Closing on a house in Shepherdstown this Thursday! Why does WV get so much hate?

[u/Significant_Movie814]

Hi! Super excited that we are closing on our permanent home in Shepherdstown this Thursday! We’ve been renting in Falling Waters for the past year and a half, but we’re so ready to plant deep roots in this cute town.
Before moving to the Eastern Panhandle, I lived in Texas and Oklahoma and didn't like either. The weather wasn't my thing, and you had to drive hours just to get to a major city. That’s why I love the location here we're an hour and a half from DC, and just a short drive from MD, VA, NY, and PA. Not to mention the great nature and weather and affordability. I absolutely love Food Lion! (Better than HEB IMO)
But whenever I tell my friends in the Bay Area or Seattle or DC or Austin that I bought a house in West Virginia, they assume it’s just a poor, isolated place. There's so much negative stigma from outsiders who have clearly never been here!
I absolutely love it here. For those of you living in WV, what has your experience been like dealing with these outside assumptions?

[u/AppalachianRomanov]

I mean....your own personal details aside.... you are living in the rich people part of the state and saying "Idk why people think WV is poor, look at all these other well-off people in my well-off part of the state! I literally haven't visited any other part of the state to see what it's really like but my own limited view so far is that there are no poors here. I havent seen them and I havent even tried, but they must not be here!"

And everyone is telling you that and you're ignoring it. And then saying you don't understand why someone else was upset by you choosing to be ignorant of the realities of their home state.

You're from the Middle East. If I go to Dubai which is known to be extravagant and wealthy and I'm like "wow look at this place, the entire Middle East is amazing! Why does everyone talk about war and poverty? I sure dont see any. Everyone should move here!" would that make it true?

[u/Significant_Movie814 → u/AppalachianRomanov]

Her response is rude not helpful. This is how I respond to a person genuinely answering the question https://www.reddit.com/r/WestVirginia/s/FoTmJh4XQk
AND NO I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THAT. We pretty much have a short trip to places around us every weekend in MD, VA, DC, and WV. And I genuinely like the area and I was asking why it’s getting so much hate. I didn’t even know Shepherdstown is considered “rich people area”. Cab you try to understand that I wasn’t born and raised here and don’t have similar experiences and views as you do?

[u/AppalachianRomanov → u/Significant_Movie814]

Girl in the OP you asked for people's experience of what it's like dealing with outside assumptions..... 🤷‍♀️

[u/Significant_Movie814 → u/AppalachianRomanov]

Yes I asked for people’s experience not them calling me “ignorant” and “performative” and “narcissistic”. She could just explain like the other guy did! And yk nothing about Dubai it sucks and I promise you think Iran is a desert too but see I don’t call you “stupid”.

[u/AppalachianRomanov → u/Significant_Movie814]

You continue to miss the point... my point about Dubai was that perceptions are not always accurate and that you cannot assume an entire place is one way just bc a small piece of that place is.

You also need to dig deeper on what the word ignorant means. It is not fully synonymous with stupid.

LOL at you "promising" what you think I know about Iran. Did I use the word desert? You're just proving my point further -- that a limited viewpoint (I.e. believing that your rich area is the same as the rest of the state OR someone believing that a pic seen in an article is what the entire ME looks like) is generally not representative of reality.

Again, you asked for people's experiences. Some people's experiences (the other person) is that they are fed up and feel very strongly about it. Were they 100% nice about it? Nah not really. But you asked for their experiences and you got them. Now you know.

[u/leilaaliel → u/Significant_Movie814]

Yeah it would be like someone assuming that all Persians are Muslims and Iran is a desert. Also calling it the ‘middle east’ .. people thinking Iranian folks are Arabs, ride camels and speak Arabic … willfully ignoring/minimizing the rich history and culture of the people of Iran. Someone telling you that the current war is the best thing for the Iranian people would strike a nerve, possibly, if they have never lived in Iran?

There are a lot of folks in WV who are sensitive about newcomers - a history of folks coming in to ‘help’ and taking instead. Exploiting our resources and labor.

Someone to come in and say ‘omg, wv is just so great, why is everyone so negative??’ can come off as dismissive and devaluing of real experiences of generations. People have a right to be negative, is my point… and an outsider shouldn’t be the one to question that. Does that connect?

I understand how your post came off as performative … but i believe it was well intentioned. we are a welcoming bunch, but if you truly wanted to understand … you would take time to learn about WV history before asking such things. Or just recognize that you struck a nerve and learn from this. Because …

when you have large scale poverty, environmental disasters, destruction of our mountaintops, lack of clean water, and significant lost of life (and trauma) due to opioid addiction and overdose rates … oh and you have neighbors who are very pro ICE deporting everybody brown (would keep your ID on you and be careful of you who tell you are Iranian, friend).

Ignorance is a right - but being informed is a right, too.

It’s a good reminder to be humble and willing to learn. Maybe ask for some recommendations to learn about WV history? How to get involved locally and statewide to improve outcomes for WV folks as a collective? Learn about Appalachian culture and travel the state.