An interesting conversation I had with a man from Appalachia at the coffee shop

I didn't want to mention the poverty of the region, as I think it would have been in bad taste, but then he brought it up. Basically called out his own people, saying that rational people leave areas when the areas become economically unimportant, and criticized them for being "just content enough" with the state and federal welfare payments they receive. I tried defending the holler people by saying their hardship is largely caused by the EPA, and he said that whether or not that is the case, Appalachian people aren't being serious about improving themselves or the hollers. I would never expect someone to call out his people like that, but this Kentucky man did.