The "Chad" stereotype? (Polo, Detroit: brokers, houses, top schools)

[EddieOlSkool]

I see the pretentious yuppies checking in!

[jonnynonos]

[quote=SkylarkPhotoBooth;50111766]I feel sorry for them. It's not typical behavior among most urban dwellers I know. It is common among people who live in the suburbs, or if they do live in the city they live in the most suburb-like places possible, culturally speaking (Lincoln Park, River North, etc.).[/QUOTE

Based on your own description, these are highly career-driven people.

If you've ever had a high-paying corporate job, they don't tend to leave time for much else. Not just the job itself, but there is usually out of work training, classes and travel involved. You are very lucky to even make it to the gym a few times a week.

Throw in a girlfriend and it's no wonder many of these people literally want to sit in a bar and watch football in the few hours a week they have off.

The entire system is designed to drain you completely.

Things like vintage French street photography tend to simply get lost in the shuffle.

Your life becomes your job.

Unfortunate but true.

[EddieOlSkool]

[quote=jonnynonos;50116278]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I feel sorry for them. It's not typical behavior among most urban dwellers I know. It is common among people who live in the suburbs, or if they do live in the city they live in the most suburb-like places possible, culturally speaking (Lincoln Park, River North, etc.).[/QUOTE

Based on your own description, these are highly career-driven people.

If you've ever had a high-paying corporate job, they don't tend to leave time for much else. Not just the job itself, but there is usually out of work training, classes and travel involved. You are very lucky to even make it to the gym a few times a week.

Throw in a girlfriend and it's no wonder many of these people literally want to sit in a bar and watch football in the few hours a week they have off.

The entire system is designed to drain you completely.

Things like vintage French street photography tend to simply get lost in the shuffle.

Your life becomes your job.

Unfortunate but true.

Same man. Big city hustles mean you don't have time to culture yourself nor do you care to. You're trying to move up in the world. Such is America. We're not Europe.

[hendersj31]

I'd have to say I agree with this. In my years I have met and known many successful folks. They simply don't give a crap about some of the things others feel are so important.

Additionally, the ones that truly understand how insignificant they are in the grand scheme of things care even less. They know they aren't Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk or Pablo Picasso. They are just some random successful salesman who makes a few hundred grand a year but truly knows outside of their friends and family their lives, just like most others really are not very meaningful.

[quote=jonnynonos;50116278]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I feel sorry for them. It's not typical behavior among most urban dwellers I know. It is common among people who live in the suburbs, or if they do live in the city they live in the most suburb-like places possible, culturally speaking (Lincoln Park, River North, etc.).[/QUOTE

Based on your own description, these are highly career-driven people.

If you've ever had a high-paying corporate job, they don't tend to leave time for much else. Not just the job itself, but there is usually out of work training, classes and travel involved. You are very lucky to even make it to the gym a few times a week.

Throw in a girlfriend and it's no wonder many of these people literally want to sit in a bar and watch football in the few hours a week they have off.

The entire system is designed to drain you completely.

Things like vintage French street photography tend to simply get lost in the shuffle.

Your life becomes your job.

Unfortunate but true.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by EddieOlSkool

This seems like typical behavior to me. Most people I know and have known wouldn't want to do any of that. Hell forget Big 10 universities, I would wager most native Chicagoans would be in the same boat as the Big 10 crowd you listed.

Probably even most Americans, from what I've observed.

[thefallensrvnge]

[quote=jonnynonos;50116278]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I feel sorry for them. It's not typical behavior among most urban dwellers I know. It is common among people who live in the suburbs, or if they do live in the city they live in the most suburb-like places possible, culturally speaking (Lincoln Park, River North, etc.).[/QUOTE

Based on your own description, these are highly career-driven people.

If you've ever had a high-paying corporate job, they don't tend to leave time for much else. Not just the job itself, but there is usually out of work training, classes and travel involved. You are very lucky to even make it to the gym a few times a week.

Throw in a girlfriend and it's no wonder many of these people literally want to sit in a bar and watch football in the few hours a week they have off.

The entire system is designed to drain you completely.

Things like vintage French street photography tend to simply get lost in the shuffle.

Your life becomes your job.

Unfortunate but true.

When I think of "Chads" I don't really necessarily think of "highly career-driven people." Stereotypically, I think of more moderately career-driven, works finance or marketing to save up enough money for the bars on the weekends and after work. Left over money is spent on clothes and chicks. They pass time on the El by engaging in office gossip while on the way back to their North Side pad.

