More known to look down on/be dismissive of the rest of the country, east coast or west coast? (rates, largest)
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I chose East Coast, but it's really just the NE. I've lived in the NE, SE, and California, and many people in the NE feel superior to other parts of the country in ways that I haven't experienced nearly as much out here.
As an example, many in the NE express open disdain for the South like they think that it's 30 years behind in culture and 20 points behind in IQ. I think that they also, especially NYers, think that they're superior to Californians. It's more of a rivalry, especially with LA, but not one that's really reciprocated.
In California, the place that people love to criticize (and move to), is Texas. I think that's mostly politics though and is probably reciprocated.
For the rest, they're all just some sort of political rivalry, sports rivalry, or stop moving to our city rivalry.
People who aren't urbanity nerds aren't gonna develop a nuanced perspective on places if they haven't spent time there. And most people just don't travel much. My Uber driver to the airport a couple weeks ago had lived in the Seattle area his whole life and only been to Portland once for a bachelor party. Another acquaintance I have, lived in the WA suburbs of Portland her whole life, didn't know what parts of the state Tacoma and Spokane were in (like, that Tacoma was close to Seattle). I can't think of any native West Coaster I know who has, of their own volition, traveled anywhere in the Midwest besides Chicago.
So I think not knowing or caring much about other places is pretty much the norm, and not specific to big cities although maybe it's more pronounced there. I guess cities with more of an outdoorsy culture, or with older residents (--> more time to have traveled) might be slightly better?
I can't understand how anyone thinks actual information can be gleaned from posts like this. As if anyone has spent enough time and research effort to have a valid opinion. It's just a bunch of one-off anecdotes.
An entire "coast" LOL.
This.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars
People who aren't urbanity nerds aren't gonna develop a nuanced perspective on places if they haven't spent time there. And most people just don't travel much. My Uber driver to the airport a couple weeks ago had lived in the Seattle area his whole life and only been to Portland once for a bachelor party. Another acquaintance I have, lived in the WA suburbs of Portland her whole life, didn't know what parts of the state Tacoma and Spokane were in (like, that Tacoma was close to Seattle). I can't think of any native West Coaster I know who has, of their own volition, traveled anywhere in the Midwest besides Chicago.
So I think not knowing or caring much about other places is pretty much the norm, and not specific to big cities although maybe it's more pronounced there. I guess cities with more of an outdoorsy culture, or with older residents (--> more time to have traveled) might be slightly better?
I can't understand how anyone thinks actual information can be gleaned from posts like this. As if anyone has spent enough time and research effort to have a valid opinion. It's just a bunch of one-off anecdotes.
An entire "coast" LOL.
You may be in the wrong place. City v City should never be confused with a scientific forum. It's just opinions and usually overly broad ones at that.
Urban West Coasters tend to be proud of being enlightened, doing things for the greater good, balancing work and play, etc. This is the self-image at least.
We're not aristocratic...wealth isn't something to flaunt, and nor is family lineage. If someone brings stuff like that up it's considered off-putting.
We don't necessarily "look down" on other places. But I certainly get questions when I tell people I'm flying to a middle-America city purely as a tourist. It's not disgust, just confusion.
We're proud of our region in a lot of ways. We've kicked ass on Covid, particularly Washington and Oregon, with a fraction of the national death rates. We tend to lead on environmental issues, along with the Northeast. We cut sprawl through legislation and pass big transit measures. We don't let religion control public policy. And we (the urban folks) think places that don't do these things are backwards (ok, maybe we look down a little). Of course many of us wish we'd be a little more like other places on some things, like homeless blocking sidewalks with tents.
From my experiences, having traveled all over the US, some folks from the West Coast have a dismissive type of an attitude towards others. I’ve seen it, in folks from the East Coast too, just not as often.
I would say almost equal overall. NY created this concept, transported it to the West Coast and now the West coast intellectual elites have run with it.
There are tens of millions of Americans living in states that border the Atlantic Ocean, but are often implicitly ignored when "East Coast" is meant to refer to the Washington DC/New York/Boston corridor only.
Lack of awareness of other regions certainly exists for many people in such places, but few have the outwardly "dismissive" attitude that tends to originate much more from California and the Northeast megalopolis. At least maybe these days, those of us in Georgia receive a little grudging respect from the "bi-coastal elites" for unexpectedly being one of the pivotal states that brought an end to the last administration.
The East Coast is the most dismissive. The Bos-Wash corridor, specifically, is the most dismissive section of the country by far.
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