As a born and raised Montana ex-pat, currently living in hell, you captured the zeitgeist(?) of the new Bozeman pretty well. The one thing missing is the price of housing and how this contributes to the backlash of what you call the underclass. Between the influx of coastal elites and AirBnB, the non landowning locals are toast. You wouldn't believe me if I told you I rented a 3 bedroom house on 5th Ave with two room-mates when I went to college there. 10 minute walk to class. And no, I'm not a boomer. When I dropped out of college I worked nights washing dishes at a local ski area restaurant. Ski all day. get a free dinner after my shift. Worked for the Forest Service in the summer time. Then collect unemployment in the spring and fall while road tripping across the western US. Rent was never an issue. Not possible today. The service workers get flown in from god knows where and are lucky to get put up in some shithole company dorm. I get nostalgic when I'm sitting on my barstool, acting like darn fool, dreaming of that past life. When I sober up it becomes clear as day. The place no longer exists.
A real beauty to this writing, a style of unassuming description and incisive analysis that stands so strikingly opposed to the punitive prose of the national media. So appreciated the read.
I am Indian. I can be mistaken for nothing else. I just spent 4 days in a small town in Montana which, I'm just guessing here, is 97% white. Based on my experience, this piece is stark, raving bollocks. I walked extensively in modest parts of town (I'm trying not to say poor). The streets ran parallel to the railroad. As I walked i had: little towhead kids playing on the sidewalk say "Hi mister!" to me; a man in a pickup stop and ask if i needed a ride; an old man wave to me from his porch and say "Good afternoon"; a workman at a house who was listening to--gasp!--Country music nod at me and say "howdy." In dive bars i was treated as well as everyone else, by staff and drinkers alike. A guy sitting next to me said "You're not from around here, are ya?" after he heard me ordering my drink. Mr Simpson would think that was racist. His is a sloppy, fevered, risible, paranoid piece that panders to the prejudices of a Manichean liberal elite. Stay away from Montana, please. Reunite your family some other place next year. ~~ Tunku Varadarajan
Isaac, I agree with a lot of points you made, but having spent a lot of time in Bozeman / Three Forks / Ennis etc. I have never witnessed overt racism, or heard the N. Word uttered a single time. Yes I have seen a handful of gacked out tweekers but nothing on the order of magnitude on display here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
We almost purchased a home in Bozeman eight years ago, looking at how much it has changed in the last few years I am glad we didn't. The population boom, traffic congestion and increase of liberalism that has infected the area have dramatically impacted what we loved about Bozeman.
You mention the violence of the Trump supporters. Where is the evidence of the violent Trump supporters? Over the last five years the violence has clearly come from the left. There is no denying the property damage, theft, destruction, and murder has come from the left. I am always fascinated by how the left continually projects their problems onto the right.
What a fraud this piece is. I live here. Have for 30 years. I am a well-known journalist. I don’t just visit an extremely expensive guest ranch for annual family reunions. This is histrionic baloney with no real supporting evidence for its clickbait headline, no identifiable witness testimony, and nothing that makes journalism journalism, just a lot of wild extrapolation from half-glimpsed public behavior built on a generic culture-war framework.
The Left destroy everything they touch. Everything. They can't stand to see someone living in a way they don't dictate and control. The Right just want to be left alone - and don't mess with their lives or culture ... but the Left cannot STAND to see someone happy living their lives by their own rules. Seattle used to be a really cool city (in the late 80's) - and then it got Kalifornicated. The Communists and self-important twats moved in and almost over night they destroyed it. The same cancer has infected Utah - and there are many more examples.
It's soul-crushing to see these parasites moving into another host state hell-bent on destroying it too. I had always dreamed of retiring in Montana - on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere - but that's seeming like less and less of a possibility thanks to the Leftist cancer. One can only hope that the natives finally get their fill and excise the tumor.
I'm not a native Arizonan - my family moved here when I was 10 - but I have lived in this state for 50 years. Back in the old days, each state had its own unique flavor or personality. When you came from Illinois, like my family did, you didn't roll in and just assume you had as much say as native Arizonans in how the state ran or what its policies should be.
And I think that's the real problem here.
We don't appreciate people from California, New York, or anywhere else coming in with their overwhelming numbers, attempting to escape the hellhole dystopian "paradise" their progressive policies created in their home states....just to begin feverishly working to create the exact same systems in *OUR* states.
