A few questions for Chicagoans (Georgetown, Brooklyn: appointed, neighborhoods, buying) - Illinois (IL) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

aragx6 · 07-31-2008, 08:14 AM

The one thing I found very inaccurate about your post is that you said it's impossible to go from east to west on the North side without a car.

I suppose if one limits oneself to the el then yes, it's difficult to do, but there are buses out the wa-zoo in this city.

Last weekend I was going from Wicker Park northeast to Lakeview.

I hopped on the North Avenue bus (one comes every like 5 minutes!) and headed east to the Red line stop at Clybourn. Hopped on the red line (which comes like every 5 minutes most of the day) and headed north. Got off at my stop, walked a block and I was there!

For $2 and about a 20 minute ride, it was great. If I had driven, it would have taken me nearly as long and I would have had to find a parking spot and I would have had to drive home instead of partying to my heart's content.

UnderTheLiveOaks · 07-31-2008, 08:26 AM

To quote one of the greatest(?) one-hit wonders of the '90s, "If you're bored, then you're boring."

I'll throw my cow-turd-covered straw hat into the ring as well, as I found it hard to get passed the condescension of your post, Ramo. I've gotta say... if that's the attitude with which you approached life in Chicago, I've little doubt that you were met with blank stares from uninteresting people. All the interesting people had you pegged as an elitist as soon as you started mouthing off. Smarmy self-satisfaction doesn't tend to fly in Chicago...

Signed,

Yet another cheesed-off yokel.

DC's Finest · 07-31-2008, 08:33 AM

Why do Chicagoans get upset when someone says something unflaterring about their city? I have been to Chicago many times and I think its a great place but I don't feel the same way that many of you might feel about your city. Does that make my opinion fradulent? This person has lived in the city for 7 years and coming from the east coast, they are offering the OP some insight.

UnderTheLiveOaks · 07-31-2008, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

Why do Chicagoans get upset when someone says something unflaterring about their city? I have been to Chicago many times and I think its a great place but I don't feel the same way that many of you might feel about your city. Does that make my opinion fradulent? This person has lived in the city for 7 years and coming from the east coast, they are offering the OP some insight.

To quote another great musician, "'T'ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it."

DC's Finest · 07-31-2008, 08:38 AM

True, but I see this type of response on every other post, where someone says something unflattering about Chicago. [mod cut] It gives a perception that there is an inferiority complex. At first, I thought it was BS, but now I don't know. Jesus.

j33 · 07-31-2008, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

Why do Chicagoans get upset when someone says something unflaterring about their city? I have been to Chicago many times and I think its a great place but I don't feel the same way that many of you might feel about your city. Does that make my opinion fradulent? This person has lived in the city for 7 years and coming from the east coast, they are offering the OP some insight.

Like I said, there are plenty of unflattering things one could right about chicago that are true, and most posters are not faulting that. It is very simple, the poster in question dismissed the entire city's population as a bunch of dull, boring, hicks in a 'flyover state', THAT is what is being taken issue with. I'm sure that as a DC resident, you are well aware of the faults of the city, but if I swung by the DC board and dismissed the entire DC population in the most unflattering terms I could think of, you'd probably find it a bit obnoxious too (even if there were truth to my other observations).

It isn't if the poster came through and said, "Chicago is cold, flat, spread out, and there aren't many interesting cities around to visit' (all of which is quite true in my opinion, and quite frankly part of what I don't like about the place) and people jumped down his throat, if that were the case, I'd actually be defending this yokel's observations, however, that isn't what he said at all. If you can't see the difference, I pity your reading comprehension skills.

Ramo Nash · 07-31-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j33

Ramo - I don't think that 'not liking Chicago' is the problem. There are loads of people who don't like chicago, and for many good reasons. What I do think is the problem is how willing you are to dismiss the entire population as dull, uninteresting, hicks. Quite frankly, that is where you lost me and I quit actually taking your post as a serious post by someone who moved here and found it didn't quite fit what they were looking for and started to read it through much less forgiving eyes. Oh, and you'll never make any friends, or get people to take you seriously if you start talking about 'flyover states', period, end of story.

I never said "everyone" is chicago is a hick, just I find the people less interesting overall. Seems like people are exemplifying that "second city" defensiveness and creating a straw man. True that the threadstarter might find my post 100% useless, but it would have helped me immensely and that's why I wrote it the way I did. The point is it's not that I "found [chicago] didn't quite fit." I dislike it and I know other NE transplants who feel the same way, so I see no big issue expressing my opinion.

I have plenty of friends, so I don't really know what that last comment was about.

UnderTheLiveOaks · 07-31-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

True, but I see this type of response on every other post, where someone says something unflattering about Chicago. Steve O is the worst. It gives a perception that there is an inferiority complex. At first, I thought it was BS, but now I don't know. Jesus.

That may be the case on other threads, but it seems like the reason we are a little bent out of shape, "here and now" (another song reference. I'm so uninteresting that I can't even form a sentence that doesn't reference pop music...), is that we're directly reacting to a tone that we consider an affront.

I, like j33, have plenty of gripes about the city. There are ways to say them, however, that doesn't paint 3 million people with a broad brush.

DC's Finest · 07-31-2008, 08:46 AM

Hey J,

Got to the DC board and see all of the unflaterring things said about the city. So what! Chicago is a great place. You know it and I know it. There are some people that will never like Chicago for whatever reason. That's there hang up. This thread was hi jacked after everyone started to attack Ramo. It's obvious that this person does not like Chicago. I'll give you another example of what I mean. I can make a statement that Florida's beaches are better than Chicago's beaches. It's my opinion. Twenty people will come out to attack me. For what?

UnderTheLiveOaks · 07-31-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

Hey J,

Got to the DC board and see all of the unflaterring things said about the city. So what! Chicago is a great place. You know it and I know it. There are some people that will never like Chicago for whatever reason. That's there hang up. This thread was hi jacked after everyone started to attack Ramo. It's obvious that this person does not like Chicago. I'll give you another example of what I mean. I can make a statement that Florida's beaches are better than Chicago's beaches. It's my opinion. Twenty people will come out to attack me. For what?

Name the twenty, pally-o. Steve-O might come after you, but he's our pit bull and we have a soft spot for the ol' homer. Florida's beaches ARE better than Chicago's! There! I said it!