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The notion of a posh lifestyle being indicative of greed and materialism is highly objectionable. You cannot assert these things simply based on the quality of life. That is pure rubbish.
Someone needs to spend some time in Santa Ana or maybe Stanton and then report back on what they find about "the OC".
Yeah, this place can suck at times.....too much traffic, it DOES cost a small fortune to live in most places around here, some places do ooze of materialistic snobbery, and it can be hard to find a good Italian place to eat, but it does have many great qualities. To paint a place with such a wide brush is just plain intellectually dishonest.
Do you really expect people who make in the six figures to voluntary drive a 1995 Toyota Corolla, live in a 1,200 square foot house in the country, and wear clothes from Walmart? Of course they drive a BMW 7 series, live in a gated community, and wear clothes from Nordstrom. In my opinion if people can afford these things they are entitled to it. Rich people have nice stuff in all areas, but Orange County happens to have a huge population of them. It happens to be one of the richest counties in the country so of course there are more BMWs here than Philadelphia or Richmond, ect.. Rich people in Philadelphia drive BMWs too, there just aren't as many of them.
By the way, Bay Area people who think they flaunt there money so much less still live in nice suburbs like Danville, San Ramon, Atherton, ect... which are all as snotty if not more so than residents of Orange County. Less see how nice Bay Area people are when the Latinos come to their communities and schools. How many people from Danville go to Oakland and walk around for the day? The answer, none! Bay Area people are no better except that they drive hybrids and think they are the most tolerant, kind people on the earth.
Do you really expect people who make in the six figures to voluntary drive a 1995 Toyota Corolla, live in a 1,200 square foot house in the country, and wear clothes from Walmart? Of course they drive a BMW 7 series, live in a gated community, and wear clothes from Nordstrom. In my opinion if people can afford these things they are entitled to it. Rich people have nice stuff in all areas, but Orange County happens to have a huge population of them. It happens to be one of the richest counties in the country so of course there are more BMWs here than Philadelphia or Richmond, ect.. Rich people in Philadelphia drive BMWs too, there just aren't as many of them.
By the way, Bay Area people who think they flaunt there money so much less still live in nice suburbs like Danville, San Ramon, Atherton, ect... which are all as snotty if not more so than residents of Orange County. Less see how nice Bay Area people are when the Latinos come to their communities and schools. How many people from Danville go to Oakland and walk around for the day? The answer, none! Bay Area people are no better except that they drive hybrids and think they are the most tolerant, kind people on the earth.
In the OC, the ATTITUDE people have towards their wealth is different. You all can deny it all you want, but I lived throughout the OC for 3 years and experienced it first-hand. Wealth is the #1 thing to many in the OC. It's the #1 thing you'll be judged on when meeting people, the #1 thing potential dates look for, the #1 thing your neighbors will size you up on, it's the measure by which people will judge you down there, and if you are deemed to be below others on the economic ladder, you will get disrespected or ignored in a very rude way. You will even be made to feel unwelcome in the community in very, very blatent ways.
And can't even remember how many pompus rich people I met that talk about the poor like they're scum or slaves. There's a lot of very RADICAL right-wing, capitalist sentiment down there. If you don't have a lot of money, that must make you lazy, less ambitous, less human, stupid, worthy of disrespect, that's the OC philosophy.
And no, i'm not just flapping my jaw, I was very active in the community (or lack thereof) in the OC for a couple years and this is what I found after speaking with many, many people. Towards the end of my stay there, after all the rotton people I met in the OC, I just wanted to hide in a gated property surrounded by tall bushes like everyone else.
Money truley is like the religion, the god, the thing that people live and breath in the OC. People in the OC deep down think that if they have a ton of money, that makes them superior to others. And they act on this superiority complex in passive-agressive ways. Many of you all will flat out deny this. But anyone who's spent time in the OC (and doesn't have their head in the sand) knows this to be true. Just observing people in a coffee shop or bookstore can reveal these things to an intelligent and observant person.
There are rich folks in every city of course, especially in California. But in the OC, the culture, the vibe, the pulse of the area and the entire scene throughout the county is much, much more centered around money and materialism. Anyone with a decent enough education to realize the implications of what is happening in the county is disgusted by what they see.
Once again i'll say it. It isn't the fact that people in the OC have wealth that is upsetting to people. It is the pompus attitude that you have that goes along with it. If none of this were true, then why is there a small army of people on this website slamming OC?
Although wealth can be found in the Bay Area or anywhere else, the intensely arrogant, self-rightous and small minded attitude towards the accumulation of wealth in the OC is what makes you all hated by so many. Wealthy communities in many other cities lac the in-you-face arrogance and rudeness that the OC and other parts of So-Cal have. The pompus attitude of piggish wealth has the volume turned all the way up to ten in OC.
Being humble is unheard of in the OC, it's all about showing off. Most of the people showing off in the OC are idiots who were born into wealth, or maybe they got money through some hard work and a stroke of luck, and have very little, if any street smarts. So now they're driving around trying to act like untouchable gods, the gods of $$$, the ultimate sell-outs.
Funky monk,
Which part of Orange County are you talking about? Is the attitude in Orange County found in every city and neighborhood? Do you really think the 353,428 people of Santa Ana are flaunting their wealth? Or what about the 165, 156 residents of Garden Grove, are they flaunting their wealth? What about Anaheim's 345,556 residents. I don't think of them as flaunting their wealth? Tell me, how many multi million dollar home, BMW driving, "blond babes" live in those cities? The majority of Orange County residents live in those cities, and I don't think anyone there can be considered snobby! It is foolish to include all of Orange County under one scope. If you want to slam the rich of Orange County, target the cities where they live! Say Newport Beach people are snobs, or Laguna people. But how dare all of you include Orange County under one scope when most people in Santa Ana and other cities are living off under $100 a day! Not all of the OC can be a snob. Define your hatred at least toward the areas where all these pompous rich live. But it isn't fair to the average Orange County resident to stereotype them like this. The majority of this county is not rich.
