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"The fast pace, crowded conditions and cost of living make one resilient and emotionally strong."
Citizens of Hong Kong, Tokyo etc. manage without any self-aggrandising delusion about their own 'toughness'. A more plausible explanation is that this self-exhorted toughness is actually a kind of emotional weakness.
Dangerous in general? No. But I do think what is most unique about NYC is how integrated everyone is. It's not like other cities where 'undesirables' stick to certain neighborhoods. Even the 'ritziest' areas of Manhattana are easily accessible to everyone - for example, the shooting at the Bryant Park ice rink last winter. You are faced with two types of people you need to be careful about: i) the criminal element, which are people out looking to commit crimes, and ii) the mentally unstable, which are just about everywhere. The latter can be much more unpredictable, and other than being alert at all times, there is no way to really avoid that in this city.
"The fast pace, crowded conditions and cost of living make one resilient and emotionally strong."
Citizens of Hong Kong, Tokyo etc. manage without any self-aggrandising delusion about their own 'toughness'. A more plausible explanation is that this self-exhorted toughness is actually a kind of emotional weakness.
NO comparison there. The "citizens of Hong Kong, Tokyo etc." are diverse but nowhere near the degree as in NYC. Here, there's every race that arrived from every corner of the globe for 400 years by boat (some in shackles) and plane. Continuing to this day, we have hundreds of different languages and family heritage cultures in play in the workplace and schools. While a great thing, it's also real work for everyone to communicate all day, without insult (real or perceived) across cultures.
Also, the proudest American ethic is individual freedom, including freedom of speech. That compares to the value of community orderliness, which is what I'm told is the hallmark of Asian cities. So what's understood here as "rude vs. polite" is a different bar of acceptability than in great Asian cities.
All the above is theory. I gotta say, when I see videos of people cramming onto Tokyo subway trains at rush hour, I think that all consideration for others goes out the window.. if you can even find the window.
NO comparison there. The "citizens of Hong Kong, Tokyo etc." are diverse but nowhere near the degree as in NYC. Here, there's every race that arrived from every corner of the globe for 400 years by boat (some in shackles) and plane. Continuing to this day, we have hundreds of different languages and family heritage cultures in play in the workplace and schools. While a great thing, it's also real work for everyone to communicate all day, without insult (real or perceived) across cultures.
Also, the proudest American ethic is individual freedom, including freedom of speech. That compares to the value of community orderliness, which is what I'm told is the hallmark of Asian cities. So what's understood here as "rude vs. polite" is a different bar of acceptability than in great Asian cities.
All the above is theory. I gotta say, when I see videos of people cramming onto Tokyo subway trains at rush hour, I think that all consideration for others goes out the window.. if you can even find the window.
There was a recent thread on this in the world forum with many agreeing the Asian mega cities make NYC feel like a quiet village. So I think you're right that there's no comparison.
Most of the neighborhoods in the outer boroughs aren't rough
But the borough with the highest percentage of rough neighborhoods is probably The Bronx
Manhattan ain't as rough as a lot or most of bronx, brooklyn, queens.
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