You will have to venture farther than 30 miles from the Bozeman airport to have any understanding of Montana. Big Sky is the Disney World of the state. A trip to Orlando doesn't make you an expert on Florida.
The people are getting restless, huh? You hit the nail on the head! Unfortunately, it's not just Montana. They should look here at Oregon as an example of what happens when liberals get ahold of a state. People are getting pushed to their breaking point for sure!
Tom Baugh talks about this sort of thing in his book, Starving the Monkey. He tells a tale of how liberalism began, and if they had just thrown that first liberal off a cliff at the first sign, society could have been saved. But the original "tolerance" was a non-liberal trying to tolerate a liberal.
How do you know the service workers are trump-loving? A huge chunk of people don't vote, especially the poorest people, and even the most reliable conservative demographic like working class rural white people have a large democratic minority. It's very likely that the minimum wage making 18 year old in rural montana just doesn't vote period.
I read your piece on Montana with great interest. I live in a very small town in Montana, but my business is in Three Forks, and has been for over 20 years. Your characterization of the demographic here is egregious; I would have hoped that you would have an understanding of a writer’s responsibility for his voice.
In June of 2022, the average home price in Three Forks was $611,500. In 2019, the mean income was $65k. I mention these statistics because your writing is so rife with generalizations.
I’ve never seen an electron cloud of trailers. Three Forks, generally, is surrounded by large ranches; increasingly, there are subdivisions not for “stragglers,” but for people priced out of Bozeman. The subdivisions are priced in the $700 range and upwards.
I’m curious why you write such a piece-either your fact checkers should be canned, or you leaned out of your vehicle’s window on the way through Three Forks, saw a pick-up truck with a heeler inside
and were suddenly overcome by Trump derangement syndrome.
I would like to invite you to come back. It isn’t my opinion that you’re simply a florid writer with poor research. I think you have a narrow world view. You could really benefit from a trip to small-town Montana-the peace, the people and nature would do you a world of good.
Also, there are no Chick-fil-A franchises in Montana.
Very good poast. Another related point. Hunting on public lands in MT that border private property. Hostile hobby ranch owners have been more hostile over past 10-20 years. Some with private security guards now. This will be another battlefront in future. All public land hunters should be packing heat in self defense
I graduated from Three Forks High School, then worked in Bozeman for five years after college and Vietnam. The Bozeman I knew then no longer exists today.
But Three Forks is another matter...
When I spent a week there just two years ago, I saw the same types of people I grew up with. They were hard-working, often wise, and usually friendly. Yes, they were often opinionated, just as you certainly are.
You highlight the "propaganda" of their bumper stickers. They were proclaiming their opinions; they weren't trying to manipulate yours. According to your bio, you're the propagandist. They aren't.
You complain that a biker gang thundered through town. You know, of course, that the gang is no more relevant to Three Forks than it is to any other town through which they thundered. That's a classic propaganda technique of guilt by association, I believe.
You tell us that the Sacajawea's bar is one of three nearby dives. They're not taverns; they're not bars; they're not pubs. They're dives, you write. That seems a lot like name-calling, which is another propaganda technique.
You complain that the locals either ignored you or they were "overtly" friendly. That is, like everywhere else on the planet, some of the locals ignored you and some were openly friendly. "Overtly" means "openly," but it SOUNDS suspicious—like the ancient political smear that a candidate's wife is an "admitted thespian."
You made fun of the woman who commented to her family about your laptop. Perhaps she had a sense of Western history that you lack. The Sacajawea Hotel was built in 1910—just 34 years after Custer's Last Stand, and seven years BEFORE Buffalo Bill died. It's a member of Historic Hotels of America. When I was working on my laptop on "the Sac's" veranda during my last visit, I also thought about the contrast between its historic setting and my laptop with its Wi-Fi connection.
You say they hate you. Perhaps it's because you were hateful to THEM. You found "palpable nativism" there—as any other ugly American would who's appalled that the natives don't speak woke.
I can't remember ever hearing the N-word spoken in Three Forks—with one exception. There's an area about 25 miles west of town that is now officially called Negro Hollow. But if you Google it, you probably won't find it under that version of its name. Nor will you likely hear the updated version of its 100-year-old name spoken anywhere nearby.
Finally, just be glad that you didn't visit the small town in the very Blue state where I now live. "They call it the tourist season," one long-time resident grumbled. "So why can't we shoot 'em?"