By the way, none of you Danville and Atherton residents in the Bay Area answered if you would walk your poodle in Oakland.
I like the way funky monkey has an entire 3 years in the OC and thinks he knows something. Partner, living there 3 years barely gives you the right to call yourself a visitor. If someone is going to talk about OC, good or bad, they should be articulate and have some good knowledge of the area, not 3 years.
I like the way funky monkey has an entire 3 years in the OC and thinks he knows something. Partner, living there 3 years barely gives you the right to call yourself a visitor. If someone is going to talk about OC, good or bad, they should be articulate and have some good knowledge of the area, not 3 years.
Now I'll agree with you that generally opinions from someone who has lived their entire life somewhere should hold more merit than the opinions of someone who is relatively a newcomer. But in this instance I think his newness to the area could be advantageous to his thoughts. He has been there long enough to get a general feel or vibe, if you will, of the many of the places in the area. Sure he may not be an expert, but he might be able to explain generally how things are. Like he mentioned, his opinions do not pertain to every single person in the area, but rather are general, and highlight some unique qualities of the area compared to the rest of the country. In addition, him being new to the area may also help the legitimacy of his opinions because he's been there long enough to get a feel for things, but not long enough where his lifestyle has changed considerably. He can still freshly compare his experiences in CA to his experiences elsewhere because he has only been there for three years and he hasn't changed enough where differences won't strike him.
Now this post isn't meant to defend his opinions, because my personal view point doesn't really matter (although I happen to agree, only partially with what he's saying...I have many friends in OC that are not what he describes, so I think it's more of a localized issue...that is, certain communities hold these qualites...OC is pretty big after all). What I'm trying to show is that amount of experience he's had living in the area shouldn't matter...if anything it helps if he is a new comer and has only been there because it allows him to compare his experiences there to the rest of the country.
Like it or not, this board is meant to provide real experiences that people have had so that people who are interested in moving somewhere can gain all the information they need to make an educated decision. This board isn't mean to sing praises of locations...some people don't like it here (they have their reasons, as I'm sure you know), so although you may not agree with them, it is for the benefit of this forum that they speak up, so that people similar to them may read what they have to say. But then again, it's good for you to speak up and provide your opinion. That is, after all, what this site is all about.
Ultimately, we all TRY to choose where to live based on what is congruent with our personalities. I hate where I live now, but the problem is largely from within me, not with the folks who live in this region, who are largely just jim dandy with being here. Good for them.
I grew up in a working class family (dad a machinist, mom a nurse) and so I would be pretty sensitive to it if my fellow OC natives were a bunch of condescending snobs. But that just is not the case. Yeah, as someone else said, you can go anywhere and find gauche jerks who want to use their wealth to spit on everybody else and certainly, those people exist in Orange County. But while OC folks aren't perfect, for the most part, they're a pretty alright bunch. They're conservative and religious without being unctious bible thumpers who try to ram their religion down your throat, they're generally more sophisticated than non-urban midwesteners and much nicer than the products of the brutish cultures of the northeast (NYC, Boston, New Jersey, etc). If they think having a Mercedes is neat and they like how a $5000 suit looks on them, well, hey, if they want to spend their money on that, go for it. Whatever floats your boat. Doesn't hurt me. And it employs lots of people.
And the illegal immigrants are slaves? So why do they come here? You think the average poor Mexican in Guerrero State is thinking, "man, I would really like to be enslaved by somebody in El Norte." And since when do slaves send billions of dollars back to their homeland? How much money do you think African slaves of plantation owners were able to send back to Africa? Zilch. Because they were real slaves, not people taking jobs for substandard wages in a foreign country. Nobody put a gun to their head and said "go north young unemployed man with six kids!"). The rich and the entrepeneurial actually help prop Mexico up, bless its corrupt and backward heart. When did those who whine about materialism in Orange County do that? Oh, they didn't? Well, golly gee.
Now look, I am as leftwing as the next liberal (except I am to the right of Attila the Hun on crime), but this bemoaning of how folks spend their money is just envy. If you don't like it, move to Sweden. Then you can have the satisfaction of handing over up to 80% of your income every year to the socialist government. It would do your heart good, no?
I live in Orange County now, and I'm moving in a few weeks for a variety of reasons (mainly the high cost of living and the traffic). However, seeing all the threads bashing the OC is growing old. I think the readers of this forum can ascertain the benefits as well as disadvantages of living in this part of the state, based on the numerous posts which already exist.
Some people will like it here, some won't. If you live here and hate it, you can leave. It's a free country. Not everyone who lives here is a snob or rich. It's not necessary to keep posting "hate" threads just for the sake of venting. I'm not putting anyone down or judging anyone who has posted their thoughts about Orange County. If someone wants to move here, they might enjoy some of the positive things that OC has to offer, and they can decide if the negatives are worth it or not.
I think a place with a reputation for phoniness, shallowness, and racism needs to be outed. Give some specifics concerning both the negatives and the positives to help out and shed some light on this God-forsaken place. Be of use here. Any place that favors Bush as President needs to be outed for the reject location it is.
Why is it when someone comes on these boards and says something negative about OC, does everyone attack them and say they are lying?
Obviously OC pisses a lot of people off. It has pissed me and my wife off in the 10 months we have lived here.
Just because you like it here doesn't make it right for you to stop someone who doesn't.
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