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Like many of you, I love the banter and ebb-n-flow of City Data. However, certain cities seemingly get a bad rap based on stereotypes, media, previous history, and unfortunate past events. Is there one particular city that gets an unfair bias? These are the cities that I have identified as the ones that appear on CD to have the most negative (undeserved stigma) attached to their profile. Below are the areas that appear to have the most scrutiny and love/hate relationship.
Baltimore (media portrayal)
Boston (70s busing & provincial mentality)
DC (90s crime)
LA (gangs & sprawl)
Philadelphia (media portrayal)
San Francisco (cost & liberal politics)
Seattle (weather)
Sunbelt cities (conservative politics & sprawl)
Hang around online and check out some of the Forbes lists the kinds of things people say about Detroit and it's people is absurd. Americans act like those that live there are savage animals rolling around in mutant like toxic waste and outcasts when in reality those people that live there are still people, equal to all others, and should be respected as such at the end of the day. Detroit by FAR and nothing will ever come 100 miles close to a reputation as unfair as that, no other city has leaders across the United States comparing it to Hiroshima and people all over saying drop the atom. It's brutal. Detroit, Oregon wanted to change it's name so it wouldn't get confused with Detroit, Michigan.
Everyone else in comparison is just (bleep)ing about some uncanny criticisms for no reason.
Salt Lake City. There are so many wonderful qualities about SLC but everything seems to be overshadowed by people's fear of the dreaded Mormons.
Funny you said Salt Lake City. I was there on Monday and Tuesday and its not at all a bad place. It's the second time I've passed through in the past 4 months. Its a mix between Denver and maybe Portland. I could be off a bit but you see where I'm going with this.
Hang around online and check out some of the Forbes lists the kinds of things people say about Detroit and it's people is absurd. Americans act like those that live there are savage animals rolling around in mutant like toxic waste and outcasts when in reality those people that live there are still people, equal to all others, and should be respected as such at the end of the day. Detroit by FAR and nothing will ever come 100 miles close to a reputation as unfair as that, no other city has leaders across the United States comparing it to Hiroshima and people all over saying drop the atom. It's brutal. Detroit, Oregon wanted to change it's name so it wouldn't get confused with Detroit, Michigan.
WOW! I've been to Detroit, but it's always been on business and I stayed downtown. I should have listed it in the poll. I didn't know people were still down on it after the automobile industry started to make a comeback.
I posted this link in another thread. Perhaps the bias for many of these places we discuss is a perception that the violence is widespread versus concentrated.
Definitely Detroit. It really isn't a bad city. It has bad areas, but so does every major city.
Atlanta and Los Angeles are known for their sprawl. Even Phoenix to a point.
Southern cities such as Jackson, Birmingham and Montgomery are associated with racism.. to a point. The negative stereotype isn't as bad as it used to be. Especially in Alabama. At least as far as I have noticed.
San Francisco carries heavy stereotypes of being overpopulated with gay people. SF also carries the inaccurate stereotype of being some pristine crime free city when it ranks as dead average in terms of crime when it comes to big cities. It is almost impossible to convince some people that SF has bad areas on par with the worst of Baltimore or Oakland in terms of crime. Most people make the dumb assumption that a higher or lower averaged crime/safety rating for an entire city means the entire city is "good" or "bad", which is oversimplified and downright idiotic. A ghetto area in a cosmopolitan city, like SF, is no different from a ghetto area in a ghetto satellite city, like Oakland. Ghetto cities like Oakland, Detroit and Baltimore just have more bad areas than good areas which accounts for a higher than average crime rate for the entire city. The SF-based California media does not publicize SF's dangerous high crime areas like Hunter's Point. SF's economy is based on tourism and publicizing high crime ghetto areas of the city would mean losing a ton of money. Also, SF puts on the facade that it is some universally tolerant utopia when Blacks living in San Francisco, as a whole, live in abject poverty residing in some of America's worst housing complexes that exist within the city limits.
WOW! I've been to Detroit, but it's always been on business and I stayed downtown. I should have listed it in the poll. I didn't know people were still down on it after the automobile industry started to make a comeback.
People have been harping on Detroit since the 80s. The interesting part is the most vocal bashers are natives who moved away to Sunbelt cities. Maybe the cold harsh winters really got to them and now the sunlight is allowing them to vent their unexpressed feelings.
Oh, and for the most part, the success of the Big 3 really don't reflect in city limits any more. There's only two car plants and GM's HQ within the city limits. Most other factories and facilities as well as Ford and Chrysler's HQ's are located in suburban cities. The companies do occasionally make other small types of investments in the city, but overall their influence is not as big as you'd think.
Last edited by animatedmartian; 02-16-2013 at 02:38 AM..
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