As a born and raised Montana ex-pat, currently living in hell, you captured the zeitgeist(?) of the new Bozeman pretty well. The one thing missing is the price of housing and how this contributes to the backlash of what you call the underclass. Between the influx of coastal elites and AirBnB, the non landowning locals are toast. You wouldn't believe me if I told you I rented a 3 bedroom house on 5th Ave with two room-mates when I went to college there. 10 minute walk to class. And no, I'm not a boomer. When I dropped out of college I worked nights washing dishes at a local ski area restaurant. Ski all day. get a free dinner after my shift. Worked for the Forest Service in the summer time. Then collect unemployment in the spring and fall while road tripping across the western US. Rent was never an issue. Not possible today. The service workers get flown in from god knows where and are lucky to get put up in some shithole company dorm. I get nostalgic when I'm sitting on my barstool, acting like darn fool, dreaming of that past life. When I sober up it becomes clear as day. The place no longer exists.
A real beauty to this writing, a style of unassuming description and incisive analysis that stands so strikingly opposed to the punitive prose of the national media. So appreciated the read.
I am Indian. I can be mistaken for nothing else. I just spent 4 days in a small town in Montana which, I'm just guessing here, is 97% white. Based on my experience, this piece is stark, raving bollocks. I walked extensively in modest parts of town (I'm trying not to say poor). The streets ran parallel to the railroad. As I walked i had: little towhead kids playing on the sidewalk say "Hi mister!" to me; a man in a pickup stop and ask if i needed a ride; an old man wave to me from his porch and say "Good afternoon"; a workman at a house who was listening to--gasp!--Country music nod at me and say "howdy." In dive bars i was treated as well as everyone else, by staff and drinkers alike. A guy sitting next to me said "You're not from around here, are ya?" after he heard me ordering my drink. Mr Simpson would think that was racist. His is a sloppy, fevered, risible, paranoid piece that panders to the prejudices of a Manichean liberal elite. Stay away from Montana, please. Reunite your family some other place next year. ~~ Tunku Varadarajan
Isaac, I agree with a lot of points you made, but having spent a lot of time in Bozeman / Three Forks / Ennis etc. I have never witnessed overt racism, or heard the N. Word uttered a single time. Yes I have seen a handful of gacked out tweekers but nothing on the order of magnitude on display here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
We almost purchased a home in Bozeman eight years ago, looking at how much it has changed in the last few years I am glad we didn't. The population boom, traffic congestion and increase of liberalism that has infected the area have dramatically impacted what we loved about Bozeman.
You mention the violence of the Trump supporters. Where is the evidence of the violent Trump supporters? Over the last five years the violence has clearly come from the left. There is no denying the property damage, theft, destruction, and murder has come from the left. I am always fascinated by how the left continually projects their problems onto the right.
What a fraud this piece is. I live here. Have for 30 years. I am a well-known journalist. I don’t just visit an extremely expensive guest ranch for annual family reunions. This is histrionic baloney with no real supporting evidence for its clickbait headline, no identifiable witness testimony, and nothing that makes journalism journalism, just a lot of wild extrapolation from half-glimpsed public behavior built on a generic culture-war framework.
The Left destroy everything they touch. Everything. They can't stand to see someone living in a way they don't dictate and control. The Right just want to be left alone - and don't mess with their lives or culture ... but the Left cannot STAND to see someone happy living their lives by their own rules. Seattle used to be a really cool city (in the late 80's) - and then it got Kalifornicated. The Communists and self-important twats moved in and almost over night they destroyed it. The same cancer has infected Utah - and there are many more examples.
It's soul-crushing to see these parasites moving into another host state hell-bent on destroying it too. I had always dreamed of retiring in Montana - on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere - but that's seeming like less and less of a possibility thanks to the Leftist cancer. One can only hope that the natives finally get their fill and excise the tumor.
I'm not a native Arizonan - my family moved here when I was 10 - but I have lived in this state for 50 years. Back in the old days, each state had its own unique flavor or personality. When you came from Illinois, like my family did, you didn't roll in and just assume you had as much say as native Arizonans in how the state ran or what its policies should be.
And I think that's the real problem here.
We don't appreciate people from California, New York, or anywhere else coming in with their overwhelming numbers, attempting to escape the hellhole dystopian "paradise" their progressive policies created in their home states....just to begin feverishly working to create the exact same systems in *OUR* states.
You will have to venture farther than 30 miles from the Bozeman airport to have any understanding of Montana. Big Sky is the Disney World of the state. A trip to Orlando doesn't make you an expert on Florida.
