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Just moved here and already experienced a few incidents of being harassed (with my spouse and child, to boot) by motorists. Don't have a car yet, so are taking buses in Buffalo. Comments ranging from "Go home!" to the nasty, "But I swallow!" What gives??? I'm not a baby, so I don't cry about these incidents, I just think, who has it in them to harass someone they don't know??? But is it typical?? And I don't even want to get into the worst comment I heard. But it was truly, truly nasty, having to do with the slitting of wrists. I'll just pray for such nasty people. Hard to not get worked up, though.
Allentown. I mean, I do like it, it's a good area. And I say that, having lived in the Bronx just before this. Was only harassed once in the Bronx (and not even that seriously, just some kids hanging around bus stop acting silly). And that was in the South Bronx, mind you. However, I know that it's a much more common thing to take buses in NYC. Now, I don't want anyone to thing I've come here to be negative and complain and whine, etc. Not at all. I really like my place, I have a dream kitchen, I love the architechture, love the tree-lined streets, love that it isn't the Bronx (was transplanted there too for awhile). And drunk people. I can forgive drunk people, they don't know any better. But it's sober motorists. Probably because my hubby looks "foreign" although he's lived here well over 22 years, is a legal resident (did everything the right-and legal way) and is generally a nice, gentle guy (and thus an easy target). Anyway, I came here to be positive and I'm going to try to stay positive. Thank you for your reply. I still like this place. Plus, I have a washer'dryer, don't have to load kid in stroller, load laundry in stroller, put clothes in large backpack, roll uphill to laundromat in the sweltering NYC heat (I did that- haha!) I will say this about the Bronx-it made me appreciate what I have now. It never gets old. Also, THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY! Your good deed for the day. Many views, but THERE CAN BE (and was) ONLY ONE, I suppose.
Sorry that for some reason you keep being a victim to this.
I have never experienced any rampant harassment by motorists as I have been out and about. I do not get into Allentown all that often these days. It doesn't mean I have never seen it, but not in a frequency that would make me think it is any more than a random jerk or two.
There are a decent number of *******s here. Some are in a better position to learn that lesson than others--you are by mere virtue of waiting for a bus in a city where public transport is not widely utilized. One of the main reasons I want to eventually leave this place, the relatively high incidence of random acts of cruelty.
To make a semi-related point: a friend of mine just moved to Tucson to take a position at the University of Arizona. Before living in Buffalo (well, East Amherst), he'd lived in metro Detroit and St. Louis. He once told me that he thought I'd prefer Midwestern people because to the average person in the supposed "city of good neighbors" because (his words) "they're more 'be on my side, I'll be on your side.'" Obvious generalization(s), but after 29 years here, I don't have very many good things to say about the Buffalo populace at large. Pettiness and unjustified egomania are the traits that stand out most to me. I suppose this is endemic to the human condition but I think the efforts to combat those (undesirable, surely) characteristics are sorely lacking here. There's a fair amount of big fish-in-small pond syndrome amongst the "successful" here. And few redeeming qualities to compensate--I can forgive an egomaniac if the person is truly exceptional. My own life story, were it witnessable to a spectator (brings back to mind my childhood reveries...back when I was religious, I used to fantasize about an afterlife spent watching the life stories of everyone who'd ever existed...this was before I learned that over 100 billion people had existed, which, even with an eternity of time to kill, would make such an endeavor a bit of an arduous task), would attest to that--I truly admire rare talent and consider accompanying egomania to be a trade-off worth taking.
Problem is, no prominent person in Buffalo can be said to possess rare talent. Mediocrities elevated by virtue of wealth/position of influence and by the mass desertion of talent that's occurred via decades of brain drainage.
I guess. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the picture of someone standing by a bus stop sign and then a driver yells at them out the open car window for no particular reason. And that happening multiple times.
Does that pretty much describe what happened?
And what about "the slitting of wrists" thing? Was this a racial thing ("Go home")? The Buffalo area is pretty diverse wrt African Americans, was it something else? Wearing Muslim garb?
If that was it then I'm sorry for your trouble, there are just a small, but vocal, number of a-holes around and sometimes they can only feel good if they put others down. The VAST majority of people aren't nasty.
Last edited by Charles Proteus; 07-30-2015 at 07:51 PM..
Reason: Wanted to add more detail.
Whatever the cause(s), nature or nurture, Buffalonian African-Americans skew massively down the IQ scale. Part of the reason the city is so unenjoyable for me to visit/live in.
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Allentown
