Where Does Cleveland's Inferiority Complex Stems From? (Columbus, Cincinnati: low income, section 8)

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by theunseenguest

As I stated earlier, I went to the base camp of Mt. Everest, went to Bhutan and Nepal and hiked some of the mountains there. So none of the mountains in the US including the Rockies can compare to that(exception could be Mt McKinley). However, I still love the beauty of the outdoors in the Carolinas, something I don't quite find in Ohio. However I am not complaining about that because I made a choice to come down here knowing about all this, I am just disappointed that there's nothing else to do here esp. if you are not a local and don't have all your high school buddies to hang out with.

Then honestly, you're just not looking hard enough, or you just think you're too good for what's there. Nature is nature. If you can't appreciate it everywhere, no matter what it entails, then you're doing something wrong.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

Andrew, you lived in Cleveland in the seventies, surely you have better insight into the topic of this thread than some complete BS story about a Filipino coworker. Come on, you can do better.

I not only lived in Cleveland in the '70s, I also lived there in the '60s, the '80s, and the first half of the '90s. I am a native Clevelander, born and raised there. Therefore, I have no firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to be a transplant living in Cleveland.

I do know, however, that over the years I met quite a few transplants in Cleveland who told me the same story, over and over. These were people who'd lived in a number of different cities who said out of all the places they lived, Cleveland was the most difficult when it came to making friends. And these were not even ethnic types, just ordinary white people. Who am I to doubt their experiences were what they said they were?

Plus I had one friend who was a native Clevelander, who moved away for nine years and then came back. He tried looking up his old Cleveland friends only to be given the "cold shoulder".

Perhaps it's difficult for Clevelanders to truly see themselves the way others see them.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by andrew61

I not only lived in Cleveland in the '70s, I also lived there in the '60s, the '80s, and the first half of the '90s. I am a native Clevelander, born and raised there. Therefore, I have no firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to be a transplant living in Cleveland.

I do know, however, that over the years I met quite a few transplants in Cleveland who told me the same story, over and over. These were people who'd lived in a number of different cities who said out of all the places they lived, Cleveland was the most difficult when it came to making friends. And these were not even ethnic types, just ordinary white people. Who am I to doubt their experiences were what they said they were?

Plus I had one friend who was a native Clevelander, who moved away for nine years and then came back. He tried looking up his old Cleveland friends only to be given the "cold shoulder".

Perhaps it's difficult for Clevelanders to truly see themselves the way others see them.

One of my best friends in Cleveland is Filipino. He says he'll never leave. I also have a good Mexican friend, a transplant from Kansas, who lives with a girl from Maine. They're loving living in the Ohio City area.

I think people have different experiences. Every person is unique. Some people will love a place,some will hate it- goes for ANY city.

[L2DB]

Was the Filipino chick hot? Because that might account for some of the stares.

[theunseenguest]

Originally Posted by andrew61

I not only lived in Cleveland in the '70s, I also lived there in the '60s, the '80s, and the first half of the '90s. I am a native Clevelander, born and raised there. Therefore, I have no firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to be a transplant living in Cleveland.

I do know, however, that over the years I met quite a few transplants in Cleveland who told me the same story, over and over. These were people who'd lived in a number of different cities who said out of all the places they lived, Cleveland was the most difficult when it came to making friends. And these were not even ethnic types, just ordinary white people. Who am I to doubt their experiences were what they said they were?

Plus I had one friend who was a native Clevelander, who moved away for nine years and then came back. He tried looking up his old Cleveland friends only to be given the "cold shoulder".

Perhaps it's difficult for Clevelanders to truly see themselves the way others see them.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head, and most native Clevelanders wouldn't perhaps consider your response valid until you tell them that you are a native Clevelander yourself. Of all the numerous places I have been to I find Cleveland the most difficult to make friends with and most people I find are usually quite distant are suspicious of befriending recent transplants to the city. I feel one of the reasons for this might be because people aren't used to seeing others move into Cleveland but only move away from it. I was checking an article online the other day which listed Cleveland among the top 5 cities with the most exodus in USA, now when i look at the people from that perspective it kind of makes sense as to why they are so distant and cold(fear of the unknown).

If your friends who were ordinary White people themselves faced such experiences in this city, guess how worse it would be for someone like me, a brown South-East Asian. Your post makes me feel better in some ways though, since it gives a lot of credibility to the experiences I face in this city everyday. My only solace is to comfort myself in the fact that I am only going to spend a few years here(3-4) before moving out of here. I would have considered staying here longer had it been one of those cities that had the "vibe" but that's not the case certainly.