"Trump-loving service-workers—the Oxy takers, the meth cookers, the eaters of Chick-Fil-A."
What, you think these guys commute from Kalispell every day?
The people are getting restless, huh? You hit the nail on the head! Unfortunately, it's not just Montana. They should look here at Oregon as an example of what happens when liberals get ahold of a state. People are getting pushed to their breaking point for sure!
Tom Baugh talks about this sort of thing in his book, Starving the Monkey. He tells a tale of how liberalism began, and if they had just thrown that first liberal off a cliff at the first sign, society could have been saved. But the original "tolerance" was a non-liberal trying to tolerate a liberal.
How do you know the service workers are trump-loving? A huge chunk of people don't vote, especially the poorest people, and even the most reliable conservative demographic like working class rural white people have a large democratic minority. It's very likely that the minimum wage making 18 year old in rural montana just doesn't vote period.
Isaac,
I read your piece on Montana with great interest. I live in a very small town in Montana, but my business is in Three Forks, and has been for over 20 years. Your characterization of the demographic here is egregious; I would have hoped that you would have an understanding of a writer’s responsibility for his voice.
In June of 2022, the average home price in Three Forks was $611,500. In 2019, the mean income was $65k. I mention these statistics because your writing is so rife with generalizations.
I’ve never seen an electron cloud of trailers. Three Forks, generally, is surrounded by large ranches; increasingly, there are subdivisions not for “stragglers,” but for people priced out of Bozeman. The subdivisions are priced in the $700 range and upwards.
I’m curious why you write such a piece-either your fact checkers should be canned, or you leaned out of your vehicle’s window on the way through Three Forks, saw a pick-up truck with a heeler inside
and were suddenly overcome by Trump derangement syndrome.
I would like to invite you to come back. It isn’t my opinion that you’re simply a florid writer with poor research. I think you have a narrow world view. You could really benefit from a trip to small-town Montana-the peace, the people and nature would do you a world of good.
Also, there are no Chick-fil-A franchises in Montana.
Very good poast. Another related point. Hunting on public lands in MT that border private property. Hostile hobby ranch owners have been more hostile over past 10-20 years. Some with private security guards now. This will be another battlefront in future. All public land hunters should be packing heat in self defense
I graduated from Three Forks High School, then worked in Bozeman for five years after college and Vietnam. The Bozeman I knew then no longer exists today.
But Three Forks is another matter...
When I spent a week there just two years ago, I saw the same types of people I grew up with. They were hard-working, often wise, and usually friendly. Yes, they were often opinionated, just as you certainly are.
You highlight the "propaganda" of their bumper stickers. They were proclaiming their opinions; they weren't trying to manipulate yours. According to your bio, you're the propagandist. They aren't.
You complain that a biker gang thundered through town. You know, of course, that the gang is no more relevant to Three Forks than it is to any other town through which they thundered. That's a classic propaganda technique of guilt by association, I believe.
You tell us that the Sacajawea's bar is one of three nearby dives. They're not taverns; they're not bars; they're not pubs. They're dives, you write. That seems a lot like name-calling, which is another propaganda technique.
You complain that the locals either ignored you or they were "overtly" friendly. That is, like everywhere else on the planet, some of the locals ignored you and some were openly friendly. "Overtly" means "openly," but it SOUNDS suspicious—like the ancient political smear that a candidate's wife is an "admitted thespian."
You made fun of the woman who commented to her family about your laptop. Perhaps she had a sense of Western history that you lack. The Sacajawea Hotel was built in 1910—just 34 years after Custer's Last Stand, and seven years BEFORE Buffalo Bill died. It's a member of Historic Hotels of America. When I was working on my laptop on "the Sac's" veranda during my last visit, I also thought about the contrast between its historic setting and my laptop with its Wi-Fi connection.
You say they hate you. Perhaps it's because you were hateful to THEM. You found "palpable nativism" there—as any other ugly American would who's appalled that the natives don't speak woke.
I can't remember ever hearing the N-word spoken in Three Forks—with one exception. There's an area about 25 miles west of town that is now officially called Negro Hollow. But if you Google it, you probably won't find it under that version of its name. Nor will you likely hear the updated version of its 100-year-old name spoken anywhere nearby.
Finally, just be glad that you didn't visit the small town in the very Blue state where I now live. "They call it the tourist season," one long-time resident grumbled. "So why can't we shoot 'em?"
FYI: Black Rifle is a NeoCon/Establishment shill coffee company.