Peggi:
>I think it's wrong to generalize about any group of people.

This was the point I was trying to make. I HATE being stereotyped
by a total stranger.

Last May, I had the experience of two cowboys getting tossed out
of a bar in Frenchglen (uhhh, THE bar) after threatening to give
me an unwanted haircut.

About an hour later, I had the experience of having a long discussion
with another cowboy from Roaring Springs Ranch over the amount
of degredation and wildlife deaths caused by cyanide heap-leach
mining. He brought it up, and it was a discussion based on
mutual agreement. He also agrees with much of the concerns
folks like I have over grazing in riparian areas, alpine areas
on Steens, overgrazing sage-steppe, etc. The next day he dropped by
with another cowboy friend, and we continued the discussion.

These two sets of cowboys are as different as night and day.

There are two other cowboys there who run a trail-ride
business in the tourist season. They refuse to talk to me.
The vocal one puts me down in public. The other glares at
me from a distance.

Fine - amazingly, I forgot to mention trail-riding as an
available activity in my upcoming Oregon Outside article
touting things to do in the Malheur area. Funny coincidence.

My personal experience is that I find as wide a variance in attitude
in rural areas as I do in urban areas, and as wide a variance of
knowledge about the natural world.

The proportions are different, with rural folks more likely to
be conservative. Much anti-environmentalism flows from this
conservativism which, among other things, is often just a simple
resistance to change.

So, I don't stereotype rural folks as being red-necked jerks. But,
the truth is, some are. As are a bunch of city folks.

Big deal.

I try to take folks for who they are, which requires taking the
time to get to know them a bit. Stereotyping folks simply
makes it harder.

Remember - the founder and long-time (now ex-) director of the Oregon
Natural Resources Council, most radical of the large Oregon
conservation organizations, is a lifelong REPUBLICAN. Still.
After James Watt. After Newt. After Pat. If that don't rock
your socks and make you think twice about stereotypes, nothing
will!

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, more at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza