The top 5 friendliest US cities (skyscrapers, south, Phoenix, California)

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

Down South it's not uncommon. It happened to me several times while at college. I'll give a few examples from the top of my head:

1. At the beginning of my junior year I broke my ankle and was crutching my way to class...a stranger pulled over and drove me to my class even though he was going to the complete opposite side of campus.

2. During my senior year I going to class (no broken ankle luckily haha) and a man pulled over and asked what I was doing. When I said walking to the bus stop, he told me to hop in and drove me to class.

3. My roommate was visiting school during the summer for orientation...while he was waiting for our other roommate to get out of work he decided to just hang out on a bench in downtown. During the half hour he had one family stopped to ask him what he was waiting for and if he needed a ride, and another man stopped in the middle of the street and asked if he needed a ride. He's from the same Boston-area town as I am, so he was as shocked as I was upon initial arrival down South.

4. Another night my sophomore year, two roommates and I were walking downtown to hit up the bars. We were drunk and yelling and a truck that passed us immediately hit the brakes. I was expecting trouble to follow, but when we got next to the truck a guy popped out the passenger window and said "What the hell are y'all doin?!" When we said we were heading downtown the guy told us to jump into the bed of the truck, and we all went downtown and got bombed.

That's just off the top of my head. To me, the environment I experienced in South Carolina is what I would call "friendly".

Those anecdotes don't demonstrate friendliness at all; they demonstrate at the very least a lack of good judgment, and at the most flat-out stupidity. And I don't know which party is worse - the party offering a ride to a stranger, or the party accepting a ride from a stranger. Friendliness is one thing, but behavior that is not responsible toward's one's own personal safety is not a measure or indicator of friendliness but rather an indicator of ignorance and lack of good judgment.

Maybe this kind of lack of judgment and naive trust of strangers is why the crime rates in the south far exceed those in the north.

And with all the time I've spent down south, I experienced no offers for car rides (not that I'd ever accept, I'm not stupid) and I have experienced unfriendly attitudes and behavior towards me, along with friendliness.

The idea that the south (or anywhere else, including NYC, for that matter) is generally more friendly than other places is a stupid and ignorant thing to believe or say.

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

Those anecdotes don't demonstrate friendliness at all; they demonstrate at the very least a lack of good judgment, and at the most flat-out stupidity. And I don't know which party is worse - the party offering a ride to a stranger, or the party accepting a ride from a stranger. Friendliness is one thing, but behavior that is not responsible toward's one's own personal safety is not a measure or indicator of friendliness but rather an indicator of ignorance and lack of good judgment.

Maybe this kind of lack of judgment and naive trust of strangers is why the crime rates in the south far exceed those in the north.

And with all the time I've spent down south, I experienced no offers for car rides (not that I'd ever accept, I'm not stupid) and I have experienced unfriendly attitudes and behavior towards me, along with friendliness.

The idea that the south (or anywhere else, including NYC, for that matter) is generally more friendly than other places is a stupid and ignorant thing to believe or say.

Damn man. Have some faith in humanity. Not everyone in the world is a rapist or murderer.

[eek]

i gotta say that i sure hope that you value your life...because your post indicated that you do not.

you could have ended up on the news EASILY. that was a very dangerous thing to do...

[Rachael84]

Originally Posted by eek

i gotta say that i sure hope that you value your life...because your post indicated that you do not.

you could have ended up on the news EASILY. that was a very dangerous thing to do...

Yeah, I'd be weary of anyone offering anyone a ride on the side of the street. You never know nowadays. Better to be safe than sorry. Back in 1950 this might have been ok, lol.

[wpmeads]

Originally Posted by eek

i gotta say that i sure hope that you value your life...because your post indicated that you do not.

you could have ended up on the news EASILY. that was a very dangerous thing to do...

That's the big difference between New York and South Carolina. I would guess that tmac wouldn't have jumped into a car with random people if he/she was in New York. In big cities, it's really bad idea to hop into cars with random people who offer you a lift, but it's not that big of a deal in small towns or midsized cities. I would NEVER do the same thing that tmac did in Houston, but it really wouldn't be that big of a deal to except favors from random people in places like Abilene, San Marcus, or even Austin.

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by wpmeads

That's the big difference between New York and South Carolina. I would guess that tmac wouldn't have jumped into a car with random people if he/she was in New York. In big cities, it's really bad idea to hop into cars with random people who offer you a lift, but it's not that big of a deal in small towns or midsized cities. I would NEVER do the same thing that tmac did in Houston, but it really wouldn't be that big of a deal to except favors from random people in places like Abilene, San Marcus, or even Austin.

Exactly. It's a different place down there. Small-town Carolina isn't the same thing as a big city, regardless of the region. I would hope I could trust a fellow student to not murder me and drop me in the lake. If I've got a broken ankle and it's 95 degrees out...I'm getting in that car haha.

[johnatl]

They just don't get it, and I don't think they ever will.

We're talking about Clemson, SC here - an almost picture-perfect college town in an extremely friendly County of less population than many large suburbs.

Anyone familiar with small, non-urban college towns ANYWHERE in the U.S. should understand tmac9wr's point. And yes, this includes Upstate NY and other NE locales - although much less likey to happen in the exact same ways as described, imo.

[eek]

na i get it. when you hear about those women and/or little children getting snatched on the news (cable news) they are always from some rural area.
i don't think you (meads, tmac and john) get it to be honest. there are way too many stories of bad things happening to ppl that go off with strangers.

adult or not, you can get snatched anywhere regardless of age, sex, race, etc.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by eek

na i get it. when you hear about those women and/or little children getting snatched on the news (cable news) they are always from some rural area.
i don't think you (meads, tmac and john) get it to be honest. there are way too many stories of bad things happening to ppl that go off with strangers.

adult or not, you can get snatched anywhere regardless of age, sex, race, etc.

Little children being snatched are hardly comparable to a young adult male being offered a ride by friendly locals.

You have no clue, and I am beginning to think that you never really attended school in the South.

You continue to refuse to tell us all where you gained all of your Southern "knowledge" that you espouse.

[wpmeads]

Originally Posted by eek

na i get it. when you hear about those women and/or little children getting snatched on the news (cable news) they are always from some rural area.
i don't think you (meads, tmac and john) get it to be honest. there are way too many stories of bad things happening to ppl that go off with strangers.

adult or not, you can get snatched anywhere regardless of age, sex, race, etc.

I think you need to stop watching Fox News.