Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Cuba isn't a particularly nice place.... It has its charm, but looks very much like an old, run-down Spain. In no way does Miami come close to having the same vibe or feel.
Can't compare. The city is falling down, but a 500 year old city built on REAL GROUND, with hills, BREEZE, no franchises, no strip malls, NO CRIME. Just like comparing a 70 year old Mercedes with a brand new Camaro.
Although parts of the West are transient like Florida, there is significantly less tolerance for anger, hostility, aggression, shadiness and deviance in much of the West. Thuggery, con artistry and "street smarts" are not embraced in the West in the same respect as in Florida. Las Vegas is, of course, the obvious exception.
Service quality is higher in every Western state I've been to compared to Florida, where wait times are long and service people are unfriendly, impolite and disinterested.
Drivers are significantly more courteous and sensible in much of the West relative to Florida. People in Florida drive much faster overall, tailgate, weave in and out of traffic, cut you off at the last possible second without using turn signals, brake when it's unnecessary to do so, flash their brights at you, etc. Florida is consistently ranked as the most dangerous state in America for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. These statistics are reflective in the astronomically high auto insurance rates.
Young adults, especially in the West Coast states plus Colorado and Utah, tend to be a lot better educated, more motivated and enterprising and less apathetic and complacent than those in Florida. Being middle-class in the West is a lot more precarious than in Florida and the rest of the South and it takes significantly more effort to maintain middle-class status out here, so people have to be well-educated and credentialed, have a strong work ethic, be flexible and dynamic, etc. in order to live well. In Florida, I met a lot of young people who were more content with working for $12-15/hour in a dead-end job with no benefits relative to California, Washington, Colorado, etc.
Often, employers in Florida know that there is a general dearth of well-paying industry in the state, so they tend to act superior and make it seem as though they're doing you a favor by hiring you to work at their company. They also like to make it seem as though $40k/year with no benefits is a great salary for an educated professional with years of experience. I've not encountered that attitude in the West.
Overall, people in Florida tend to be more intolerant and small-minded than people in the West. There's a lot less support for progressive movements and ideals such as the "green" movement (i.e., recycling, curbing emissions, etc.), organics, medical marijuana, smoking bans, same-sex marriage, spirituality and mindfulness and so forth.
Most Hispanic people in the West are of Mexican heritage. In all the years I lived in Florida, I only ever met one person of Mexican heritage. Most Hispanic people in Florida are of Cuban, Puerto Rican or South American heritage. Since Mexican and Central American people tend to be softer-spoken and more mild-mannered than people from the Caribbean and South America, you can observe a huge difference in the respective Hispanic populations of Florida and the West.
On a similar note, most Hispanic people in Florida tend to be more recent arrivals ("first-generation Americans" would be an incorrect application of the term) and often have no desire whatsoever to assimilate, in particular with regard to learning English. Unfortunately, there are many areas of Florida where you never really have to know English to get by because the native and long-time Floridians never really put their foot down before it got out of hand. In fact, in much of Miami, for example, Spanish is a lot more useful than English. It's truly a shame, IMO, but thankfully, the conservative settlers of the West from the Midwest and South did not allow for that occur out here. Even in very Hispanic communities near the Mexican border, people are a lot more likely to speak English due to the fact most are multi-generational Americans.
Florida doesn't tend to be as outdoors-oriented as the West, and I would assume that a lot of that has to do with the high humidity and flatness of the terrain. The milder weather and more rugged terrain of the West make outdoor recreational opportunities such as hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc. more abundant and appealing. The more dangerous wildlife in Florida, in particular alligators, sharks, water moccasins and disease-carrying mosquitoes, make the outdoors even less appealing. Aside from going to the beach on rare occasions, the population of Florida isn't very outdoorsy, and I'll admit I wasn't very inclined to the outdoors when I lived there, either.
Last edited by Bert_from_back_East; 05-13-2016 at 12:58 PM..
I said SOCIALLY liberal. As in the people here have some pretty progressive mindsets on gay rights, etc. I know that fiscally it is more mixed. Even our major cities have some fairly fiscally conservative leanings.
There are pro life billboards up and down the interstates, I'd say it's socially moderate too, socially liberal only in south FL and major metros in central fl
Not to mention Florida is plurality CATHOLIC. Not that Protestant craziness you find in the Bible Belt. Florida has a lot of atheist/agnostic people too most of whose are of Catholic background like myself.
