A slice of the United States
 

Worth an hour of your time, great piece of journalism about a part of our country. Some great comments, for example: I’m 18 and I live in one of the counties shown in this video. I’ve never seen anyone cover us like this, and the fact it’s got 8 million views in just 5 days is blowing my mind. Thanks for bringing light to us, it really feels like the rest of the world has forgotten we exist. It’s a rough way but I don’t plan on moving off. These mountains are my home.


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I caught the beginning of this the other day. I like how he goes up and talks to people. I need to watch the whole thing.
I wouldn't have the guts to do that.

There are some absolutely beautiful towns and architecture up there getting swallowed up by kudzu.

Couple of pics from Hinton WV from a while back. I'll share them again. Cold dreary day. I didn't even see the guy on the porch with his fire until I was up close. My only regret was that I didn't stop and talk to him, but he could have been one of those "get off my lawn" type guys. :)
Oh well.

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There is a logging town in the hills of SE Ohio (on the edge of Appalachia) that was a company town. There are whole blocks along the main st where every house is identical. We counted 4 different styles. It was the definition of a "company town."
Between coal and logging, Appalachia has always supported itself on extractive industries that didn't need many educated workers. The companies brought in educated people from outside for the cipherin' and wordin'. They never developed a strong appreciation for education down there. Our family has been in this country since 1739 and I am the first person to go to college.

Home Sweet Home. SmileWavy

Appalachia, to me, is full of contrasts. There are very affluent areas and then 5 minutes away there is abject poverty. I have watched some of this guy's videos and they are really good. He also captures the area well. One thing that has really changed though (throughout my lifetime) is the proliferation of drugs and especially opioids. Opioids have ruined a lot of communities around here.

As for going up and talking to people - I will say that the people around here are literally the nicest people I have ever met.

Love Pete's videos. Been following him since his start.
His travels, his personality and interactions with people are amazing.

One person I can truly say I envy.

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I had not heard about him before this video. He does a very good job of not being overly intrusive. That and he has a way about him that is appropriate if that makes any sense.

I am about 30 minutes in and needed to pause...very powerful and heart wrenching.

Best.

That Yankee hasn't seen kudzu before, clearly.

Yes, I've watched several of his videos in the Appalachia area as well as his series in Georgia and Alabama. Very interesting and exactly why I love a good road trip. Interesting people and stories are everywhere, if you just stop and take the time to talk to people.

Interesting video, thanks for posting the link, Shaun, and yes, I watched the whole thing.

I watched that one a while back. It was super interesting.

Certainly not an hour wasted to watch this. Having seen small towns hurt through a timber industry being harmed by powerful political forces, I can sympathize with the small coal towns. I see much in common with that area.

I haven’t watched it yet, but will. Ms Rocket Is a traveling nurse and worked in a small town in West Virginia. She commented the people were not healthy and there were drugs, but that the people were very friendly.

Peter Santenello is new to me, thank you algorithms, subscribed and will be watching more.

This kind of content is why I don't own a TV. Sure, I have Prime for movies and a few series, but will never sit down and flip through channels. It's easy to spend a night on YT learning all kinds of things, like this stuff, if nothing catches my eye on Prime, which is more and more these days. There's so much to learn about, the world is frickin huge, and the billion or so microcosms in it are fascinating.

Same here.
I cannot sit down at a TV anymore. Too many channels. Too much stuff. It's stressful. Not relaxing (for me) in the least.
I'd rather watch YT any day of the week.
Better yet- Amtrak now has bike service into the New river gorge in Prince WV. I'm planning on headin' out and peddling back to Va. this August. For 18 bucks I can hitch a ride right into WV, and ride my arse right back out.

I plan my trip on avoiding dead ends, closed pit stops, and pit bulls. I can get the first two pretty good with the internet.
The pit bulls are a little hard to predict with google earth.
Should be good.;)

I watched the whole thing... Excellent!

90% of my "TV watching" is watching YT channels. Cant stomach regular tv anymore.

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Watched the whole thing. I have worked some of those areas, more so in IN and western KY, some far western PA. I've personally witnessed just about everything in that video. And I love working out there. Good, salt of the Earth people out there and a world away from the big city BS I normally deal with in everyday life.

I've been watching his videos for a couple of months now, very interesting stuff for sure.

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I pretty much watch only YouTube channels also. I like being able to control what "I" want to watch instead of a biased network force feeding what "they" want me to watch.

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I stopped watching commercial TV more than 15 years ago.

Further to this... Thankfully these people are not living in tents next to a highway so they predicament could be a whole lot worse (& most of the cars/trucks seem fairly new).

The break down of drug addicts & "workers" is not unique to the US. - IMO about 30% of the population in Aus is on a road to nowhere.