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I have read thousands of postings on this great message board and there seems to be a common thread in many if not most of the postings. That being.... that many Americans have become unfriendly, cold, distant and aloof.
Is this your experience? It is mine. I find that people seem to have more walls around them and are more likely to be guarded and cold unless you can prove to people that you are OK. Neighbors are unfriendly. People do not know the people they sit next to at work or even their next door neighbors name. Rude treatment is encouraged by the mass media and the bad in people is brought out instead of their good.
I find in my experience that being friendly to people will make them even more unfriendly because I come off as needy. In the good old days, if someone was nice people would be nice back. This is no longer the case.
Is this unfriendly culture still true all over the country or only in the urban areas of the Northeast?
I haven't found this to be the case in upstate NY. Even when I visit NYC I don't find as much of it as you might suppose.
It has a lot to do with your own actions. If you talk to people and are friendly chances are many will talk to you gladly.
I agree. I haven't found this where I live/work and I live in arguably one of the "rudest" states in the nation. I live in a development of 57 houses - and know every single person in each one, and do things on a regular basis with many of them.
I've posted before that I also find people in NYC significantly friendlier than say, 20 years ago.
I'm from Texas...I can get anyone to open up and be friendly...
I live in Florida now and even the yankees that move down here pick up the friendliness, I think its infectious...I go out of my way to be friendly and people usually respond in kind.
We all have our good days and our bad days. I myself am an extremely friendly, cheery, happy-go-lucky geek, but a lot of people on this forum probably have very negative impressions from me now after I went on my anti-Hummer rant in a couple of threads concerning the skyrocketing price of gasoline in relation to their higher demand driving up prices for the rest of us.
I think most people on this forum are actually quite helpful and great examples of what everyone should strive to become. Unfortunately, we're a dysfunctional mix of liberals and conservatives, so of course we're going to clash every now and then. WeLuvPA and I clash over politics in our city. SpeedyAZ and I clashed a bit when I hit a nerve with him for driving a Yukon in my anti-Hummer rant. I've clashed with others concerning the psychological influences upon sexual orientation on some of the political threads. The moderators clashed when me when I went "off the rails on the crazy train" and posted my "Farewell" message a couple of months ago. Families forgive each other for their differences, just like we all inevitably forgive each other for our disagreements as well.
Group hug! Awwwww!!! Group make-out session? (Uh-oh! Looks like the "Sexual Tensions" thread will be making a comeback!) LOL! As the B-52's, one of my favorite bands, would sing "Shiny, happy people holding hands!"
They can't be any worse than the Scranton-dominated PA forum, where the pro-city and anti-city crowds comprise roughly equal numbers and love to take rounds at one another.
I am a HUGE B-52's fan too!!! I have Sirius radio and I just love it. In fact I'm addicted to it because all the music on First Wave is so good that I have to listen to see what the next song is! Not to mention, the DJ's are the same DJ's I used to listen to on KROQ in Los Angeles in the 80's. Man, I am being taken back to my youth big time and loving it!!!
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Turn that frown upside down!
WeLuvPA and I clash over politics in our city. SpeedyAZ and I clashed a bit when I hit a nerve with him for driving a Yukon in my anti-Hummer rant. I've clashed with others concerning the psychological influences upon sexual orientation on some of the political threads. The moderators clashed when me when I went "off the rails on the crazy train" and posted my "Farewell" message a couple of months ago. Families forgive each other for their differences, just like we all inevitably forgive each other for our disagreements as well. 
