>>1974623So in the US we have this cultural narrative around what we call "homesteading" which is a sort of larp of what happened in native lands in the 19th century. The US government created some basic ground rules for settlers to take land in an organized fashion without butting heads with one another (the native people didn't count, they would simply be exterminated). And so you have these stories about a hard working pioneer who would sign an X, and throw down a silver dollar registration fee, and then power walk in a big circle and all the land inside that circle became his, and his alone forever, on condition that he plant some beans on it before the next frost or some shit like that. The American dream.
This story is the subtext of a LOT of discussions of housing, for example when the covid thing happened, a lot of youngsters decided to buy a house in the country and literally plant the beans (most of us know a guy, or a couple, who did). But it's not all about farming in a literal sense. Some, when they see a place like say, some city neighborhood that has old buildings, that white people lived in 100 years ago, but which is mostly not white people anymore, in their head they think of it as "unexplored territory" to be "settled" even if there's like 70,000 people per square mile living there already who might have their own views on what the neighborhood needs, but never mind, the uniformed men with guns will keep them in line if they get too uppity.
The real estate industry has done a great job of convincing the youngsters that existing neighborhoods with people in them are the only conceivable place they can possibly live, but also tragically flawed, and these "flaws" (wink wink don't wanna get in trouble) can only be fixed by real estate developers. And their heartfelt belief that they are being denied something to which they are entitled can be traced back to those old timey pioneer stories about homesteads and "free" land. Hope this helps.
