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There seems to be this prevailing attitude from some regions of the country (the midwest and southeast come to mind) that California is some awful place that is uninhabitable, mostly due to a perception that Californians are supposedly all full of themselves, and that the state is a nanny state run by flakey hippies and liberals. The issue I have.. is that when people make these generalizations of an entire state, and then you ask if they have ever been to California for any length of time, they many times have not. They have never even set foot in the state and feel the need to judge it very harshly.
In your opinion, why would people judge California so harshly when they have never even been there? Obviously California is a great state with many great cities and cultures to live or visit, agriculture, alot of history, and let's face it some pretty nice weather. Also it is a very populous state. Any ideas? Thanks
There seems to be this prevailing attitude from some regions of the country (the midwest and southeast come to mind) that California is some awful place that is uninhabitable, mostly due to a perception that Californians are supposedly all full of themselves, and that the state is a nanny state run by flakey hippies and liberals. The issue I have.. is that when people make these generalizations of an entire state, and then you ask if they have ever been to California for any length of time, they many times have not. They have never even set foot in the state and feel the need to judge it very harshly.
In your opinion, why would people judge California so harshly when they have never even been there? Obviously California is a great state with many great cities and cultures to live or visit, agriculture, alot of history, and let's face it some pretty nice weather. Also it is a very populous state. Any ideas? Thanks
I like California, I have grandparents who live in San Diego so I've been there enough to know it fairly well, besides SD I've also been to LA. People get that image of CA only because of the stereotypes and media. When I'm there I don't find the people to be any different than they are here. It just depends on what part of the state you live in like in any other state.
First of all, it is the most populous state. A lot of people don't like Hollywood. Silicon Valley is not too popular, and nearby San Francisco supposedly is all gay. And about ten years ago the power problems. Some days half the State was blacked out. At least that is the media coverage.
There seems to be this prevailing attitude from some regions of the country (the midwest and southeast come to mind) that California is some awful place that is uninhabitable, mostly due to a perception that Californians are supposedly all full of themselves, and that the state is a nanny state run by flakey hippies and liberals. The issue I have.. is that when people make these generalizations of an entire state, and then you ask if they have ever been to California for any length of time, they many times have not. They have never even set foot in the state and feel the need to judge it very harshly.
In your opinion, why would people judge California so harshly when they have never even been there? Obviously California is a great state with many great cities and cultures to live or visit, agriculture, alot of history, and let's face it some pretty nice weather. Also it is a very populous state. Any ideas? Thanks
They hate California for the same reasons people from either Coast hate the middle of the Country. No real reason except ignorance.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forrest Run
There seems to be this prevailing attitude from some regions of the country (the midwest and southeast come to mind) that California is some awful place that is uninhabitable, mostly due to a perception that Californians are supposedly all full of themselves, and that the state is a nanny state run by flakey hippies and liberals. The issue I have.. is that when people make these generalizations of an entire state, and then you ask if they have ever been to California for any length of time, they many times have not. They have never even set foot in the state and feel the need to judge it very harshly.
In your opinion, why would people judge California so harshly when they have never even been there? Obviously California is a great state with many great cities and cultures to live or visit, agriculture, alot of history, and let's face it some pretty nice weather. Also it is a very populous state. Any ideas? Thanks
It's jealousy. People try to portray their cities as a Utopian place, they list all these things like best medicine, best schools (99% of you did NOT go to Harvard, doesn't affect your life, quit the bragging), more density (you know who you are), economy is skyrocketing (Texans), shopping, research capital.
More of those things aren't even accessible to the general public. The truth is, people are jealous, and this site is competitive, people feel the need to prove their city's worth by belittling and bashing another city they are jealous of.
It's just the way it goes, you envy what you can't have. And people from every region here are guilty of doing it.
Example:
"I'm moving from Houston but would like to go to a place where I can do college nicely"
- "Hey, check out Boston, we have MIT, Harvard..."
*me thinking in my head* (Hmmm, those are some really competitive schools last I checked, the OP never stated the best, and never gave detail about the range they can afford, or if they can even make it into those schools, so why the heck are people here boosting about their city because they have the best schools?)
It's homerism like that, people like to portray their place in a more attractive sense and they will bash the places the envy or stereotypically hate.
By the way, Boston people, I was just giving an example, the first example that came to mind, don't take it offensively. I just needed something I could say to prove what I am trying to say. So I apologize if you took that offensively.
I myself love California, have plenty of family there, and I don't think there's anything holding that states greatness back.
People certainly have a negative view of my homestate of Mississippi without having visited...
I have lived in California and I didn't like it. But I only don't like L.A. and its surrounding areas. Bad vibe. But San Diego is pretty cool and some of the smaller cities along the coast are nice.
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