Threads Pertaining To People Disliking PA (Hershey: store, gangs, move)

[Gerania]

New Jersians aren't all rude; I live here! I did grow up in NEPA, so maybe that doesn't count. Maybe I'm a nice, friendly Pennsylvanian. I find that most people are friendly or at least nominally polite given the chance.

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

I think it's totally silly to paint a whole region/state/town one way. You could visit an area and meet two people that are having a bad day and you end up thinking that that area is unfriendly. Give me a break. I live in a small town and I think we're pretty darn friendly. My parents live in South Jersey and they are the most helpful nicest people you could meet so I disagree with the whole state of NJ being rude. I was in Philadelphia this past weekend and the 10 people I encountered were all perfectly friendly and helpful, therefore I declare Philadelphia a friendly city. Be friendly and (for the most part) people will be friendly to you.

[Gerania]

"what are you"? I understand that. Sometimes it was, "Who are you?" when I would run to the grocery, bakery, butcher for my Mom when I was a kid. These merchants wanted to know which family I belonged to and my ethnicity, all before they would do business with me. It was common practice; they were all immigrants. Jewish, Russian, Italian, Irish, well-to-do family, a bunch of bums. This 'introduction' determined the mood of the transaction and possibly the price of the goods!

Originally Posted by BackToTheCityMouse

When I moved to rural central Pennsylvania in 1989 I still had my Slavic maiden name. When I had to conduct any kind of business, locals would look at my name and ask "what are you"? I don't think PA's reputation for being stick-in-the-mud is due to the overwhelming presence of ethnics from Eastern Europe

To use my own family as an example, my father's father came to the USA at age 14 as a political refugee. He had 4 kids as an adult: 2 decided to become farmers, 1 (my Dad) became a tool and die maker, and 1 went to med school. All the children in my generation went to college and none of us followed the professions of our parents.

The problem with resentment and stubborness here IMO has much to more to do with the class conscious system of white collar vs. blue collar, which does not seem to be based on intelligence, ability, or net worth -- but simply 'what your daddy done for a living'. When I was growing up, it was just understood that I was going to college no matter where my father worked. If someone didn't like to study, and was mechanically inclined, for example, there was employment in a skilled trade. And so on. That is not how things are in small towns here. Even if you have an IQ of 150, you are not going on to higher ed (even trade school) if your mother works processing chickens, and your dad works for a paving contractor. No way, no how -- unless you excel in sports, which isn't all that common for geeks and nerds. It isn't hard to understand why people are sullen and resentful if they have always been denied a chance at the 'American Dream'.

[sunshineann]

Hate is a very strong word. Concerning Pa...i was born and raised there, lived there until i was 32. Went to one of the biggest schools in Pa. I still have family there. But for me...i wouldnt go back. Even when i get to visit people see that im an "out of towner" and you do get treated differently...and im from there. But its okay because every state is different, and every where we go your going to find people that are rude, mean, nice, polite ect. You just have to love where you live and if you dont..you keep moving until you do.

[ki0eh]

Pennsylvania is quite a mosaic of different types of neighborhoods and communities - more so than I think many folks realize. The diversity of living options within a few miles seems to be greater in PA than in other areas - and I'm speaking of many "rural" areas as well as suburban and urban. It seems in places like NJ there are "good towns" and "bad towns" lineable by zip code. PA places seem to vary a good bit even on a sub-zip code basis.

With such a tremendous diversity in PA, I have trouble seeing how someone could validly "hate PA" in its entirety. Unless all you want is beaches and cactus, and there's even some of both of those in PA if you know where to look.

[IHATEPA!!!]

Originally Posted by sunshineann

Hate is a very strong word. Concerning Pa...i was born and raised there, lived there until i was 32. Went to one of the biggest schools in Pa. I still have family there. But for me...i wouldnt go back. Even when i get to visit people see that im an "out of towner" and you do get treated differently...and im from there. But its okay because every state is different, and every where we go your going to find people that are rude, mean, nice, polite ect. You just have to love where you live and if you dont..you keep moving until you do.

