The very weird hatred for LA and CA in general... (Los Angeles: high crime, houses)

[radiolibre99]

I've noticed that people tend to have some really strong feelings toward LA and CA in general. It's either a passionate dislike for it or a love for it. I really don't get it. Whenever people are asked what's the coolest State in the Union they're bias when they choose their own State or admit CA is the best, but a lot also seem it's befitting to chime in that they absolutely hate CA, as though with a passion. I really don't know how on Earth someone could hate a State that much but they do. It's weird.

What is it about CA and Los Angeles that just strikes up a hatred for it? It's not just a casual indifference either, it's passionate hatred for it with such words as cesspool, putrid and needs to be cut off the map in a hellish earthquake.

Now that I am living here, I'm bias but I really think it's envy. I am the type that never assumes envy because it's a knee jerk reaction to probably well placed criticism but with this one I am going to go with envy. It's really like hating the popular girl in school but we all know she's gorgeous and rich, and hope she just gets pregnant after high school, gains weight and becomes a depressed suburban housewife or something.

I mean I love my hometown and every other town I've lived in, but LA takes the cake in so many ways. After living here I can see why the rest of the nation is labeled as "fly over country". Not to be derogatory but the level of creativity, eclecticism, and overall uniqueness is essentially only matched by NYC, period. LA has it all.

I don't want to go on a full on generalization about the hate, but I just don't think it's merited.

What do you guys think?

[genjy]

They hate our smug.

[Jukesgrrl]

They're jealous.

I think it's equally nonsensical when a state on the opposite coast is put down. People who have never even been to New Jersey feel free to bash it based simply on what they've heard, same as California. Yes, there are polluted parts of New Jersey, but there are polluted parts of most other states that aren't nearly as densely populated. I live in Arizona and we have some really hideous strip mines here. It ain't all the Grand Canyon.

Yes, there are gangsters in Jersey. Just as an Italian-American guy who operated a numbers racket lived next door to my parents when I was growing up in Western Pennsylvania. I'm sure there are rackets in California, too. Like California, NJ has urban and rural areas, exquisite ocean-front property, and verdant farmland. You can surf in both places (OK, yours is better, but still ...), you can ride horses in both places, you can get stuck on a freeway in both places. There are plenty of jerks in California and New Jersey. As there are also geniuses and artists, millionaires and vagrants.

Maybe it's about the beach. If you can go to the beach and still live in a state with real cities, people hate you?

[katnip kid]

Jealousy. Fear?

[yamota]

People hate New York because they think they're arrogant and condescending, but people hate LA because of all the selfish and self centered celebrities they see in the media who think they 're above the law just because theyre famous

[jsChicago]

California (and New York) represent the bottom of the barrel ; the nanny state in its near perfect form. You can't be too surprised that people would hold you up for ridicule.

[thelopez2]

People don't like California due to the politics. The policies and laws also spread across the nation to many like a virus. The population and economy makes California powerful. The politician need votes, the method in which they obtain votes is unacceptable to many parts of the country.

You are posting in the LA forum, asking why do you think people hate you ,rather than, asking people , why do you hate California. If you want to get to the root of the hate , you need to post or move this to a different forum, such as politics , or even another state like Texas, Florida, Nevada, Colorado, places where people flee to.

[SandyCo]

I have no idea, but I get annoyed when I see stereotypes being perpetuated. I read a book recently in which the subplot was about a widow trying to cope with her obnoxious stepchildren. She sent them to their mother's in California for a week, and when they came back, the 13-year-old daughter was dressed like a hooker, had gone to a tanning salon, etc. Obviously the mother was the ditzy, superficial "California" type with no values. Why couldn't she have been in Florida? Or Nevada? Or Arizona? There are already enough stereotypes and cliches out there about Californians (and specifically L.A.). This got on my nerves, and definitely affected my enjoyment of the rest of the book.

I've lived here all of my life, and in a metropolitan area this big, stereotypes are not the norm. We're way too diverse!

[disgruntled la native]

As the other posters said, in my observation, it comes down to one of two reasons.

1. Jealousy. Weather, people, the illusion of glamour, etc. If we were so terrible why are thousands of people from small town states and cold states always moving here? How many of us are going to Iowa or South Carolina?

2. Resentment toward CA's liberal politics. This state alone is the difference between a conservative Republican dominated gov and what we have now. Also resentment toward CA natives fleeing to states like Nevada and Colorado and making them "bluer"

[-dude-]

People don't like Los Angeles because it's the city that caters to rich people. Let me explain.

80% of world's population( so is 80% of USA,California, LA etc.) consist of working middle class, and Los Angeles just isn't the city that was meant for middle class, it never was. Being middle class in LA means struggle, on many occasions living in high crime areas with dirty streets, very bad infrastructure, ugly buildings around you, ugly little houses with brown burned front lawns, to make it short if you're a middle class in LA, there's very few things that will give you a piece of mind when you leave your house in the morning.

On the other hand, there's rich LA, places like Palisades, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Hollywood Hills, Brentwood, Westwood, that are just unreal. Every city in the world, of course, has nice areas where the rich live, but the nice areas of Los Angeles are in league of it's own. Just for example. North of Montana in Santa Monica- unreal. Beverly Hills Flats- unreal. Oakmont Drive in Brentwood- unreal. Lachman Lane in Palisades-unreal. So, those areas are the lifestyle that most people, not just in LA or USA, but in the world strives to get. It represents the American dream, driving a big SUV, an italian sports car, living in a big mansion, fancy clothes, bottle service in Hollywood nightclubs. The ultimate success.

And that's the main problem in my opinion. The difference beetween areas that are meant for middle class folks to live in and rich people to live in LA is just super super huge. Compared to other global cities, like Tokyo, London, Paris ( didn't mention New York City on purpose, because it's in the same basket as LA on this one), not to mention smaller but very progressive cities like Geneve, Barcelona or Munchen, 80% of LA, in fact, is downright cesspool.

And that's the root of hatred towards LA in my opinion. Is it justified? I think it is.