership of bazookas and anti-tank weapons, they'd lose in a landslide. And he wasn't kidding.

This is in fact, what's going on.

[Vincardog]

1. When I lived in rural TX I would not even lock my door. For one thing if someone wanted to come in

no one would hear it if they kicked the door down. It would just have added to the expense of repairs.
No one ever did break in or open the door. Maybe it was my dogs that saved me.

[Voice for Peace]

2. dogs are the best security

when I had big dogs we never locked doors.

Even our friends didn't want to visit because of the overwhelming dog greetings; so we didn't worry about intruders.

Cats, on the other hand.. probably would open the door and let them in.

[Vincardog]

3. You should see what geese can do

[ret5hd]

4. cats put moths and serial killers in the same category...

owned by four cats, and know what i'm talkin' 'bout.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I grew up in rural southern Missouri during the 50's and 60's. We didn't even lock our doors and

neither did most of our neighbors. There were people who owned guns, but they were primarily used for hunting small game or protecting livestock and poultry from varmints, not self-protection. Many of the men I grew up around had served in the Armed Forces during WW2, but felt no need to keep weapons around to defend themselves or their families. It may have been different in other areas of the country, but that's the way it was where I was raised.

[rrneck]

6. There were areas where I was raised

you didn't even get out of your car. You pulled into the yard and blew the horn first. There were entire towns you didn't venture into unless you "knew somebody".

[X_Digger]

7. Blew your horn.. and waited for the owner to corral the dogs. :) n/t

[rrneck]

8. Yep.

In the country door locks just get in the way.

[hedgehog]

9. The real question is why people in some areas are so

fearful they will be confronted with criminals, and people in other areas are pretty laid back. Do these attitudes reflect actual crime rates or perceived crime rates? Another possibility is that they represent the degree of class and/or racial tension. If everyone in an area is of the same general socio-economic level and racial tensions are low, I suspect that people are more relaxed. I think people generally fear "the other".

I think parts of Appalachia and other Scotch-Irish strongholds are a special case. The Scotch-Irish culture has a strong streak of mistrusting the stranger and a need to protect personal honor. (The Hatfield-McCoy feud was an actual event).


Another measure of this is the need the lock car doors and/or use a car alarm. My sister was boasting of her elegent sedan with heated leather seats. At the time, I was driving a 25 year old Chevette. I got lost driving across the city one time and ended up in a bad looking neighborhood. I was a little tense until it occurred to me that no one is ever going to car jack a 25 year old Chevette! That was the first and last new car I ever bought. I never bother to lock the doors. My husband locks car doors, but he drives a lot of rental cars for work.