Chicago, its trains, and how tourists from abroad view the city (Palatine: fit in, schools)

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by skipcromer

Wow...

1. Damage control? Seriously?

2. The Pizza is a regional thing, no more no less. Lots of people from Chicago prefer the thin crust. I guess you werent here for the thread where the new yorker came in to bash Chicago Pizza.

3. Oh my god! The guy giving the boat tour made a joke at the expense of St. Louis. That is terrible. He should be fired immediately. Heck, the guy giving the boat tour has probably lived in chicago for 3 months and is reading off prepared notes.

yeah, this is making me laugh my butt off.

I'm on a few nation-wide forums, and far and away New Yorkers have THE biggest complexes, it is always a New Yorker who freaks out about any mention of someone liking deep dish.

as for the river, that's a pretty uneducated comment, it's not sending our sewage that's a problem (it gets properly aerated long before it hits St Looie), it's the massive amount of freshwater we're draining from Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes as a whole.

sign up here to learn more of the wonky details, Debra Shore has been a breath of fresh air in a department which in past years was found to be housing a guy selling heroin on behalf of a Columbian drug cartel.

Debra Shore — Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by chicagojoe23

The perception is that Chicagoans won't merely state an innocent preference for Chicago in regards to places of higher city status. We are admittedly more deluded about our city than most. Almost cocky.
We often times state our opinions of other places as facts and those "facts" are usually, shamefully, unflattering towards those other world cities and cultures. We are very American in this respect, and yes it does reveil a level of insecurity, even if it is based in pride.

How many times have I heard a Chicagoan say that "the best (insert ethnic food here) I ever had was in Chicago." Really? How do you know? Cause some dude said? Or that we are "the best sports town" even though we have some of the longest droughts of any city, big or small. Or the ever famous "at least we have four seasons" when comparing ourselves to the popular sun belt states.

Coincidentally these are all categories where other cities are "ranked" above Chicago on some stupid list somewhere , and that conflicts with our inflated Chicago egos.
You don't have to be a psychologist to see the Chicago inferiority complex in action.

This is another reason that folks from abroad, and even in this country, think we are nothing but a goofy Saturday Night Live sketch, and many do not take Chicago seriously. Everyone around the wide world has an opinion that their hometown is the best at whatever, but we really take the Windy City stuff to heart and it's starting to alienate people I think. We have turned from the lovable Superfan Chris Farly into the "one up" chick played by Kristen Wiig.

The Chicago inferiority complex has been well documented. You may not be part, but google it. It's there.

I'm guessing you must be hanging with much different people than I am, or in the end it just boils down to personal opionion, which makes sense. I guess you're just viewing things differently than I am, or other people on this board/in the city. I've never heard the comments about Chicago having better food just to slight another city or feel better about yourselves. Usually its because someone likes one food better than another. I don't think St. Louis DESERVES our trash for any reason (why would they, unless you're getting into a baseball fight over who's better), and New York DOES have more sanitation issues because of their lack of alleys. It's just a fact. How would I have a complex for stating that?

There's an entire range of people out there with every spectrum covered, just like any other city. I was just stating that I was surprised at your comments, because they were running contrary to what I normally see around the city, or displayed by Chicagoans on here.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by chicagojoe23

[i]

The Chicago inferiority complex has been well documented. You may not be part, but google it. It's there.

So I decided to google "Chicago inferiority complex" to read up on it, and honestly all I got after 3 pages of search results was:

Ironically the subject that popped up most often were sites regarding Milwaukee's inferiority complex with Chicago. I didn't even type anything about Milwaukee....

The second most number of articles was about the White Sox inferiority complex compared to the cubs

The majority of things were stuff in the Sun Times or things that had "chicago" in them, but nothing to do with the city and an inferiority complex.

Here were the 3 that actually stated the subject:

An AOL Travel article about the city starting:

"Has Chicago finally gotten over its "Second City" inferiority complex? Sure looks like it. The city is booming, bursting with restaurants, hotels, and shops in every price range."

The second was a New York Times article from last year with the elections, etc. It stated:

"...the city never felt the inferiority complex that outsiders spend so much time musing about. Still though, the election of Obama has given an unusual boost of confidence in a city that is usually nonplussed."

The third was was from a British Newspaper about Chicago:

"Right now, Chicago is America's hottest city. Pre-Obama, it was written about remarkably little – at least for a metropolis with three million inhabitants"

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by chicagojoe23

It exists. Whether or not you or others think you have an inferiority complex is a matter of opinion. My opinion is that you might have one.

