Does Cleveland Have an Inferiority Complex? (Columbus, Cincinnati: big house, school, casino)

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by gobucks86

I think people who are from Cleveland and people who are proud of the city just get tired of it and its people getting **** on left and right from everyone and their brother. Forbes magazine never has anything positive to say along with other media publications. David Letterman has never stepped foot in Cleveland (I don't think at least) yet he's relentless on his show, along with Conan. If you watch the NBA on TNT, Charles Barkley always rips on Cleveland.

I say, let 'em rip away. Anyone who gets their information (and takes it seriously) from any of the above sources likely has an IQ of 72 as it is. Also, did you ever notice that what they project onto Cleveland (crime, pollution, etc.) is usually much more of a negating factor where they're broadcasting from?

[YtownGuy]

It's not just Cleveland, but all of northeast Ohio that has an inferiority complex. Too many people have rosy memories of days when there were lots of blue-collar jobs. Things aren't as bad as they were just a few years ago, but the economy can be a real downer.

[Matthew Hall]

More like a PTSD, delusional, waiting for the sky to fall complex.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Matthew, you are clearly ignorant if you think you're speaking of the whole.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by YtownGuy

It's not just Cleveland, but all of northeast Ohio that has an inferiority complex. Too many people have rosy memories of days when there were lots of blue-collar jobs. Things aren't as bad as they were just a few years ago, but the economy can be a real downer.

People having rosy memories of the past =/= them having an inferiority complex.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Cleveland seems to be in 2011 where Pittsburgh was in 2001: On one side you have those who see the positive about where they live and try to emphasize it, and on the other side you have those who, for one reason or another, cannot bring themselves to say anything positive. The latter refer to the former as "cheerleaders" and "Polyannnas," and the former in turn just ask when the latter are going to make good on their promises and leave.

I can't pinpoint any precise moment that things started to change in Pittsburgh, or any specific event that might have caused it to happen, but things began to change about five or six years ago. There are still negative people who chime in, but they're fewer in number than before, and increasingly seen as irrational. Maybe it'll change for Cleveland soon, but it took a couple of decades to change in Pittsburgh after the calamity of the 1980's.

Cleveland and Pittsburgh are two completely different cities, with different pasts, etc. I am not saying that the "attitude" change is different, but these cities are so different I just can't compare Pittsburgh's change to Cleveland's change. Doesn't seem fitting.

[Matthew Hall]

I've met too many Clevelanders who seem very badly affected emotionally by their cities fortunes in the last 15 years. Even if they left years ago, they still seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop all the time in a way that goes beyond an inferiority complex. Even having an inferiority complex requires some slim lingering sense of hope for the future. Too many clevelanders seem to have given up altogether.

[tribecavsbrowns]

The idea that what's happened in the last 15 years in Cleveland is in any way worse or even separate from what's going on in the country as a whole is ill-informed.

Cleveland's economy, its social life, etc. is similar to other cities in its class, it hasn't had anything go awfully wrong in the last 15 years that hasn't happened anywhere else.

To put things in perspective, I think the worst thing that's happened to Cleveland in the last 15 years is the Flats closing. But at the end of the day, that's a nightclub district. We're not talking about the collapse of the automotive industry or something.

PTSD? You're lying through your teeth.

[tribecavsbrowns]

As far as neighborhood stability goes, Cleveland's actually held up better than a lot of cities over the last 15 years.

The worst white-flight areas in that time are Euclid, Maple Heights, Slavic Village, and parts of Bedford, South Euclid, and Richmond Heights. Only Slavic Village is a total lost cause. Euclid and Maple Heights have problems, but compared to other cities across the country bit by white flight over the last 15 years, they're fairly clean and livable. Maple Heights High School is all black now after being basically all white 20 years ago, but they won a state championship in football last year, so it's not like there's this sense of hopelessness over the place. South Euclid, Bedford, and Richmond Heights aren't a whole lot different than they were.

I'd take Cleveland's "decline" over the last 15 years over what's happened in places like Northeast and Southwest Philly, the southwest side of Chicago, southeast KC, North County St. Louis, southern Macomb County, and others.

[Townes Van Zandt]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

Cleveland and Pittsburgh are two completely different cities, with different pasts, etc. I am not saying that the "attitude" change is different, but these cities are so different I just can't compare Pittsburgh's change to Cleveland's change. Doesn't seem fitting.

I'm glad you said this because I was thinking it. Cleveland's demographics are much different, which complicates things incredibly...