Mentality as a whole is very similar to Californians (Denver: 2015, neighborhoods)

[downtownnola]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest

Again, this is not limited to CA and/or suburban, south Denver. You'll find these types of 'pockets' everywhere. I travel a lot for business and I find that common courtesy is a dying trend. There is a whole lot of 'looking out for number one' in every state in this country.

It's unfortunate that CA takes much of the blame in this forum.

I'm not sure if I completely agree. While there are certainly selfish, rude people in every state, I've still found a higher percentage to be concentrated in major metropolitan areas. I've found that as you get out of the cities and into the smaller towns, people are less hurried and more willing to help strangers. Of course this is generalizing and is not always the case, but is definately something I have observed in my travels.

In response to the OP's posting, I tend to agree. While I've met tons of great people in Denver and find this a great place to live, I've never found this area to be especially friendly or laid back.

[AMPL]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest

Again, this is not limited to CA and/or suburban, south Denver. You'll find these types of 'pockets' everywhere. I travel a lot for business and I find that common courtesy is a dying trend. There is a whole lot of 'looking out for number one' in every state in this country.

It's unfortunate that CA takes much of the blame in this forum.

I agree that it generally is a dying trend to be considerate to anyone but "me". I have lived on both coast as well as here and been traveling cross country a couple of times, and I must say California has in my opinion on a general basis earned its reputation - lived there for 3 year and it was just ridiculous!!! mememememe
We left CA before the recession set in and we were just back to visit friends. It had gotten a great deal better there in terms of the aforementioned mentality - My clue is that a lot of big-headed people had gotten a big bang in there head and either become more modest(deflated their head) but most likely moved away from CA to more affordable areas - it was stunning how it had changed, but definitely still CA. It was when we had been back in the Denver metro some days we talked about how similar peoples mentality really appeared to be!! Is was the east bay of San Francisco bay area we were living in.
I think a bigger magnitude of the aforementioned mentality is highly linked with popular areas where people almost as a default moves to - in CA's case the state was/is also perceived by many as a place where you get rich and famous(not true) which definitely has/will influence the kind of people moving/living there.

[RedSoxFanGoingWest]

Originally Posted by downtownnola

I'm not sure if I completely agree. While there are certainly selfish, rude people in every state, I've still found a higher percentage to be concentrated in major metropolitan areas. I've found that as you get out of the cities and into the smaller towns, people are less hurried and more willing to help strangers. Of course this is generalizing and is not always the case, but is definately something I have observed in my travels.

In response to the OP's posting, I tend to agree. While I've met tons of great people in Denver and find this a great place to live, I've never found this area to be especially friendly or laid back.

I agree that major metropolitan areas hold a higher percentage.

My wife and I recently moved to a small town and have had friendlier conversations with our nearest neighbors who are about a mile and a half away by road than we had with neighbors in Castle Rock where we could almost touch their house from our propertly line!

How friendly or laid back one deems a particular area is all relative. Spend a lot of time in the Northeast (NY, Boston, DC) and you will think folks in Denver are the nices people on earth!

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by AMPL

We have lived in California for 3 years(just been back) and after being here for 1 year (we live in Parker CO) – we consider people’s mentality as a whole in these two states to be very similar. It is the same self-absorbedness, airiness and lack of caring for anything except me, me - we feel a lot of times (To clarify, it is not all people that are like this, but neither is it in CA, but it is enough to be a trend). From talking with a lot of other people - we are definitely not alone with our opinion - we get that it has not always been like this, but it is getting worse by the minute. There are a lot of good things to say about Colorado - it is pretty obvious, but this is one opinion we never heard before we moved here and we want to let people know what we think about living here when they consider moving here. We do not intend to pi.. off people we just want to help others make a informed decision.

Who is moving there and brining their money, Californians?

[downtownnola]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest

How friendly or laid back one deems a particular area is all relative. Spend a lot of time in the Northeast (NY, Boston, DC) and you will think folks in Denver are the nices people on earth!