Do you even like the city you're living in?

If the city of Chicago doesn't have an inferiority complex, you seem determined to give it one...

[linicx]

Listening to you guys is hysterical. Congressman La Hood IL had the very same type of question thrown at him during a Senate Hearing on infrastructure. His reply was classic and I wish I could quote it in its entirety but I can't.

Basically LaHood said some other countries could have a superior rail sytem when compared to Americam cities, but American has the best road system in the world.

What LaHood did not say is that these so-called superior train infrastructures do not carry and return passengers 6.000 miles. As far as I know the only rail system in Europe that does is the Trans-Siberian Railway.

[chicagojoe23]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

So I decided to google "Chicago inferiority complex" to read up on it, and honestly all I got after 3 pages of search results was:
Ironically the subject that popped up most often were sites regarding Milwaukee's inferiority complex with Chicago. I didn't even type anything about Milwaukee....
The second most number of articles was about the White Sox inferiority complex compared to the cubs
The majority of things were stuff in the Sun Times or things that had "chicago" in them, but nothing to do with the city and an inferiority complex.
Here were the 3 that actually stated the subject:
An AOL Travel article about the city starting:
Has Chicago finally gotten over its "Second City" inferiority complex? Sure looks like it. The city is booming, bursting with restaurants, hotels, and shops in every price range."
The second was a New York Times article from last year with the elections, etc. It stated:
"...the city never felt the inferiority complex that outsiders spend so much time musing about. Still though, the election of Obama has given an unusual boost of confidence in a city that is usually nonplussed."
The third was was from a British Newspaper about Chicago:
"Right now, Chicago is America's hottest city. Pre-Obama, it was written about remarkably little – at least for a metropolis with three million inhabitants"

Interesting Mr. 60614, I find over 15 pages when searching Chicago's Second City inferiority complex. I thought everyone knew about this one. Curious as well, exactly what is the "irony" you mentioned in your search? Is their a form of poetic justice as well?
RLMFAO I am totally kidding. If noone here has seen the Chicago inferiority complex in action, then I guess they just haven't. Pay no attention to me. I just don't know nothin'

[chicagojoe23]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Really? I have not got that impression at all from your posts.

How long has it been since you lived in Chicago? What age group are you in? What area(s) did you grow up in? Where do you live now?

Longer than you've been alive probably I was born in Chicago in 1970. I was raised in Bridgeport with my mom and dad and my two brothers When I was about 19 moved into an apartment on 2500 block of Clark. I also lived just off North Ave for a while long before Wicker Park took off. I wish I had stayed put sometimes. I have lived in Palatine now for 3 yrs. I am a sales rep for Abbott Labs.
Where did you grow up? How old are you? What is your social security number? What color socks do you normally wear to a nice restaurant?

[chicagojoe23]

Originally Posted by MassVt

Do you even like the city you're living in?

If the city of Chicago doesn't have an inferiority complex, you seem determined to give it one...

Nah. The whole city does not have it. Just the people who deny it the most.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by chicagojoe23

Interesting Mr. 60614, I find over 15 pages when searching Chicago's Second City inferiority complex. I thought everyone knew about this one. Curious as well, exactly what is the "irony" you mentioned in your search? Is their a form of poetic justice as well?
RLMFAO I am totally kidding. If noone here has seen the Chicago inferiority complex in action, then I guess they just haven't. Pay no attention to me. I just don't know nothin'

But you should look at the actual articles. Over half of them deal with the Second City Comedy improv. The issue came from 1952 when New York labeled Chicago as "the Second city" and so came an assoicated inferiority complex. Second City Comedy picked up the name and used it mockingly. It was labeled on the city as it ususally is, not something that was rationally derived here.

The point people are making is that for all the talk of an inferiority complex dealing with Chicago - it's strangely almost all people on the outside who come up with that decree, not something that's home-grown if you will. It's quirky. People roll their eyes because the rational for making the statement is usually based on things that are naive thinking, or not the true mentality of the people who actually live here. "Chicago wants to be New York, look, they want to build a restaurant like Tavern On The Green in their park - that's so cliche". Really? Maybe it's because it's a nice restaurant and a theme that people would enjoy here as well. It's not some desperate plea to be something you're not. It would be like saying everyone who has an interstate highway wants to be like Germany because it was copied from there.....or New York wants to be Boston because they copied the subway system.

[emathias]

Am I the only one who thinks this has turned into an exceedingly tedious and boring discussion?