What Are the Best and Worst Areas for Nonreligious Liberals? (Atlanta: gated, living)

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Zel Ya

I'm glad that you have found a niche in a place that didn't look so welcoming initially. That's nice. Liking where you live is so important.

I think older people may have a more difficult time finding that niche. A lot of things are so much easier when you're younger.

Older people do gravitate to retirement communities because they can blend into the community so well.

Well, I can be an amazing person when given a little time and no other choice.

True about age having a lot to do with it...I'm not all THAT young, but my generation (early genXer) is a little more open minded than most of those that came before us.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

I agree in acceptance and tolerance. But it doesn't always go both ways. You can tolerate someone who doesn't share your views, but what if they don't tolerate you? I've been in situations like that. It's fine at work or some other public place because you can always walk away from them if you need to. But at home, I want to feel like I'm at home and comfortable with my surroundings, not feel like I'm in a foreign land. Wanting to be in an area with more liberals isn't about being intolerant of conservatives or wanting to isolate myself from them. It's more for the social aspect. The friends you make and the people you date are a function of your environment. Imagine if all the people you'd want to be friends with or date lived clear on the other side of town. Makes it kinda hard to spend time with them.

I'm a northern (originally Canadian) liberal residing in North East Cobb and I completely support Denny's comments. It's all very well to talk about how great it is it be tolerant, and I believe in that of course, but it wears you down to live completely among people whose world view is so different. My neighbors aren't bad people, of course, but they quite understandably assume that everyone around them thinks exactly as they do. So they take enormous swipes at President Obama, for example, just in passing, not when it's the subject of conversation, but as a side joke, because, you know, EVERYBODY thinks Obama is an idiot/marxist/charlatan/etc.

When this happens in a friendly conversation with other parents at a school meeting, for example, would you want to stir things up by taking exception? I don't. But the constant trickle of this sort of thing keeps me aware that I'm not among people with whom I can share many of my thoughts. It just gets me down. Just like Denny said, I don't mind this sort of thing at work, it's a normal part of life, but I'd like to live among a population that had more like minded people. I even have some conservative friends, but gosh, I'd feel less stressed if every kind of political allusion I hear in my daily life wasn't always strongly anti-liberal.

Having moved here from heavily-secular west-coast Canada, I also notice the religious stuff. That actually doesn't bother me as I'm a devout Christian myself (albeit of a liberal Episcopalian stripe, so not aligned with the local majority). So I can imagine that someone who wasn't even Christian would feel even more alienated around here.

[CMMom]

^^^

But Rainy, that goes both ways too. When I worked at a government-run healthcare facility here in Atlanta back during the 2000 election fiasco, I heard quite a number of comments casually thrown about such as, "He ain't MY President," "He stole the election," and some much more insulting than that. I don't bring that up to argue THAT issue all over again (I have no interest in that at all), but to point out that people on BOTH sides of the political fence make careless comments and just assume that because they work with/live in the same neighborhood as/are in the same profession as someone else, we must all think the same way. As someone who works in mental health but who classifies myself as libertarian/fiscally conservative, I can tell you that many swipes are taken at conservatives/evangelicals/Republicans and I frequently find myself wondering about that whole "tolerance" angle that liberals often espouse. I'm NOT trying to challenge liberals' thinking or political stances, but just trying to demonstrate that there are segments where a less liberal person feels less than welcome too.

[DennyCrane]

I was hoping to avoid turning this thread into one about politics and hopefully we can get back on topic. The issue is really about wanting to be around people you can relate to and feel like you have stuff in common with. I used religion and politics but I could just as easily have used parenthood. I'm single and don't have any kids. I could live in an area where it's nothing but single families. But what would I have in common with them? We could be friendly with one another and respectful to each other. But I doubt I'd be hanging out with them on my free time. It's the same with politics and religion. It isn't so much about wanting to isolate yourself from people who are different as it is about wanting to be with people who you feel more of a connection to and feel like you belong amongst.

So for anyone else who reads this thread, understand that I'm not saying liberals and conservatives can't live near each other. I'm just saying that it's natural for people to gravitate to the people who are like them. I'm in my 30s. It's not like I'd want to live in a community of senior citizens.

[RainyRainyDay]

^^^

CMMom, I am sure you are quite right. I was responding to the OP's plaint from the point of view of a liberal among conservatives, but I did assume the opposite was equally true. If this came across as an issue only for liberals, that was never my opinion. I've seen comments that conservatives suffer in the same way, in some parts of the northeast, for example.

While it's important to interact with people of all views (and with the present-day segmentation of the media, I think it's increasingly important that we not wall ourselves off from those of different views whom we might meet in the flesh), on the other hand, as you experienced during the 2000 election, it gets wearing to be surrounded by people who happily assume that everyone within earshot shares their opinions - which just happen to be contrary to yours. So I have a lot of sympathy with Denny's search for a more-liberal area to make his home.

[Brian and Amanda]

Just a few thoughts. I am a devout Christian, but that does not necessarily make one unaccepting of folks with liberal mentalities. Sadly there are many folks, both religious and non.. who are not so accepting of different beliefs. Hoping that your path, wherever it leads will allow you to come across some folks like myself who you might just find interesting and accepting, no matter of your beliefs or not. Peace to you.

[DennyCrane]

Originally Posted by Brian and Amanda

Just a few thoughts. I am a devout Christian, but that does not necessarily make one unaccepting of folks with liberal mentalities. Sadly there are many folks, both religious and non.. who are not so accepting of different beliefs. Hoping that your path, wherever it leads will allow you to come across some folks like myself who you might just find interesting and accepting, no matter of your beliefs or not. Peace to you.

Thank you. I hope I find that too. While it would be great to be around other liberals, I certainly don't want them to be of the close-minded variety who think conservatives aren't even worth talking to. First and foremost, I want to be around people who are welcome and open-minded. Up in the north, it's common for people to be distant and aloof. And they don't even know if you're like them or not.

[Zel Ya]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Well, I can be an amazing person when given a little time and no other choice.

LOL!

For the most part, I think many human beings are highly adaptable to new surroundings and living conditions. That's how we survived through the centuries.

However I do think older people will still have a more difficult time.

[roxyrn]

Before I moved to Atlanta, from the Northeast, I heard from a lot of people living here that I would be asked by neighbors to go to church with them. Hahahal. In the nearly 6 months I have been here, I have hardly seen my neighbors; they do not seem to care if we are here or what our religious or political beliefs are. I have Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant neighbors that I know of. Probably a good number who have no religious affiliation. Maybe I am just in a bubble here in North Fulton.

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by roxyrn

Before I moved to Atlanta, from the Northeast, I heard from a lot of people living here that I would be asked by neighbors to go to church with them. Hahahal. In the nearly 6 months I have been here, I have hardly seen my neighbors; they do not seem to care if we are here or what our religious or political beliefs are. I have Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant neighbors that I know of. Probably a good number who have no religious affiliation. Maybe I am just in a bubble here in North Fulton.

That is how it is in North Decatur--and how it was when I lived in other parts of the city.

I'm sort of tired of the labeling.