[theunseenguest]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

One of my best friends in Cleveland is Filipino. He says he'll never leave. I also have a good Mexican friend, a transplant from Kansas, who lives with a girl from Maine. They're loving living in the Ohio City area.

I think people have different experiences. Every person is unique. Some people will love a place,some will hate it- goes for ANY city.

Some coward on this forum left me a message stating this, "The majority of the Indian people I know are very arrogant and have a feeling that they are leading Americans out of the woods, no one likes that attitude". I never had that attitude towards anyone in real life, I wonder what sort of a person it is that has such a problem with Indian people when all the people he met are all so arrogant, egoistic etc and why he still wants to work or even bother to be around those people(yep we are all the same, we are all arrogant and pig-headed, apparently Americans are the only ones that can have a diversity in the milky way). It's pretty apparent that he/she hates people like me and would jump immediately to categorize anyone who remotely looks Indian to possess all the characteristics he described without even getting to know them.

In a city like that, I doubt anyone that's a minority would want to stay a single second. I have been in this nation since 8 years and his/her comment left such a bad statement in my mouth that I now suspect every American friend I have ever had to be of the same fabric, and makes me even more hesitant in trying to make friends with people locally. If I had a chance, I would never stay a second more in this racist city.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by theunseenguest

Some coward on this forum left me a message stating this, "The majority of the Indian people I know are very arrogant and have a feeling that they are leading Americans out of the woods, no one likes that attitude". I never had that attitude towards anyone in real life, I wonder what sort of a person it is that has such a problem with Indian people when all the people he met are all so arrogant, egoistic etc and why he still wants to work or even bother to be around those people(yep we are all the same, we are all arrogant and pig-headed, apparently Americans are the only ones that can have a diversity in the milky way). It's pretty apparent that he/she hates people like me and would jump immediately to categorize anyone who remotely looks Indian to possess all the characteristics he described without even getting to know them.

In a city like that, I doubt anyone that's a minority would want to stay a single second. I have been in this nation since 8 years and his/her comment left such a bad statement in my mouth that I now suspect every American friend I have ever had to be of the same fabric, and makes me even more hesitant in trying to make friends with people locally. If I had a chance, I would never stay a second more in this racist city.

So now one person saying something on the internet makes an entire city racist? I guess now every city, state, and country is now completely racist. Bullet proof logic there. Look, the internet is a scary place. Maybe you should get off of it for a little bit if it only enrages you.

Bro, I tried to help you here. But you're really starting to tick me off with your illogical leaps and declaring my entire city racist.

You really should take my previous advice. You sounded reasonable in your response, but now I think you just don't care. You decided you don't like it and you have reverted to convicting the entire city of something that is objectively false. Please just leave if that is your attitude. I only respect people that have an open mind and are capable of rational thought/discourse. You seem to have lost both of those things.

I hope your rants make you feel better.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by theunseenguest

I have been in this nation since 8 years and his/her comment left such a bad statement in my mouth that I now suspect every American friend I have ever had to be of the same fabric, and makes me even more hesitant in trying to make friends with people locally. If I had a chance, I would never stay a second more in this racist city.

Well, now you're doing the very thing you're accusing other people of doing: stereotyping.

Watch out on your way down from jumping to all these conclusions; you could be in for a bumpy landing.

[Heidi60]

^ Exactly!

But I think this thread is being hijacked so maybe we could get back to Cleveland as that is where I grew up and will always have a soft spot in my heart for.

Where Does Cleveland's Inferiority Complex Stems From?

Only in the minds of some small minded people who can't see the spirit of America there.

[averysgore]

A reason for Cleveland's inferiority complex: I came across the Yahoo Travel page for Cleveland, and this is the first paragraph (and the only one you see on the first page):

Cleveland, Ohio Vacations, Tourism, Guides, Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants - Yahoo! Travel

Today, the great industrial port of Cleveland – for so long the butt of jokes after the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 – is no longer the "Mistake on the Lake." Although the path back from acute recession is by no means complete on a city-wide basis, areas like the Warehouse District, East Fourth Street, and University Circle are now hubs of energy. Cleveland boasts a sensitive restoration of the Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River waterfront, a ...

Fortunately, Yahoo isn't the first place most people look when they decide where to travel (somehow Y search got changed to my default, need to fix that) but that doesn't make it right.

What's sad is that most people under 35 or so have never heard that nickname if they're not from the area, and don't know about the river catching fire. And it's really not the butt of jokes the way our parents' generation remembers it. Still, the fact that there isn't much positive buzz about Cleveland means most young people still don't have a favorable view of the city.

If this was a city I'd never heard about, and a major travel guide put it down in the first couple sentences...I'd be pretty pissed.