Cowpat Idyll Syndrome: Does this explain why people complain about the countryside when they visit or move there?
As a human who has been mainly a big town dweller who had ties to the countryside. I have always found the people who go to the countryside and complain as odd as the countryside, but understandable.
The countryside is not the city, it has a uniqueness to be celebrated.
I've not always comprehended the countryside and rural life as well as rural life deserves.
I have, however, found those who complain to be rather odd.
If you visit a rural area, enjoy it for what it is. Yet many people visit, move and then want to change it to something akin to an Idyll.
I thought I would explore this phenomenon I have encountered and propose some ideas on why it has come about.
My theory is Called Cowpat Idyll Syndrome and I hope to explain it below in more detail:
Cowpat Idyll Symdrone
There are three key stages of Cowpat-Idyll Syndrone.
Stage One: Idealisation of the Idyll Stage Two: Confrontation with the Cowpat Stage Three: Reaction to the Cowpat-Idyll duopoly
Stage One: Idealisation of the Idyll
The idealisation of the Rural Idyll as a form of escapism from the stresses of the modern world and the lives that are lived in this modern world.
Rural life is seen as "lesser" or not part of the real world stresses. The average sufferer of the Cowpat Idyll Syndrome only sees pretty fields, nice walks and small rural pubs. Bills, financial worries, family troubles, and career stress cannot possibly exist in such beautiful areas.
During this stage, the Idyll may be consumed via social media, holidays, weekends away in nice cottages books and other media. Escape to the Country is the perfect TV for this.
Over time an image of life in
In many ways, the people who are suffering from the Cowpat Idyll Syndrome view rural areas and communities like the Shire from Lord of the Rings, a quaint place that is unchanged and forever gentile.
It is both naive and condescending all at once.
Stage Two: Confrontation with Cowpats
The suffering of Cowpat-Idyll Syndrone steps in the Provigil 'cowpat'. This could be an actual cowpat or it could be noise from tractors, no shops being open on a Sunday, all the way through to a 20 mile round trip to pick up a stable on a Sunday evening.
*Stage Three: Reaction to the Cowpat-Idyll: How does Cowpat-Idyll syndrome Manifest**
Cowpat Idyll Syndrome manifests in a number of ways:
- Complaining about the "smells".
- Complaining about the noise of the countryside.
- Complaining about tractors, farming and other rural economic activities.
- Purchasing local businesses and then hipsterising them and wondering why locals are not spending their money there.
- Ultra-Nimbyism
- Not attending local events.
- Spending their money online instead of using local stores.
- Complaining about local pubs.
- Standing in the way of change.
- Referencing how things are better or available in the city.
- Not wanting anything to change, except everything they dislike.
- Not making general chit-chat with the locals.
How does someone 'catch' or 'suffer from' Cowpat-Idyll Syndrome?
I have a theory that it comes from a sense of entitlement that stems from a misspelling of my mainstream media and an understandable ignorance of country life. I dub this theory Cowpat Idyll Symdrone
The entitlement can be understood that many people spend a lot of their hard-earned money to go on holiday and whilst you are sitting in your hot tub looking out at the fields and hills the wafting smell of cow dung might not be the romantic setting you wanted.
With tourists, you can understand the above you can understand it and forgive them for their ignorance.
When portrayed on television the countryside whether in dramas or reality shows always is shown as an idyll. Whether it is Escape to the Country or Channel Five's constant Yorkshire propaganda programming, there is always an element of seeing the countryside as a place of time and people stand still (to look at the views).
Is this attitude acceptable in "incomers"?
No. Not in the slightest.
There is something very nefarious and insidiously awful about someone moving to the countryside and expecting that as they have retired or moved for a simple life, those who make a living in the countryside should forfeit their livelihoods.
It's very narcissistic and very self-centred at worst and demonstrates misunderstanding at worst.
The countryside and rural life is not something Tolkienesq Shire, it is full of living and breathing communities and businesses that need the work farming, forestry and mining create.
Nor can the countryside rely on tourism. Tourism is great, but it is seasonal and fickle.
The joys of rural life require compromise
Just as living in London gives you access to a massive range of facilities. However, those facilities come with a wide range of compromises: crime, high rents and house prices, and communicating on the tube full of sweaty armpits.
The countryside provides clean air, stunning views, community and a slower pace of life.
How to cure Cowpat-Idyll Syndrome?
Accept the countryside for what it is and enjoy the sights, smells and cowpats for what they are.
Please note that the above is the work of satire(ish) of people complaining about the countryside. Please do not take this too seriously.