Is Evergreen liberal like Boulder? (Berkley: credit, college, living)

[Katarina Witt]

This has turned into an interesting exchange. My take on Ward Churchill is that he called attention to himself with his 9/11 rant (which it was his right to say, of course). So then people started investigating this rather obscure professor and found out he probably committed academic fraud. I think the Regents handled it fairly well.

I was more upset about the sex scandal. My nephew was going to CU at the time and my brother (his father) wrote me from Pennsylvania "what does one have to DO to get fired as head football coach? As a parent, I am unhappy with this whole affair." (I am paraphrasing, of course, this was several years ago.) Now it's starting all over again.

In general, I do think CU is fairly conservative from an educational standpoint, that is, of accepting very typical beliefs. I agree that most "liberals" in Boulder are self-righteous, and I would add, often intolerant. There is a joke that diversity in Boulder means people of color who all think alike. There isn't a lot of room for diversity of ideas.

[Market Mama]

Originally Posted by hello-world

my personal perspective is that even (maybe even especially) outside of the university, young-ish and beautiful tends to be common. lots of rockclimbing/cycling tanned and wealthy/au-natural people - wholefoods shoppers - in the area. it also seems safe to say that black and hispanic (or anyone else "of color", for that matter) tends to be very much the exception, not the rule, in boulder, no? as for openness to different opinions, for a place it's size, stature, and tendency to tout itself as some sort of "liberal" bastion, doesn't it seem to you that boulder can seem especially 1D seeming?

"tout itself as some sort of 'liberal' bastion"? Not the Boulder I live and work in. It's got all sorts of people, some of us are even <gasp> not young-ish or beautiful, but we're still having a good time and don't feel unwelcome or in any sort of a minority. Speaking of minorities "of color", they're also in my Boulder.

I mentioned earlier that different people tend to see, experience and interpret the world around them differently. Boulder seems to exaggerate this tendency, and so is very different things to different people. I like it here and most of the people I live near and work with seem to be ordinary Americans just trying to get by. I feel welcome and comfortable here even though I'm past my prime and am certainly not wealthy.

[onthamove]

politics in this country dissapoint me, i wudnt wanna live in COsprings or Boulder i hate it when people try to categrizt themself as diehard liberal or diehard conservative, and the saddest thing about the upcoming election in 08 is that every canidate runnin rep or dem is going to plan their campaign on trying to claim they are gonna be better than poor GWBush. I feel bad for him he is only human too people need to vote more than based on party

[onthamove]

that said i did hear about the boulder highschool travesty that was something else if someone shud be getting fired its those old geesers coming in and giving TERRIBLE advice and tellin kids they should be promiscus and should break the law doing drugs...that is unforgiveable rep or dem

[Market Mama]

I did an analysis from City-Data data (no pun intended) upthread and found that the largest percentagae of Boulderites were born in Colorado, followed by those from the midwest.

I grabbed this tidbit from the Best/Worst thread, because it supports my personal perception (your mileage may vary) that Boulder is not all that liberal, nor is it all that different from America as a whole.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Boulder. Some people seem to gleefully jump on any and all perceived differences without bothering to check in with reality before riding off with a sneer and a self-righteous sense of disdain. Others grab onto one headline or opinion expressed by someone they never met as "fact"; and if that "fact" feeds their needs or speaks to their issues, they swallow it whole and regurgitate it back as "truth".

Maybe it's a prejudice driven, like most prejudices, by a need to feel superior to "something", and the less one knows about that "something" the easier it is to put it down, which then leaves the person with the prejudice feeling superior by comparison.

Or maybe it's driven by the understandable need to simplify a complex, often bewildering world, by labeling and then shoving complicated contradictory situations into tiny boxes so you don't have to deal with the messy reality. But my "truth" is that every town seems to have its share of messy realities. Boulder has a higher proflie so is easier to label based on an isolated incident, comment or headline.

I'm glad this thread is here, it will keep those who can't get past labels and prejudices from moving here. For the rest of you, come on in, Boulder is a fine place with some pretty average problems and a lot of cool things to offer both conservatives and liberals ... as well as the rest of us who are just trying to enjoy life instead of letting labels define us.

[sunsprit]

This has been good for a Sunday morning laugh, MMama ...

You decry those who would toss out "labels", but in our exchange and several of those you've had with others here ... you're the person who tosses out "labels". I never labeled anybody, I described their ACTUAL BEHAVIOR as personally witnessed in my experiences in years of living in Boulder, and in following years of close contact with friends and business associates. Your denial of the politics of Boulder re the city council and zoning/planning department does nothing except to further illustrate your ignorance of the realities about you.

You then further label my actual real life experiences as related here as "rants", and assert that I'm nothing but negative energy as opposed to the (tah-dah) magnificent example of humanity and goodness and kindness and openess and postive energy that you believe you are.

You even repeatedly assert that I'm living in a different universe than you, effectively labeling me a liar about what I've seen in the town.

You're simply nothing but a shining example of what liberal Boulder is all about. Your passive/aggressive non-acceptance of others when you go into denial about what is really happening about you and or your ignorance about the community you live in ... either others see what you see or we're not as good as you (even though you'll assert otherwise, but then attack us).

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

This has been good for a Sunday morning laugh, MMama ...

you decry those who would toss out "labels", but in our exchange and several of those you've had with others here ... you're the person who tosses out "labels". I never labeled anybody, I described their ACTUAL BEHAVIOR as personally witnessed in my experiences in years of living in Boulder, and in following years of close contact with friends and business associates. Your denial of the politics of Boulder re the city council and zoning/planning department does nothing except to further illustrate your ignorance of the realities about you.

You then further label my actual real life experiences as related here as "rants", and assert that I'm nothing but negative energy as opposed to the (tah-dah) magnificent example of humanity and goodness and kindness and openess and postive energy that you believe you are.

You even repeatedly assert that I'm living in a different universe than you, effectively labeling me a liar about what I've seen in the town.

You're simply nothing but a shining example of what liberal Boulder is all about. Your passive/aggressive non-acceptance of others when you go into denial about what is really happening about you and or your ignorance about the community you live in ... either others see what you see or we're not as good as you (even though you'll assert otherwise, but then attack us). The only people who appear here to measure up for you are the ones who parrot the same line as you do.

I have been following this exchange. This is well said. Market Mama has put herself out as the "expert" on Boulder. She comes galloping in to save the day and attacks everyone who has a different opinion from her "high horsed opinion". We all have good, bad and indifferent opinions about Boulder and we all contribute something to the discussion, even Market Mama has some very interesting ideas--but they are not the only ideas. And yet I agree with many of her views because it shows she is an intelligent older woman with practical experience. But run afoul of Mama's ideas and you will be subject to name calling, exaggerations, and nasty sarcasm. I am only asking for her to show some understanding of other peoples opinions.

[Anchorless]

This thread is pretty hilarious.

Keep reading your Horowitz, Sun.

[sunsprit]

And who might "Horowitz" be?, anchorless?

Please enlighten us.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Anchorless

This thread is pretty hilarious.

Keep reading your Horowitz, Sun.

Your glib statement means what??? Since, I know which Horowitz you are using to "label" someone in your post. I would like to know how this applies to this thread. Please educate us.