Their lack of intellectual curiosity is not due to a lack of time, it generally just doesn't interest them. I equate to the suburban mentality because that's generally what a suburbanite wants...not really looking for fast-paced excitement or culture. They're just looking for the easy life. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just don't turn the whole city into the suburbs please.

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I feel sorry for them. It's not typical behavior among most urban dwellers I know. It is common among people who live in the suburbs, or if they do live in the city they live in the most suburb-like places possible, culturally speaking (Lincoln Park, River North, etc.).

I'm glad it's not typical for urban dwellers. Unfortunately, many of my suburban friends/family are like this. I'm over 40 so have had my share of trendy restaurants, binge drinking, shopping, tailgating and going to the game... It's been the same thing for decades with them. My friends are the original Chads/Trixies... I raise my kids in the suburbs, but I also have a place in the city I escape to. My soul craves the cultural and intellectual stimulation the city provides. I go to many cultural events/shows by myself, since most of my friends aren't interested. I definitely think I need to meet more like-minded people.

[SkylarkPhotoBooth]

Originally Posted by thefallensrvnge

When I think of "Chads" I don't really necessarily think of "highly career-driven people." Stereotypically, I think of more moderately career-driven, works finance or marketing to save up enough money for the bars on the weekends and after work. Left over money is spent on clothes and chicks. They pass time on the El by engaging in office gossip while on the way back to their North Side pad.

Their lack of intellectual curiosity is not due to a lack of time, it generally just doesn't interest them. I equate to the suburban mentality because that's generally what a suburbanite wants...not really looking for fast-paced excitement or culture. They're just looking for the easy life. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just don't turn the whole city into the suburbs please.

Yes, this how I view them, too. They're not the "highly successful, career-driven" type-- they're more like the middle management or sales type with intelligence that is average or slightly above (enough to get a bachelor's degree at a random state school as long as their frat had a good test bank), and just never had much intellectual curiosity to begin with.

Actual highly successful people are often quite passionate patrons of the arts, in my experience. They're likely to have season passes to the Lyric or the AIC or Ravinia, to go check out new exhibits at museums, maybe even have an artistic pursuit as a hobby (and certainly encourage it in their children), etc.

Obviously we are all speaking in broad generalizations here, and there are always exceptions, but the Chad/Trixie thing is a stereotype, after all.

[brodie734]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

I think people continue to kind of fall into groups to a degree...there are obviously people who are lining up right now to watch the Bears and drink beer all day and those who are heading to an art opening.

I just think the lines have blurred to the point where it's hard to say one group of people is "like this."

It's just society in general. 30 years ago people who drank Heineken were considered horribly pretentious yuppie snobs. Seriously. Your average American had little interest in interesting restaurants; Kyoto and Chi-Chis were, literally, cool ethnic cuisine.

There's been an explosion of information over the last 30, 40 years. Tastes have evolvec tremendously.

I'm guessing this is true, I'm also just going to come right out and say that Big Ten schools have become far more selective over the past 30 years, both in terms of grades and in terms of money. It's really no longer the case that schools like Michigan or Illinois or Wisconsin are easily accessible for the best and brightest students in those states regardless of income, these institutions chase big money out of state students which drives up test scores, etc. You can't get into Michigan, my alma mater, without a 32 on the ACT, 45% of the students are from out of state. It isn't a place most suburban Detroit students feel they can aspire to, which in turn changes the culture of the place further

This has almost certainly led to serious cultural changes... the type of kid who went to a B1G school from a blue collar household and emerged as a kind of middle class person with working class tastes probably don't exist in as great of numbers, meaning that the tastes of recent grads of those particular schools are generally more "cultured" than they were in the 1980s.

[jonnynonos]

[quote=thefallensrvnge;50119020]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

When I think of "Chads" I don't really necessarily think of "highly career-driven people." Stereotypically, I think of more moderately career-driven, works finance or marketing to save up enough money for the bars on the weekends and after work. Left over money is spent on clothes and chicks. They pass time on the El by engaging in office gossip while on the way back to their North Side pad.

Their lack of intellectual curiosity is not due to a lack of time, it generally just doesn't interest them. I equate to the suburban mentality because that's generally what a suburbanite wants...not really looking for fast-paced excitement or culture. They're just looking for the easy life. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just don't turn the whole city into the suburbs please.

The fact that you think you could skate through a career in financial services tells me all I need to know.

Anyway, the responses here confirm my initial observation about those who indulge in the "Chads" and "Trixies" stereotype:

Ironic moustaches with fixie: smart and worldly

Polo shirt with shorts: dumb, unthinking robot

Whatever helps you sleep at night. We all have defense mechanisms to deal with threats, jealousy etc.

It certainly hasn't been my experience.