Is Boston politically correct? Are people virtue signaling? (Cambridge, Brookline: limousine, buy)

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I think you live on the Oak Square side? You see, that certainly wouldn't have been the case there 30 years ago. Kind of proves my point.

Yep- I'm starting my 5th year in this house 9/1. The people in the other units in my house have changed every year since I've lived here, same with my two immediate neighbors. I don't really bother to keep up anymore. Though there are a few elderly and families in my immediate area. But there's a pretty big divide socially between the families and "young professionals."

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

lol

I'm sure there were always a few BC students living out that way, but that was still full of old Brighton families back then.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I'm sure there were always a few BC students living out that way, but that was still full of old Brighton families back then.

Either way, that doesn't really support your point for the metro area as a whole. One area becoming more transient perhaps, but there are probably others that are less. Real data is needed because observations are tainted by our biases. I'm not saying your wrong, but we just don't have the data. I suspect, actually, you're right that as the educational level of the region has increased that people are more transient. It's smart. I've live in what, 7 states myself. Most people I know have lived in at least 3-4. My mother, only in Boston. But that doesn't show anything, my father lived in 5 (army kid and army adult).

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Yes, but I think it was more true before than it is now. At least in Boston proper, I think it might have become so saturated now that there is really not much local culture left to even "blend in" to. It's like Disneyland. It's also a generational thing, the younger crowd is more apt to mimic the the extreme self-absorbed/heads buried in their iPhones airhead way of life than whatever local culture may still exist.

As someone who grew up in Boston, whose family has been in New England for at least 3 generations, and who is currently (well not right now) living in Boston as I finish college, I disagree with a lot of this.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Either way, that doesn't really support your point for the metro area as a whole. One area becoming more transient perhaps, but there are probably others that are less. Real data is needed because observations are tainted by our biases. I'm not saying your wrong, but we just don't have the data. I suspect, actually, you're right that as the educational level of the region has increased that people are more transient. It's smart. I've live in what, 7 states myself. Most people I know have lived in at least 3-4. My mother, only in Boston. But that doesn't show anything, my father lived in 5 (army kid and army adult).

I'll leave it at this. From the experience of MYSELF as well as most others IN THE CITY OF BOSTON I have for reference WITHIN THAT TIMEFRAME, concur the same thing. This is an open forum and anybody is welcome to dispute that. It does make sense however, that a town like Belmont might have seen more of that for longer than...Hyde Park...for instance.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

As someone who grew up in Boston, whose family has been in New England for at least 3 generations, and who is currently (well not right now) living in Boston as I finish college, I disagree with a lot of this.

Then maybe my "age" is getting the best of me. Growing up in the 80s/90s. and comparing now and then; perhaps somebody 30 years ago might have been complaining about how the "Boston" of the 1950s and 1960s had disappeared and that it was now awash in the homogenous pop culture of the time "darn MTV generation!".

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Yes, but I think it was more true before than it is now. At least in Boston proper, I think it might have become so saturated now that there is really not much local culture left to even "blend in" to. It's like Disneyland. It's also a generational thing, the younger crowd is more apt to mimic the the extreme self-absorbed/heads buried in their iPhones airhead way of life than whatever local culture may still exist.

Isn't that true of a lot of cities? And isn't local culture something that changes with time? Isn't getting upset at the new people being different a time-honored American tradition?

Having lived in a bunch of different places in the US, I can say, even in it's currently diluted form, Boston is culturally different than the rest of the country. Maybe not as much as it used to be, but it is quite different from places like Portland, Oregon even if both are on the left side of American politics.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Then maybe my "age" is getting the best of me. Growing up in the 80s/90s. and comparing now and then; perhaps somebody 30 years ago might have been complaining about how the "Boston" of the 1950s and 1960s had disappeared and that it was now awash in the homogenous pop culture of the time "darn MTV generation!".

Isn't that all off society?


I know music more than other aspects of pop culture, but in the 70s/80s there were DC sound, LA sound, SF, NY, Boston sounds... like little scenes where you could listen to a style, or an act within a style and been like that DC emo and not San Diego emo, or Chicago Am Rep noise rock vs New York noise, or Olympia/Seattle indie rock vs wherever... the SF psych scene was different from the Bosstone psych scene, but with MTV (to start) and the widespread sharing of culture (speeded by the internet), those little distinct pockets kind of faded. Same with regional cuisine differences, they've faded.


I guess I just don't see this as a Boston thing at all, but a lament on society in general, and what's the point of that?

[miu]

Most of the virtue signaling I see is on social media. Most don't have the guts to do it in person.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Isn't that true of a lot of cities? And isn't local culture something that changes with time? Isn't getting upset at the new people being different a time-honored American tradition?.

Yes yes and yes. But relax, nobody here is getting upset.

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Having lived in a bunch of different places in the US, I can say, even in it's currently diluted form, Boston is culturally different than the rest of the country. Maybe not as much as it used to be, but it is quite different from places like Portland, Oregon even if both are on the left side of American politics.

Yay, back to the topic!