If you’re asking why people on 30A are so mean, it’s likely because you encountered some unpleasant characters in a local Facebook group or a neighborhood app. That’s where the trolls live, under an Internet bridge where they can reek havoc without significant consequences. Also, a lot of people on local social media groups are not actually locals. For example, recently someone responded to a tourist’s question inquiring if places were starting to close because of an increase of Covid cases. The woman replied that this is a red state where, if people die, it’s God’s will, and she was serious despite the fact a four-year-old just died in Florida because of Covid. This particular jackass lives in Georgia.
The real residents of 30A, I have found, are very friendly and welcoming. Shop owners, restaurant workers, people taking a stroll on the beach—they are just plain nice. They are happy to greet neighbors, and they recognize visitors as people who contribute mightily to the financial structure of the place. Is there crime here? There absolutely is because humans will be humans, but the majority of humans here are friendly.
The county sheriff’s social media presence helps set the tone and represents the general nature of most people living here (I’m specifically pointing out social media because I haven’t had personal interaction). Their posts tell the story— if someone is picked up for behavior suggesting they have a drug problem, they are treated with dignity and compassion and directed toward health care, not punitive treatment. If someone is stranded on the side of the road, it’s likely going to be an officer who helps them before a tow truck arrives. If some jerk calls the police because a family has set chairs down on what they claim is their spot of private beach, an officer will try to mediate without picking sides on the contentious issue.
Unfortunately, this pleasant attitude is not what often shows up on social media, and that divide is not unique to 30A. Trolls are everywhere—angry, bitter, petty, childish, ignorant, small-minded—they get a kick out of being mean through keyboards and then watching the fallout. They’ll harass you for asking too many questions you could easily google on your own or for not automatically knowing everything about the beaches here or where to get the best shrimp or what to do if your rental unit cancels because the owner sold it after you made your reservation. That’s been happening a lot lately because real estate here is nutty, and people are eager to cash in.
I have had the kindest conversations with cashiers at the grocery store or at a gift shop. I once had an employee at a cooking store tell me about a great book she thought I’d be interested in based on the clothes I was wearing (it was a sewing book), and we ended up exchanging book ideas and website suggestions. When service people have come to our house to fix something or give an estimate for a project, without exception everyone has been very friendly and professional.
So, don’t let the trolls give you the impression this place isn’t friendly. The next time someone spouts off, simply reply, “Hey, I know you. You’re the guy with the Confederate flag waving from the back of your pick up truck jacked up on tractor tires, with your greasy hair tucked underneath your filthy hat and gaping holes where you teeth should be.” Or maybe it’s a woman causing trouble, in which case she’d be the one you know who pops her gum like castanets and whose tube top is struggling to be clothing and….
That wasn’t very kind of me, I suppose, but some people do need to be called out.
#30A #EmeraldCoast #FloridaPanhandle
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