Although parts of the West are transient like Florida, there is significantly less tolerance for anger, hostility, aggression, shadiness and deviance in much of the West. Thuggery, con artistry and "street smarts" are not embraced in the West in the same respect as in Florida. Las Vegas is, of course, the obvious exception.
Service quality is higher in every Western state I've been to compared to Florida, where wait times are long and service people are unfriendly, impolite and disinterested.
Drivers are significantly more courteous and sensible in much of the West relative to Florida. People in Florida drive much faster overall, tailgate, weave in and out of traffic, cut you off at the last possible second without using turn signals, brake when it's unnecessary to do so, flash their brights at you, etc. Florida is consistently ranked as the most dangerous state in America for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. These statistics are reflective in the astronomically high auto insurance rates.
Young adults, especially in the West Coast states plus Colorado and Utah, tend to be a lot better educated, more motivated and enterprising and less apathetic and complacent than those in Florida. Being middle-class in the West is a lot more precarious than in Florida and the rest of the South and it takes significantly more effort to maintain middle-class status out here, so people have to be well-educated and credentialed, have a strong work ethic, be flexible and dynamic, etc. in order to live well. In Florida, I met a lot of young people who were more content with working for $12-15/hour in a dead-end job with no benefits relative to California, Washington, Colorado, etc.
Often, employers in Florida know that there is a general dearth of well-paying industry in the state, so they tend to act superior and make it seem as though they're doing you a favor by hiring you to work at their company. They also like to make it seem as though $40k/year with no benefits is a great salary for an educated professional with years of experience. I've not encountered that attitude in the West.
Overall, people in Florida tend to be more intolerant and small-minded than people in the West. There's a lot less support for progressive movements and ideals such as the "green" movement (i.e., recycling, curbing emissions, etc.), organics, medical marijuana, smoking bans, same-sex marriage, spirituality and mindfulness and so forth.
Most Hispanic people in the West are of Mexican heritage. In all the years I lived in Florida, I only ever met one person of Mexican heritage. Most Hispanic people in Florida are of Cuban, Puerto Rican or South American heritage. Since Mexican and Central American people tend to be softer-spoken and more mild-mannered than people from the Caribbean and South America, you can observe a huge difference in the respective Hispanic populations of Florida and the West.
On a similar note, most Hispanic people in Florida tend to be more recent arrivals ("first-generation Americans" would be an incorrect application of the term) and often have no desire whatsoever to assimilate, in particular with regard to learning English. Unfortunately, there are many areas of Florida where you never really have to know English to get by because the native and long-time Floridians never really put their foot down before it got out of hand. In fact, in much of Miami, for example, Spanish is a lot more useful than English. It's truly a shame, IMO, but thankfully, the conservative settlers of the West from the Midwest and South did not allow for that occur out here. Even in very Hispanic communities near the Mexican border, people are a lot more likely to speak English due to the fact most are multi-generational Americans.
Florida doesn't tend to be as outdoors-oriented as the West, and I would assume that a lot of that has to do with the high humidity and flatness of the terrain. The milder weather and more rugged terrain of the West make outdoor recreational opportunities such as hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc. more abundant and appealing. The more dangerous wildlife in Florida, in particular alligators, sharks, water moccasins and disease-carrying mosquitoes, make the outdoors even less appealing. Aside from going to the beach on rare occasions, the population of Florida isn't very outdoorsy, and I'll admit I wasn't very inclined to the outdoors when I lived there, either.
Nothing in your post except the fact the terrain is generally flat is accurate. Its all your personal opinion without any factual bearing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East
Although parts of the West are transient like Florida, there is significantly less tolerance for anger, hostility, aggression, shadiness and deviance in much of the West. Thuggery, con artistry and "street smarts" are not embraced in the West in the same respect as in Florida. Las Vegas is, of course, the obvious exception.
Service quality is higher in every Western state I've been to compared to Florida, where wait times are long and service people are unfriendly, impolite and disinterested.
Drivers are significantly more courteous and sensible in much of the West relative to Florida. People in Florida drive much faster overall, tailgate, weave in and out of traffic, cut you off at the last possible second without using turn signals, brake when it's unnecessary to do so, flash their brights at you, etc. Florida is consistently ranked as the most dangerous state in America for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. These statistics are reflective in the astronomically high auto insurance rates.
