Do people like to bash Transplants because they can't bash Minorities and People of Color?

[RageX]

Race and Culture is something people are born into, so I can't effectively criticize it most of the time.

Transplanting is a choice. So, I actually criticize transplants with far greater prejudice than culture and, I never criticize race.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by Upstate67

I think transplants get bashed because a lot of them refuse to ever shut up about how much "better" everything was where they came from. Ok, and you left this utopia and came here be-cauuuse...?

Because one's employer directed one to relocate. Because a fresh PhD graduate found a professorship in a college on the opposite end of the country. Because the exploitation of some recourse or investment-opportunity led one to the tundra of Siberia (or Ohio). Because a romantic relationship led one to follow one's partner. Because an educational or military opportunity led one to see new vistas, grow fond of them, and then reluctantly have one move back. Because one retired to a new locale, with lower cost of living, and now is unable to move back. Because humans are restless creatures, driven to complaint and justification of why it's better to whinge and moan, than to seek an improvement.

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

But on an interpersonal level, how's anyone going to know if someone's local-born or from out-of-state? Even when they do know, it's not an issue at all.

Differences in cadence, accent, elocution. Word-choice, and preference for one or another form of expression. Having lived for some time in California, I grew used to the expression "surface streets", as being the opposite to highways. In the Midwest, this was picked up instantly as a California-ism.

Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla

The issue I have with transplants (and I am really not trying to bash) is that I live in an area with a high number of transient people moving in and out, all the time. They are not invested in the community since they aren't putting down roots here. They tend to use and get what they want, then move away.

By one way of thinking, "investing in the community" is incumbent upon all residents, and those who fail to do so, have failed in their civic duty. But speaking personally, the contrary way of thinking appeals more to me... "community" is an artificial construct, serendipitous and vague. As Kurt Vonnegut would have called it, it's a "granfaloon" - a false sense of mutual comity and association, that in reality isn't there. By this I mean, that mere geographic proximity - the sharing of a zip-code - carries no intrinsic bond. I may have a closer bond to persons hundreds of miles away, or perhaps on other continents, than with anyone on my street. When I think about my property-taxes going to fund the education of local children, I grow uncomfortable. When I think of my taxes going to fund schools in Pasadena or Brooklyn (to name two places not entirely at random), I get a feeling of composure and civic-mindedness.

The transplant/native divide, is less about suburban sprawl or the raising of taxes or having to encounter funny accents in the grocery-store line, than a question about the appropriate size of a community. If we think of a "community" as the entire planet, then whether we're in Bangalore or in Baltimore, it doesn't matter much... they're all our neighbors. In the opposing view, having multi-generational "roots" in a particular locale is what defines us as a people, as a tribe. Newcomers - transplants - are from a different tribe.

[ragnarkar]

As an immigrant, I've been the target of racism countless times earlier in my life. Things have gotten A LOT better in recent years, both in urban and rural America though it's more subtle these days. However, these days, I've found that people will usually leave me alone (along with other people of color) but transplants often don't receive the same level of respect. Still, it feels that racism and bashing transplants share in their xenophobic roots.

Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla

When I meet someone new and they tell me they've lived lots of different places, that's a red flag.

I went to college out of state then went to two different grad schools in different cities so I've become accustomed to moving. Instead of telling people I move a lot, I'll tell them that I've lived on 3 different continents which often sparks more interest rather than giving the first impression that you're flaky (which is what they might feel if I start listing the states I've lived in rather than the continents.)

Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla

Also, if someone who is a transplant complains they are being treated poorly in the community, ask them when is the last time they did any volunteer work in their community? About 9 times out of 10, the answer is "uh, never". They think the community should be catering to them instead.


Just as an example, my spouse became friends with a transient couple a few years back. It was a red flag that they had already lived in seven or eight states in five years. (If anyone questioned them about this more carefully, they'd back off, pretty sure they had something to hide). The couple always asking my husband for favors, they were moving around in the area a lot, they needed help moving, needed help with rides to the airport, all the time. My husband did just about everything for them. I finally told him, enough is enough. The church gave them $2,000 because they felt sorry for them, the man had lost his job. They were organizing a going-away party for them. All these people did was take, take, take.

I usually keep my life simple so that I don't need outside help on a regular basis. If I need to move, I hire movers. If I need work done on my home, I'll call the apartment management (or hire contractors if I own the home.) If I need to get around, I'll just call for Uber.