World Class City Means More Enlightened Citizens? (Chicago: rent, living)

[doublenickels]

bizarre, absurd, nonsensical, silly premise...

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

...but for urbanites to look down their noses at suburbanites . What are your thoughts?

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

Why do we have to label people? I didn't know what a protestant was until 10 years ago.

It might behoove you to learn at least something about the history which drove hundreds of thousands of Irish here.

Ancient history, it ain't. From this morning:

Northern Irish Protestants march, warn of standoff

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

Why do we have to label people?

I'm far too old for that, last time I labeled a guy must'a been 25 years ago.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

There are plenty of cities in the US where that is still true, Detroit and St. Louis being nearby examples.

You're right. City snobbery is totally uncommon, and it's usually the people on the outskirts that look down on city folk.

Originally Posted by marothisu

You're the only one who should be speaking? Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. how do you know our backgrounds? I grew up in Minnesota...

Minnesota: Land of Diversity? Now I've heard it all.

Originally Posted by fightforlove

From my experiences, I think this attitude is a bit worse in Chicago though. I lived in Los Angeles for years, there is some of this cooler-than-thou-because-I-live-in-the-hip-city-neighborhood attitude there as well, but L.A. is more spread out geographically than Chicago and it's "happening" spots are more scattered. You can be from Long Beach, Northridge or the San Gabriel Valley and say you're "from L.A." because it's easier to say and it's technically true anyways and noone will care. otoh, Chicago is a more centralized city where most people go "into the city" to the happening places. So, the Chicago Nazis will get really pissed if you're from Lake Co., Bollingbrook, or even a neighborhood by O'Hare and tell people you're "from Chicago", even though these areas are also technically part of the Chicago metro.

Piffle. I'm from Los Angeles, and let me tell ya, people from the city will slice you if you're from Norwalk or Long Beach or whatever and say you're from LA. And we look down on Valley people, as we should. God forbid you're from the other side of the Orange Curtain...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

Minnesota: Land of Diversity? Now I've heard it all.

No, it's not the land of diversity, but where I lived had many people from all around the world living there. Sorry Lorie, I know you lived in the Minneapolis area for awhile, but you'd have to be pretty blind to have not seen the large amounts of Somalian, Ethiopian, Sudanese, and SE Asian (i.e. Hmong - Vietnamese, Cambodia, Laotian) immigrants as well as some ones from Mexico. Minnesota is no NYC but it's more diverse than people think in some areas. I know who were my neighbors, but thanks for attempting to downplay my **** anyway. It's who I grew up going to school with, who my friends were. I don't need someone on the internet telling me that in Minnesota I wasn't exposed to other a bunch of cultures growing up.

Somali American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A large number of the Somali immigrants settled in Minnesota, which in 2002 harbored the largest population of Somalis in North America.[3] By 2006, Somalis in the state accounted for $164–$394 million in purchasing power and owned 600 businesses.[4] The city of Minneapolis in particular hosts hundreds of Somali-owned and operated commercial ventures.

And according to this, the largest population of Somalians anywhere in the world outside of Somalia is Minnesota.

Hmong American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As of 1999, Minnesota has the second largest U.S. Hmong population by state.[6] As of 2001, the largest Hmong population in the United States by city is located in St. Paul, Minnesota.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_American

Not to mention a Latino community of about 250,000 currently.

The Ethiopian population in Minnesota is one of the most diverse, with large representation of Amhara and Oromo Ethiopians. Official census shows 13,927 Ethiopian-Americans living in Minnesota

Even one of my doormen here in Chicago is Ethiopian, and the first time I mentioned to him I grew up in Minnesota, the first thing he said was how he had relatives in Minnesota and how there's a good population of Ethiopians there (and in reality there's more Hmong and Somalians there).

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Even one of my doormen here in Chicago is Ethiopian

Hey, one of mine too! He and I are very good buddies.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yet I live in the Gold Coast, so by some peoples' definitions, I must not be very exposed to cultures even though on my floor alone I have two separate Indian/Pakistani neighbors, a Spanish one, and a Palestinian one not to mention an African American neighbor at the other end of the hallway.

The population in my highrise is very diverse, too. And I'm in Lakeview.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I think on average, someone from a diverse city MAY be more enlightened HOWEVER I don't think that everyone in a diverse city is "enlightened" and I don't think that everyone who doesn't live in a city is not "enlightened." I have met people from both camps from all types of geographies. I went to school with VERY enlightened and worldly people who grew up in small towns of Iowa and Nebraska, and I also went to school with extremely ignorant people from these geographies. I've had the same encounters with people from large cities - Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago, etc - both ignorant and pretty "enlightened." I don't judge how worldly or what not anybody is by where they live. You may play the game of averages, but I think there's both ignorance and enlightenment in all sorts of places.

In the end it comes down to your personality, how open minded you are, what you're exposed to, what you read, etc. Being in a city can help, but if you're a close minded person, for example, I don't think it matters where you live.

This is true. There are many Chicagoans that don't know what exists in the city outside of their own neighborhoods, and despite it being a lot of culture in Chicago, these people still tend to be close-minded.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by marothisu

And according to this, the largest population of Somalians anywhere in the world outside of Somalia is Minnesota.

I love when people trot out this statistic. Do you even know what this stat means? Hint: It's not that Minnesota has a diverse population or that there is a large percentage of Somalis there. Here's another fun fact: Illinois has more members of Lorie's immediate family than anyplace in the world outside of where Lorie's immediate family lives. Wow, Illinois must be swimming in the Lorie clan! Yes, I saw Somalis in MN. You know who else I saw, like, nearly all of the time in much greater numbers? Stocky ass, Nordic-looking white people. Perhaps that's because we're talking about a state that's pushing 90% white and and in the single digits for percent black. Around, what, 5 or 6 %? And that's 6% all black, including Somalis.

Pretending like Minnesota resembles the UN is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen on this forum.

[ChicagoMeO]

What is wrong with living in an area that is not diverse?

since when is diversity the thing to aim for?

I am totally fine living in an area that has no diversity.

I look for other things to make my environment good - grocery store nearby and other things. I can go to other neighborhoods if i want diversity.

Leave people to live where they want to without HAVING to be politically correct. and stop crucifying people if thats what they want.

Now i will hear from those who think im an archie bunker or that im a kkk.

I am just not politically correct 100% of the time.