Which is the Most SWPL City: DC or San Francisco?

[boreatwork]

To me when Im in DC on the weekend at night it seems everybody is doing the same thing which is to "get it in" one shape or form of another.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

However, San Francisco takes it to a whole other level. It epitomizes liberalism. DC could never compete with that.

I don't think liberalism per se defines "SWPLism," though it is undoubtedly a big part of it.

It's really about near lock-step conformity to a certain lifestyle that serves as a status signal to others, the outward manifestations of which are triple-figure shopping forays at Whole Foods, over-priced microbrews, and expensive Patagonia windbreakers that don't do nearly as good a job of keeping you warm as a much cheaper jacket from Burlington Coat Factory.

I think this quote gets right to the core of SWPLism:

They feel guilty and sad that poor people shop at Wal*Mart instead of Whole Foods, that they vote Republican instead of Democratic, that they go to Community College/get a job instead of studying art at a University.

It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them.