Look, I realize that you'll have all kinds of people, good AND bad, no matter where you go. But, PA just seems to be a state where the people overall just have a stern, and at times mean and angry mentality. These people seem to be what I like to term as "terminally angry".

Also, I like to think that plenty of people that proclaim to love PA deep down dislike it as well. They just go along with those who really do like it here because they are "stuck" here for whatever reason. I also think a reluctance to leave family, old friends, and everything they know behind come in to play here. But, that's what you get when nearly your entire family has lived here all their lives for generations and isolated themselves in one little place. There IS life beyond the borders of PA, but it sems that lots of native Pennsylvanians don't seem to know that.

[Shizzles]

I think it's bad to try and stereotype an entire state. There's too many variables that go into who someone is and there are too many subgroups in PA to generalize all 12 million residents.

However, having said that, having spent the full latter 50% of my life here, I can defintely say there is some truth to the negitive stereotypes of PA people. Here in Bucks Co, there is definetly alot of snobbyness and pretentiousness regarding class and wealth. Once in working class sections, the overwhleming macho-tough guy-wanna be gangster attitude is prevelant. Both these groups for some reason tend to be found in abundance here in PA. And the high rate of seniors also lends itself to the overall culture being around 20-30 years behind in terms of ideology, tolerance, culture, etc. Things like intellectual curiosity, race relations, thoughtfullness, anger, etc all seem noticeably worse here than in most of the rest of the Northeast US. Now, alot of it is NY/NJians coming here with their own Upper-class suburban attitudes, but alot of it is homegrown as well.....

[Topcatoh]

I was born and raised in PA...... Lived there for 27 years......... I could not wait to leave. Their general attitude about everything is annoying....
Although I am not far and do visit my father every week end,
I HATE driving back there..... Reason....... PA drivers are the worst drivers I have experienced in ALL of my travels from Alaska to Florida. I have lived more than half my live now in Ohio and can not believe how utterly inconsiderate PA drivers are and how ignorant of driving laws they are..... and slow????????. I am ashamed to admit that I am originally from PA. so I lie

And for those who are about to flame me....... If you’re from PA....... I could care less........

[BackToTheCityMouse]

I'm not from PA, but I don't think Pennsylvania has the worst drivers I've ever seen. The worst I've ever seen were from VA and NC along !-95 in Virginia. Even though the traffic was rather light, almost all the drivers seemed to take up a lot of space: changing lanes at random, no signals, no relationship between their cruising speed and their wanting to be in the left lane. Seriously, WTF

The slowest drivers I've even seen were in West Virginia. Seriously, if I can speed by all the traffic on a 4 or 6 lane divided highway by driving exactly at the posted speed limit something isn't right. I wonder if too much syrup on your food slows down your brain?

I agree that Ohio drivers are pretty cool from what I remember. Driving around Cleveland (both the city and the suburbs) was a pleasure.

I don't understand the vehicle body language (best term I can think of) of PA drivers on 2-lane roads. To make a left turn, most never signal. They just cut the wheel and start driving right at you in your lane until they reach the driveway or whatever where they want to go. For right turns, again no signal but this time they just sit there by the corner or driveway until nothing is coming in the opposite direction...for a right turn I am guessing that even with power steering they feel they might need to get into the oncoming lane in order to swing the vehicle around the corner. Either that, or the Amish wannabes are afraid of startling the horse

[Topcatoh]

Did you ever hit the PA driving habits on the head.... they make me crazy with all of that junk. I think the VA drivers are just crazy.... I'v seen some pretty scarey things going down 95 to VB. That's why we are flying this year...

[ki0eh]

I honestly think that the Harrisburg PA area has about the best drivers of any area I've lived or traveled a good bit to. We don't have in great numbers the chronic speeders, honkers, red-light runners, or 20-mph-under-the-limit putzes.

Probably the worst drivers through here are the out-of-area truckers, but with this being a big logistics hub they're way outnumbered by the in-area truckers. Next would be the puke-taggers: those with the pale greenish yellow hue license plates of New Jersey. Most states have different color schemes for the "alternative" tags (you know, "kids first", "conquer cancer," "Purple Heart", etc.): not NJ, they're all that icky yellow. Wonder if that's from some kind of interstate compact to give fair warning to others.