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The majority of the Boston Metropolitan area is white (whether it's Ireland ,Europe, Canadian, British,etc).
You just named three different countries...and a continent (why did you mention Ireland and Britain? They're apart of Europe) composed of 50 different countries. I'm not sure why you're so obsessed with skin color, but you do realize that Italy and Ireland aren't the same place right? You do realize that Portugal and France aren't the same country. Greater Boston is 5-6% Jewish, about triple the national average. I hope you realize that's slightly different than Irish Catholic.
You're bordering on racism by calling us all the same...
By the way, there are well over 100,000 people from the West Indies in the greater Boston area. That includes Haitians, Jamaicans, etc.
Not to mention the 250,000 college students in the 55 square miles that make up Boston and Cambridge...those students come from every state of the country, every country in the world.
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The groups are more even out in Houston with a white population at about 2.5 million, black population at about 1 million, Latino population at about 1.7 million, Asian population probably near 400k, and more. Houston has one of the largest Nigerian populations in the country, and one of the largest Vietnamese populations.
Cool. I never said Houston wasn't diverse....WAIT!!!! Did you just say Nigerian? Oh no, I'm afraid that doesn't count. That's black. It's the same as all the other Africans. Just like Ireland, England, Portugal, Italy, France, and Germany are all the same. They're white. And Vietnamese!?! lol! That's Asian buddy! Come on, everyone knows there's only like 8 different ethnicities in the world. Stop acting like China and Vietnam are different!
Just playing by your rules.
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The only people praising San Francisco and Boston as cultural meccas are white people.
I'm white...but how do you know anyone else's race? And how in the world did San Francisco get involved in this? Culture is more than being black, white, Asian or latino.
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Not saying they don't have any culture of less of it than Houston.
But hasn't what your entire post has been about? We're just a bunch of white people, after all. We lack any form of diversity! Isn't that the point you've been trying to make this whole time?
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They are only praised because of their history and urbanity.
You just named three different countries...and a continent (why did you mention Ireland and Britain? They're apart of Europe) composed of 50 different countries. I'm not sure why you're so obsessed with skin color, but you do realize that Italy and Ireland aren't the same place right? You do realize that Portugal and France aren't the same country. Greater Boston is 5-6% Jewish, about triple the national average. I hope you realize that's slightly different than Irish Catholic.
You're bordering on racism by calling us all the same...
I'm obsessed with color because as a black man; being in a area that is accepting and full (not saying Boston isn't accepting) of minorities makes me feel comfortable. I didn't really mean to say whites are all the same; just that appearance wise, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a person from France, Portugal, and more.
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By the way, there are well over 100,000 people from the West Indies in the greater Boston area. That includes Haitians, Jamaicans, etc.
Not to mention the 250,000 college students in the 55 square miles that make up Boston and Cambridge...those students come from every state of the country, every country in the world.
I'm well aware of this but coming from an area with large black population to an area like Boston would be a culture shock for me.
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Cool. I never said Houston wasn't diverse....WAIT!!!! Did you just say Nigerian? Oh no, I'm afraid that doesn't count. That's black. It's the same as all the other Africans. Just like Ireland, England, Portugal, Italy, France, and Germany are all the same. They're white. And Vietnamese!?! lol! That's Asian buddy! Come on, everyone knows there's only like 8 different ethnicities in the world. Stop acting like China and Vietnam are different!
Just playing by your rules.
To me; there is a difference between walking in a room full of white faces of different nationalities and walking into a room full of different colored faces of different nationalities.
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I'm white...but how do you know anyone else's race? And how in the world did San Francisco get involved in this? Culture is more than being black, white, Asian or latino.
Not saying they don't have any culture of less of it than Houston.
But hasn't what your entire post has been about? We're just a bunch of white people, after all. We lack any form of diversity! Isn't that the point you've been trying to make this whole time?
I just hope you're drunk.
Nope, the point of my post was not understanding how Boston or SF can offer much more culture than Houston, but offer the same amount or in some cases less diversity than Houston. Culture in some cases goes hand in hand with diversity.
That's why I said San Francisco and not the Bay Area (which is probably one of the most diverse areas in the country; I couldn't say the same for the Boston Metropolitan area). Having a influential culture doesn't equate to a city offering more culture. Houston just lacks the publicity and media attention the other cities offer. It's a little egotistical to admit a place is more cultured than another considering Houston offers cultures neither of these cities offer.
