Visit us! We're safer than New York City (NEW YORK CITY!)

August 15, 2003 2:58 PM

Visit Madison, Indiana. Why? We're not New York City! Sure you can be opportunistic about selling gas masks if you're an internet entrepreneur, but what if you're a small town in Indiana and you want to cash in on fear of terrorism. Why, tout what you don't have, of course. "A safe place to visit...When you visit Madison you will discover that we have no tall buildings to fear, no nuclear power plants, airports or anything anyone would want to blow up."
posted by m@ (16 comments total)

no nuclear power plants, airports or anything anyone would want to blow up."

Not sure what were to discuss, my town is better, because it's safe... Hi mom, I'm in Madison vacationing, yes I drove, no airport to fly into, yes sure you're glad to hear that. Yes, have a safe room in a safe hotel at a safe location, the city bank and yes mom I took my sweater...are you our tour guide m@?
posted by thomcatspike at 3:11 PM on August 15, 2003

Most of the folks around here are American Americans and you too are welcome here.

Say what?
posted by hades at 3:30 PM on August 15, 2003

"..we have no tall buildings to fear, no nuclear power plants, airports or anything anyone would want to blow up"

Neither does North Dakota, but that's still not enough of a reason to go there.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:52 PM on August 15, 2003

That's faulty logic, crash. There IS no reason to go to North Dakota; ergo, NOTHING can be enough of a reason to go there.
posted by jonson at 4:00 PM on August 15, 2003

A safe place to visit...When you visit Madison you will discover that we have no tall buildings to fear, no nuclear power plants, airports or anything anyone would want to blow up.

Looking at that website I don't know if I'm bored or offended.
posted by elwoodwiles at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2003

May be nowhereville but take off your dumb joke links; blonds, red-necks and lawyers. Not that it's totally wrong(their site) but you're not being hospitable. Save the jokes when people arrive, you may need some noise to add to your quite old Madison town when people are actually visiting.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:05 PM on August 15, 2003

American Americans

As opposed to Canadians, who are (North) American Canadians, or Hawaiians, who are South Pacific Americans.

Right?
posted by mr_roboto at 4:07 PM on August 15, 2003

Wouldn't you rather visit Madison, CT?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:16 PM on August 15, 2003

see the terrorist will strike these types of places. there's always something that someone would want to blow up.
posted by birdherder at 5:01 PM on August 15, 2003

Some of those Madison American Americans, I reckon.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 5:07 PM on August 15, 2003

Actually, Madison is not a bad place to visit if you are into the historic building/antique shop located next to one of the better and unknown state parks in the region. It's rather like what Nashville, Indiana was before Nashville became a bit too much of a tourist trap.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:23 PM on August 15, 2003

Of course, what they don't tell you is that they are about 12 miles south of Jefferson Proving Ground. Of course, it's nicer than Newport. You know, where the Army produced it's entire stockpile of VX Nerve Agent (and now where they want to destroy it).

If you want to visit Indiana, there are nicer places.
posted by moonbiter at 8:04 PM on August 15, 2003

Sorry, you do not have permision to right click

WTF!?
posted by goethean at 9:00 PM on August 15, 2003

My parents met in Madison. (Also, for what it's worth, my ancestors settled Vevay, just up the river.)

Anyway, perhaps this 1945 documentary could serve as an introduction for anyone who wants to visit... sixty years ago.
posted by tss at 10:50 PM on August 15, 2003

The vagaries of history have passed by Madison, IN, which made all 133 blocks of the downtown eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and a pilot city for the Main Street redevelopment program. Don't let some amateurish boosterism mislead you; it's a charming historic community that can give you a taste of the onetime economic importance of the Ohio River as a major American byway. The only other place I've seen quite like it is Galena, Illinois, which has become a little touristy though without compromising its character.
posted by dhartung at 9:08 AM on August 16, 2003

America is full of small and medium-sized towns and cities with interesting culture, great libraries, easy rush-hours, terrific parks, good hospitals and other amenities. Not to mention sensational housing a reasonable prices. Intellectuals and hipsters have built their identities on putting these places down for the past 100 years, but the fact is that today, they represent the apex of quality of life as it has been experienced in all of human history. Compared to a city like Madison, Indiana, New York City is suckerville, where suckers pay a fortune to live in a tiny, hot apartment with noisy neighbors, bad-tempered crowds, lousy supermarkets, crowded museums, particle-laden air and the constant threat of terrorism or accidental catastrophe. Not to mention the fact that so many thousands of younger people moved to New York to live in Manhattan, and because Manhattan is so mind-bogglingly expensive, have had to settle for Borough living -- which gives you all the annoyance, indignity, boredom and inconvenience of Manhattan living without the cultural electricity or cachet. At one time, to live in a small town was to be culturally deprived. But today, the internet puts the cultural product of the world at your fingertips wherever you are (as if I had to tell anybody). I expect over the next generation or so, brilliant, intense young people are going to begin repopulating these wonderful small towns, and leave New York to its sorry natives.
posted by Faze at 2:57 PM on August 16, 2003