Young adults, especially in the West Coast states plus Colorado and Utah, tend to be a lot better educated, more motivated and enterprising and less apathetic and complacent than those in Florida. Being middle-class in the West is a lot more precarious than in Florida and the rest of the South and it takes significantly more effort to maintain middle-class status out here, so people have to be well-educated and credentialed, have a strong work ethic, be flexible and dynamic, etc. in order to live well. In Florida, I met a lot of young people who were more content with working for $12-15/hour in a dead-end job with no benefits relative to California, Washington, Colorado, etc.
Often, employers in Florida know that there is a general dearth of well-paying industry in the state, so they tend to act superior and make it seem as though they're doing you a favor by hiring you to work at their company. They also like to make it seem as though $40k/year with no benefits is a great salary for an educated professional with years of experience. I've not encountered that attitude in the West.
Overall, people in Florida tend to be more intolerant and small-minded than people in the West. There's a lot less support for progressive movements and ideals such as the "green" movement (i.e., recycling, curbing emissions, etc.), organics, medical marijuana, smoking bans, same-sex marriage, spirituality and mindfulness and so forth.
Most Hispanic people in the West are of Mexican heritage. In all the years I lived in Florida, I only ever met one person of Mexican heritage. Most Hispanic people in Florida are of Cuban, Puerto Rican or South American heritage. Since Mexican and Central American people tend to be softer-spoken and more mild-mannered than people from the Caribbean and South America, you can observe a huge difference in the respective Hispanic populations of Florida and the West.
On a similar note, most Hispanic people in Florida tend to be more recent arrivals ("first-generation Americans" would be an incorrect application of the term) and often have no desire whatsoever to assimilate, in particular with regard to learning English. Unfortunately, there are many areas of Florida where you never really have to know English to get by because the native and long-time Floridians never really put their foot down before it got out of hand. In fact, in much of Miami, for example, Spanish is a lot more useful than English. It's truly a shame, IMO, but thankfully, the conservative settlers of the West from the Midwest and South did not allow for that occur out here. Even in very Hispanic communities near the Mexican border, people are a lot more likely to speak English due to the fact most are multi-generational Americans.
Florida doesn't tend to be as outdoors-oriented as the West, and I would assume that a lot of that has to do with the high humidity and flatness of the terrain. The milder weather and more rugged terrain of the West make outdoor recreational opportunities such as hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, etc. more abundant and appealing. The more dangerous wildlife in Florida, in particular alligators, sharks, water moccasins and disease-carrying mosquitoes, make the outdoors even less appealing. Aside from going to the beach on rare occasions, the population of Florida isn't very outdoorsy, and I'll admit I wasn't very inclined to the outdoors when I lived there, either.
Although you equate "Southern" with, Bible-Thumping, snake-handling, speaking in tounges Protestantism. The Roman Catholic Church was influential in the old South. The vast majority of Catholics in the US the Northeastern and Midwestern cities had ancestors who arrived after the 1880s. The only area of the US that was heavily Catholic in 1860 was around New Orleans and Catholicism had spread along the Gulf Coast into to your most reviled states of Mississippi and Alabama. Most Catholics at the time in the Northeast were recent poor laborer Irish refugees from the potato famine, not very influential at all in the North
Furthermore several prominent Maryland families were Catholic. (Although Maryland is today considered more of a Northeastern State it was from colonial days up to the early 20th century very Southern. Baltimore was put under martial law to prevent secession) And much of the aristocracy of the South was "high church Episcopalian" also known as Anglo-Catholic.
I know you HATE all things Southern and could not imagine having anything in common with anyone from Mississippi. The South was historically much more diverse than you think.
My Catholic ancestors arrived in the Midwest as early as the 1850s from Germany. Irish Catholics started coming over in the 1830s and heavily in the 1840s. So no, the north was Catholic quite a bit before the 1880s
And a lot of people from New Orleans don't feel connected to the Deep South either. Just saying. That topic pops up every now and then on the general forum.
Places change. Florida's peninsula is no longer "southern". It's a stretch to ever even call it southern because it was vastly unpopulated prior to the 1920s because of no AC. From the 1920s onward northerners started flocking here by the masses and supplanting whatever small degree of southern culture there was.
Florida is Florida... For better or for worse. I certainly don't think many parts of it are "socially liberal." That seems pretty far fetched, especially given the demographics of the state.
Geographically, Florida is in the south, just as is Nola, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Charlotte, etc etc. The south is a different animal today. Economics have caused rapid diversity of many southern cities. For instance, Atlanta has a huge Asian population, particularly Korean. Does that make it less southern? Maybe, or maybe the south is just evolving like literally every other place on earth ... Outside of maybe North Korea
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
