Why do so many believe the OC's negative stereotypes? (San Francisco: wedding, high school)

[scubashawn68]

I am glad you like oC so far. I am from here and always laugh when I read about stereotypes. Most are usually not true, just like everywhere else in the world.

Originally Posted by nevercoldcall

This one really has me baffled....

All I hear from people who do not actually live in coastal Orange County is how fake, snobby, pretentious and rude the people are. Well, having visited here for 4 years, and having moved here just under 2 months ago, to Newport Coast, I simply haven't found that to be true.

We were really worried before moving thanks to all the negative stereotypes out there. We lived in a place that really *IS* fake, snobby, pretentious, and rude - Scottsdale, Arizona - and feared that were were just moving from one snob town to another.

That has not been the case at all; in fact, I'm completely floored by how friendly this entire area is.

So, what's the cause of the bad stereotypes? People who are envious? People who believe what they see on "The OC" and "The Real Housewives..."? Or is it a new political correctness that says anyone who is white and republican must automatically be a jerk? Or that anyone with a nice car must be a snob?

I'd love to get some input on this one. It's actually quite upsetting to me that so many outsiders including friends & family in other states believe that I'm surrounded by horribly rude, snotty people here, when that just isn't so.

[ExeterMedia]

99% of people I encounter in real life who are NOT from the OC tend to bring up the stereotypes (new transplants, visitors over the holidays, etc).

Are the stereotypes true? I think to some extent but not to the comical level that "reality television" has taken it to. For instance, South County OC is very conservative, rich, and there are a lot of gates.

That being said, not everyone is a peacocking jerk who wants to flaunt money.

[SoCalSun]

Originally Posted by nevercoldcall

This one really has me baffled....

All I hear from people who do not actually live in coastal Orange County is how fake, snobby, pretentious and rude the people are. Well, having visited here for 4 years, and having moved here just under 2 months ago, to Newport Coast, I simply haven't found that to be true.

We were really worried before moving thanks to all the negative stereotypes out there. We lived in a place that really *IS* fake, snobby, pretentious, and rude - Scottsdale, Arizona - and feared that were were just moving from one snob town to another.

That has not been the case at all; in fact, I'm completely floored by how friendly this entire area is.

So, what's the cause of the bad stereotypes? People who are envious? People who believe what they see on "The OC" and "The Real Housewives..."? Or is it a new political correctness that says anyone who is white and republican must automatically be a jerk? Or that anyone with a nice car must be a snob?

I'd love to get some input on this one. It's actually quite upsetting to me that so many outsiders including friends & family in other states believe that I'm surrounded by horribly rude, snotty people here, when that just isn't so.

My experience has been people are warm, friendly, down-to-earth, and laid back. In fact people here tend to be less tolerant of snobby, jerkish people because it's about happiness and warmth (physically and emotionally) here. I've found I need to tone down my laid-back personality even more to be on the same level as people here. Which is a nice thing.

I think it's because since there's so much sunshine, there's a lot more serotonin (sunlight converts to vitamin D which along a chain of events eventually results in more serotonin in the brain). Serotonin regulates moods.

I found that people here in Orange County are a lot happier (very noticeably) than people in Seattle (I'm not from Seattle but I was there for a while). People here are a lot more easygoing too.

I could see how people from the East Coast could find people here in SoCal to be less tolerant, because moods here tend to match the weather - which is pretty warm and constant. Whereas on the east coast there are full seasons, and people over there tend to be more fast paced and a more variable and ranged personality, just like the weather. And people up north in Seattle area are more depressed, introverted, and gloomy (you'd understand what I mean if you spent at least a few months there), just like the weather.

It's interesting how the general overall personality and warmth of the people correlates so much with the weather in that area.


BTW I never saw The OC and can't stand any of that reality sh**. So I can't really use that as a factor in my analysis. I'm sure it plays a role though. TV is trash. I download all my tv shows. I tried putting on cable for one day and everything is trash and the commercials are trash and I just disconnected the cable and back to downloading shows and no commercials like always.

[elchevere]

OC is the only place I've lived where the person behind you in their car got upset water droplets made their way on to their car because you used your windshield wiper to remove bird crap so you could see where you are driving.

OC is the only place my friends have had women ask them how much they make and if it was not at least $200K (that was 10 years ago) they would not see them anymore.

OC is the only place where people tell you they won't go up to LA and prefer to stay 'behind the curtain' where it is clean and safe (which is code for "we don't like going to areas where we might run into people whose skin color is darker than ours").

Equinox, then Sports Club LA/Irvine, was the only straight men's locker room where I saw a guy stuffing a pair of athletic socks in his bicycle pants before working out and guys routinely blow drying their pubic hairs after getting out of a shower.

OC was a place where others routinely met their neighbors after they moved out (because they were having a garage sale and wanted something from them) rather than other places where you meet your neighbors when they move in.

Fashion Valley is a place where I routinely saw people literally getting into fights and/or keying cars over parking spaces.

Sure, there are nice people and there are nice parts. However, it lacked a sole and you could blindfold me and drive me 45 minutes north and the people and neighborhoods looked identical. I occupied space there for 17 years and later moved down to San Diego where the people are not as uptight, it is more diverse, there are more neighborhoods, less homogoneity, depending where you live less traffic, and a nicer place to live minus the attitude...the only area that reminds me of OC is Del Mar (funny, that's where most people from OC mention when talking about going to San Diego)....I am not averse to nice places, having grown up on Long Island, lived in Marin County (that's a real nice place), family in Greenwich, CT and Palm Beach, FL and I enjoy La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe here in San Diego...there is something about OC, a stuck up attitude that I have never encountered anywhere else and I travel quite a bit....you could not pay me to move back there--though, in fairness, I did enjoy parts (i.e. Fullerton, Tustin, and Laguna Beach).

[Marv101]

Jealousy.

Ignorance.

They've never lived in the OC.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by Marv101

Jealousy.

Ignorance.

They've never lived in the OC.

Zombie threat alert. Alert. Alert.

Besides, I am mad that Pacific failed to add any Laguna Niguel photos! By the way, everything forgets about downtown Disney, just sayin'!

[ExeterMedia]

Originally Posted by Marv101

Jealousy.

Ignorance.

They've never lived in the OC.

This.

I do notice South OC gets most of the backlash.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by Marv101

They've never lived in the OC.

[noghre111]

I live in OC. I love OC. but I have to say, "SOME" people are really snobby..

Example:" In yoga class, the girl next to me, had her Loui Viutton purse on her mat the whole time! Let me mention her diamond earings while working out.. and you should see her attitude..

not everyone is like that though.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by elchevere

OC was a place where others routinely met their neighbors after they moved out (because they were having a garage sale and wanted something from them) rather than other places where you meet your neighbors when they move in.

Fashion Valley is a place where I routinely saw people literally getting into fights and/or keying cars over parking spaces.

I think you meant Fashion Island in Newport Beach, Fashion Valley is located in San Diego. At Fashion Valley you're more likely to see two hot Latina's fighting over the latest tight fit BEBE spandex cocktail dress, instead of arguing over the closest parking spot to Neiman Marcus, like the stuffy and somewhat pretentious Fashion Island set.