Are you telling me the West Coast or Northeast culture is better than the southern culture? Are you telling me people from those areas are more cultural than people from Houston; yet Houston ranks up with the rest as far as diversity? This is how your attitudes and comments come cross to me as far as the culture argument.
Pretty much every city of any size (including San Francisco) is incredibly diverse. I think you're making an even weaker argument because SF is more diverse than much of the rest of the Bay Area. To say that it's a white people thing (which is incredibly silly for SF especially given that so many of its white people are not originally from the area or even the US).
An influential culture is what should be debated here. It doesn't mean other cultures aren't valuable or don't exist--but the debate is about influential cities so this does have to be discussed (I'm not a part of the ongoing debate about "better" culture you've been having with some of the others on here). I won't say the West Coast or Northeast culture are better, but they do wield greater influence. Like you said, Houston simply doesn't have the publicity or media pull--which certainly ties in with being less influential.
I think you need to ask yourself why certain people live in certain cities. A clear fact is, you ARE NOT!
By hispanics you really mean Mexican. Last time I looked at a map of North America, Mexico was right next to Texas. Creole/Spanish again due to Louisiana being right there, plus again the Mexico-Spanish influence. And as for the large African-American population...what was that "peculiar institution" that existed prior to the Civil War? And that is all fine, but you are deriding all the otehr cities, what because they have a different set of people?
I'm from western Mass, and a city here is 1/3 Puerto Rican. does that make it diverse? It makes it more diverse if than it was just white anglo saxon protestants, but there are Irish Catholics, Italians, Polish, Portuguese, Greeks, Germans, Russians, all of whom are very different. They might be all white, but each contributes something unique.
You want us to admit Houston is one of the most diverse cities, simply because there are a lot of Hispanics most of whom happen to be Mexican and African-Americans. Who I believe combined make up a minority-majority. So diversity is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not saying you're wrong, but you are certainly not right.
Oh yeah, you also forgot to mention how Houston's large Viatnamese population is because Vietnam is close by. Oh, and how the Nigerian population is due to Nigeria being a 4 hour car ride from Houston.
Yes, geography plays a role in why a city can be diverse, but it should limit a group of people to move there. If one other group of people view an area as desireable, they will move to it, not always just move to the closest area. Otherwise Puerto Ricans would only move to Florida, and not as far as NYC. Otherwise Mexicans would only move to border states, and not as far as Chicago. See my point.
I don't agree with the point that all whites, should be grouped together, because each do add something, but because most european whites, despite having a distinct culture, assimilate into the nation's culture a lot easier and have more in common with american culture than say chinese or mexicans do. Thus, sometimes you can group them together.
Your more likely to have generations and generations of Polish, German, Italians, etc than have generations and generations of Mexicans, Brazilians, Indian, etc. And with that, some of their distinct heritage can get washed away a little to a point where they can easily pass as white. Though, Im not saying this is true to all cultures. Some retain their roots quite well, but still is not the norm. My point is diversity is more visible when another distinct race is visible, and sometimes you can rightfully group all whites together, though I wouldn't, but I can see why some people might.
Let's agree that Boston has more culture than Houston and Houston has more culture than Boston. I think that's fair
From the polls it looks like DC is 4th. After that I would say Bay Area for 5th, then Boston, then Houston. This is going by CSA GDP. Boston is slightly ahead of Houston but significantly for anyone to boast. Boston is more specialized in higher ed and high tech, Houston in energy/oil and port activity. Both do well in medicine. It's probably safe to say that both specialties feed each other.
I'm obsessed with color because as a black man; being in a area that is accepting and full (not saying Boston isn't accepting) of minorities makes me feel comfortable. I didn't really mean to say whites are all the same; just that appearance wise, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a person from France, Portugal, and more.
I'm well aware of this but coming from an area with large black population to an area like Boston would be a culture shock for me.
To me; there is a difference between walking in a room full of white faces of different nationalities and walking into a room full of different colored faces of different nationalities.
Nope, the point of my post was not understanding how Boston or SF can offer much more culture than Houston, but offer the same amount or in some cases less diversity than Houston. Culture in some cases goes hand in hand with diversity.
