This online slide show with both video and audio components is based on surveys and focus groups exploring impressions and attitudes held by Americans regarding life in rural America. The study and presentation are by the Frameworks Institute, which translates and models scholarly research to re-frame public discourse. In this case, it’s remarkable how clear the messages are that describe the misconceptions and generalizations that people carry about rural life, from over-romanticizing it to coupling it with poverty and ignorance.

Most of this erroneous thinking is the product of mass media depictions. If you’ve never lived in the country, you’re pictures of it may be formed by television programming – Little House on the Prarie, the Andy Griffith Show and the Beverly Hillbillies.

Remember that almost all of our food is grown in rural areas today just as it has been throughout history.