True! Compared to the Northeast, the people in Denver are very friendly.

[AMPL]

We have lived in Boston, MA for 2 years and moved from there to here. We moved away from the congestion primarily. People could be unbelievably assertive, confrontational and unpleasant - you see this mostly in traffic. People in Boston will be unpleasant towards people that seem weak - if they feel you are slow and are an inconvenience to them - you will know it - no tolerance. The first 2 weeks in traffic there was a terrible experience but when we knew our way around and we drove with confidence we very rarely had a problem with rudeness. People there are not instantly friendly - very reserved- they will rather be left alone until they have sized you up but then a lot of people are very genuine and caring. It would never in a million years cross my mind that people in Boston are self-absorbed, airy and don't care - in fact it is the place where we have lived that have had least of this mentality, but they can be very assertive, intolerant and unpleasant.
We find people in the Denver metro area very friendly and have always found people in CA as being friendly,but lack of friendliness was never mentioned in the OP - I dont try to be Boston rude:-)

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

I rule and I am the best. My opinions are fact. I am the most interesting man in Highlands Ranch.

Do you bowl overhand?

[Katarina Witt]

We found the people in NYC to be incredibly friendly when we were visiting there a few years ago. We'd be on the subway, looking at the map, and someone would offer to help us find our way. Likewise, when we lived in Albany, we found most people to be friendly and outgoing. Illinois, not so much. Here, even less, though after being here for 30 years, we have our friends and our social life.

[eepstein]

You find people in Parker to be arrogant, self absorbed, and distant?? Try living in Austin. Not only do you have the "Austin pride" thing going on, but you also have the "Texas pride" thing going on.

Originally Posted by AMPL

We have lived in California for 3 years(just been back) and after being here for 1 year (we live in Parker CO) – we consider people’s mentality as a whole in these two states to be very similar. It is the same self-absorbedness, airiness and lack of caring for anything except me, me - we feel a lot of times (To clarify, it is not all people that are like this, but neither is it in CA, but it is enough to be a trend). From talking with a lot of other people - we are definitely not alone with our opinion - we get that it has not always been like this, but it is getting worse by the minute. There are a lot of good things to say about Colorado - it is pretty obvious, but this is one opinion we never heard before we moved here and we want to let people know what we think about living here when they consider moving here. We do not intend to pi.. off people we just want to help others make a informed decision.

[horace29]

Originally Posted by AMPL

We have lived in California for 3 years(just been back) and after being here for 1 year (we live in Parker CO) – we consider people’s mentality as a whole in these two states to be very similar. It is the same self-absorbedness, airiness and lack of caring for anything except me, me - we feel a lot of times (To clarify, it is not all people that are like this, but neither is it in CA, but it is enough to be a trend). From talking with a lot of other people - we are definitely not alone with our opinion - we get that it has not always been like this, but it is getting worse by the minute. There are a lot of good things to say about Colorado - it is pretty obvious, but this is one opinion we never heard before we moved here and we want to let people know what we think about living here when they consider moving here. We do not intend to pi.. off people we just want to help others make a informed decision.

HAHA! Apparently I missed the boat on the "California mentality". In my contrary opinion, I would describe Californians as obsessed with the appearance of differentiating their own mentalities and behaviors as being superior, more "open-minded", more caring of social issues, and more arrogant about those perceived differences. On all counts the OP fits the bill of being a Californian. Simply by making the broad "I'm better than you" statement that you see people's mentality to be self-absorbed, airy, lack of caring for anything except themselves I think proves this point.

If they are not supposed to care about themselves, then out of curiosity, who the heck are they supposed to care about?? You? I imagine so. I'm sure you are interesting enough in your own mind that you believe this to be the case.

Maybe you should start caring a little bit more about yourself and less about how other people behave and how you can denigrate that behavior. Otherwise, you'll probably just go out and push for ridiculous laws to regulate other people so that you can make Colorado more like California... which apparently you for some reason dislike so much.