So, you wanted us to base our judgments on diversity on your own personal experience? Well I don't recall anyone saying Houston wasn't diverse. But you wanted us to say Boston wasn't diverse because it's full of white people. Any worldly person, (black, white, yellow, green) would be able to tell you there are many types of European, many types of African people, many types of Asian people. Could I tell the difference between a Nigerian and a Hatian by looking at them? NO, could I tell the difference between a French and Portuguese by looking at them? NO. But I know better than to judge. When I was Egypt everyone there thought I was Egyptian...I'm French/Greek? So it happens.
Can we say that the cultural diversity of Houston is different than that of Boston, which is different than that of San Francisco all due to historical circumstances, economy, infrastructure, sociability, etc?
Let's agree that Boston has more culture than Houston and Houston has more culture than Boston. I think that's fair
From the polls it looks like DC is 4th. After that I would say Bay Area for 5th, then Boston, then Houston. This is going by CSA GDP. Boston is slightly ahead of Houston but significantly for anyone to boast. Boston is more specialized in higher ed and high tech, Houston in energy/oil and port activity. Both do well in medicine. It's probably safe to say that both specialties feed each other.
Haha, so true, it may be like arguing which apple is better granny smith or macintosh.
Pretty much every city of any size (including San Francisco) is incredibly diverse. I think you're making an even weaker argument because SF is more diverse than much of the rest of the Bay Area. To say that it's a white people thing (which is incredibly silly for SF especially given that so many of its white people are not originally from the area or even the US).
I don't understand; if a city is less than 50% White (such as San Francisco), how can it be considered 'a white people thing'. If anything, San Francisco has become so Asian that I think its really starting to bother other people. Here's the demographic progression of San Francisco ITSELF (not the whole Bay Area) to see where the demographic trend is going..and I tell you, its not becoming more 'white' (even though much of the time, white in San Francisco could be Russian, French, Irish, British, etc.)
San Francisco 1980:
59.2% White
22.0% Asian
12.7% Black
12.4% Hispanic
0.5% Native American, etc.
San Francisco 1990
53.6% White
29.1% Asian and Pacific Islander
13.3% Hispanic
10.9% Black
5.8% Other
San Francisco 2000
49.1% White
30.8% Asian
14.1% Hispanic
7.0% Black
6.5% Other
San Francisco 2008 45.1% White
31.1% Asian
14.0% Hispanic
6.4% Black
Pretty ironic that what used to be a vehemently anti-Asian city will probably become the first major American city to be Asian majority. If you factor in the rest of the Bay Area..well, there you go.
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An influential culture is what should be debated here. It doesn't mean other cultures aren't valuable or don't exist--but the debate is about influential cities so this does have to be discussed (I'm not a part of the ongoing debate about "better" culture you've been having with some of the others on here). I won't say the West Coast or Northeast culture are better, but they do wield greater influence. Like you said, Houston simply doesn't have the publicity or media pull--which certainly ties in with being less influential.
I agree with this sentiment. However, the Bay Area is unfortunate to have Los Angeles in the same state as it because outside of California, people typically only associate the Southland with California and not the Bay Area. To say it wields as much obvious influence as LA or NYC would be false. However, the influence that comes from the Bay Area is probably much more subtle and probably has a greater effect than any of us realize.
I'm obsessed with color because as a black man; being in a area that is accepting and full (not saying Boston isn't accepting) of minorities makes me feel comfortable. I didn't really mean to say whites are all the same; just that appearance wise, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a person from France, Portugal, and more.
I'm well aware of this but coming from an area with large black population to an area like Boston would be a culture shock for me.
To me; there is a difference between walking in a room full of white faces of different nationalities and walking into a room full of different colored faces of different nationalities.
Nope, the point of my post was not understanding how Boston or SF can offer much more culture than Houston, but offer the same amount or in some cases less diversity than Houston. Culture in some cases goes hand in hand with diversity.
I don't drink.....much.
Dude, I kind of feel sorry for you. Your view of diversity is so narrow its not even funny. If you cannot tell the difference between someone from Germany and Portugal then you have not traveled much.
As someone who is Jamaican myself, I would find it insulting if people grouped me in with other West Indians just because we may "look the same" or come from the same Region of the Caribbean. So I would never group all white people together as one, because the difference between European cultures are very extreme in many cases.
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