"These Hillbillies Are Shooting Each Other" Life In West Virginia (#186)

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“You ain’t one of those crazy liberals are you” 😂😂

I was an underground coal miner for more than 22 years in Southern West Virginia. McDowell County is reputed to be the poorest in the country. The last mine I worked at and the section I worked in was 15 miles underground. Coal mining is far more complex than most people realize. Some mines here have been operating for thirty/forty years and are still in business today. With the mining industry, its either feast or famine. At one time it was king in the country and many operators became millionaires. McDowell County used to be known as "Little New York". I've lived here most of my life and the state has been good to me. I have been a fan of your blog for years. You came within 12 miles of my home.

On the Hopi Indian Reservation we call those sheds and barns you saw by the side of the road, "entry level housing". You get one of those sheds to live in because the banks won't loan money to build a house on the Rez because if you default on the mortgage the bank can't repossess the land that it sits on. After you get one of those sheds to live in, you buy a few materials and start building a real house. When you run out of materials, you save up some more money, buy some more materials, and build some more and repeat until it's done. It takes a long time and it's a heck of a way to build a house but when you finish you own it free and clear.

Telling Southerners that you're from New York is like telling the Chinese you're an American.

“Consider me a brother. Not just a friend.” I like that.

I was born and raised up in Appalachia. My Mom retired from an AEP coal power plant in WV when her plant was shut down during the Obama administration, and they started fracking our mountains. I'm from a little known area of the south-eastern Ohio/West Virginia border on the Mason-Dixon line on the Ohio river called Pomeroy. I met a McCoy brother from the band Bobaflex in Walmart in Mason, WV. I was born across the river from the origin area of the Mothman of Point Pleasant WV. The movie called Mothman Prophesy was filmed about. It is also featured in the video game Fallout 76. There's also Skatopia. I was paid to be a part of the C8 Project that the movie Dark Water with Mark Ruffalo was about, the 50 years of poisoning our water. Tourisim largely funds the area of Hocking Hills/Athens. I meet people all over who go on vacation in basically my backyard. My brother fell off the 50ft cliff at Old Man's cave and survived during his college years... I miss my home, love its pristine beauty, its secrecy and isolation, but have since moved to both Indiana and Michigan to find work.

I’d rather live in a rural place like that, than a dirty city

Whoever told you that us hillbillies are shooting each other is what we would call a "liar"

Guy from West Virginia here. Wasn't expecting to see you making a video about this state. For the most part, I think you represented this place fairly accurately. By the way, the average SINGLE salary is 29k, but that's the average. A lot of people make way less. Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the state, and they pay workers so little that most of them receive government assistance. So, essentially, the government is subsidizing the payroll for Wal-Mart. Here's another fun WV fact. I believe we're the only state where Trump won the youth vote. Our state is so conservative, that after our governor election, the winner of the race switched from Democrat to Republican. We basically had two Republicans running, but in order to for both to run, one of them had to pretend to be a Democrat for a while.

Im born and raised west Virginian,our state gets a bad reputation. Fentanyl is absolutely a huge issue. I myself am a recovering addict and for being 33 you wouldn't believe me if i told you how many friends and family members I've lost. Im from Morgantown which is like the new york city of West Virginia. We have no shortage on beautiful sights and peaceful atmosphere,but the poverty and substane abuse issues have torn our beautiful home apart

I'm a over the road trucker and West Virginia is 1 of my favorite states to drive through.

I'm from IA and I turned one of those "sheds" into a tiny house. Lived there for 8 years off grid on family land.

The dog was right on cue. As soon as you said you're from New York, he went off. So funny.

I apologize to the foreign viewers, after a trip to the hood in DC and now West Virginia, you're probably questioning if you still speak English

Lol you know Tommy's a city slicker when he's so taken aback by the Tractor Supply Co. I live in "rural" New England, and I've seen them my whole life! It's a national chain just like Home Depot.

So we were supposed to be closing coal mines, but we are shipping coal to China. Someone help me out here.

Finding a Cuban restaurant in the middle of west Virginia totally unexpected

“There go the coal trains” Train of nothing but grainers and tankers roll by

Terribly sad to see my uncle Matt like this. Drugs ruin lives.