Is PA depressing? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, State College: smog, pine, residential)

[maf763]

Originally Posted by PA/MDGuy

I am sorry to be rude at times, but its my PA upbringing coming out.

Where you are from doesn't make you rude. Take a little ownership instead of making excuses.

Nor does a state make you depressed - it's a juvenile concept. People can be depressed for a variety of reasons. Blaming it on a state is just silly.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by maf763

Where you are from doesn't make you rude. Take a little ownership instead of making excuses.

Nor does a state make you depressed - it's a juvenile concept. People can be depressed for a variety of reasons. Blaming it on a state is just silly.

Agreed, I have known people living in states that many would consider 'paradise' such as Hawaii or Coastal Southern California who were suffering major depression. The premise of this thread is flawed, and I am only posting to provide a counterbalance to the 'PA is the worst state ever' types. Although I wouldn't be happy somewhere like North Dakota or Alaska, I will not go and say that those states are depressing as they have their ups and their downs. Every state also has economic ups and downs. WV, a state long known for having a poor economy, had a city of theirs (Morgantown) receive national recognition for performing so unusually well during the recession. Also, if we are going to compare Greene and Fayette counties to suburban DC, I think it is only fair that we compare Garrett and Allegany county MD to the Mainline areas such as Villanova and Lower Merion. As has been mentioned, PA has areas that are economically depressed, but it is foolish to suggest that the problem is limited to PA, which for the most part weathered the recession better than many other areas.

[PA/MDGuy]

Ok, things I like about PA:

Kennywood
Ohiopyle
Hershey
Seven Springs
Historical Philly
Point State Park
Fallingwater
Gettysburg
Fort Necessity
Presq isle
I never said it was all bad, of course I can drive to many of them just as easy from here because PA is so big everything isn't convenient to everyone in the State. I must be doing something right to get so much attention to a thread that's been dead for months.

[PA/MDGuy]

Originally Posted by maf763

Where you are from doesn't make you rude. Take a little ownership instead of making excuses.

Nor does a state make you depressed - it's a juvenile concept. People can be depressed for a variety of reasons. Blaming it on a state is just silly.

I dissagree, but again, I didn't start the thread, I can't believe the things people said a few pages back but yet there were so few responses. I tell you my life story and WHY I feel that way, and somehow get the blame for a many yr old question?

People's lack of financial success and inability to achieve their goals in life are usually the main cause of depression and suicide. So really where you live makes a large impact on your overall happiness. I would figure that was what someone was implying yrs ago.

So I know that the higher PA intellect will now tell me how this is silly. Really any discussion on the net is silly because many just argue to argue and are always right. I do it for the fun of seeing people's irrationality in so many things.

A convincing argument would be to relate ones life story and help me understand why Pa is great. You know, your awesome job, or your tremendous growing income as well as property appreciation. How close your daily commute is, things like that.

Not, your silly, your comparing apple's to oranges, its the Govt fault, your state has issues, or the big one, It's pretty here.
Convince me and the others posting before me that how some know it can't be better if they have always lived in the same state?
If you have personal experiences about how PA rescued you from financial ruin please share them. That's how discussions work and why I get rude, because the other quote and add a smart ass sentence wouldn't get you through a high school debate.

[maf763]

Originally Posted by PA/MDGuy

Really any discussion on the net is silly because many just argue to argue and are always right. I do it for the fun of seeing people's irrationality in so many things.

Yes, we're aware that you are just trying to stir things up. That's why some people are annoyed at you - there are people who actually enjoy discussions and find them informative. When others come on board just to agitate (there's a word for it), it bugs them. Personally, I don't care about that stuff, but every once in a while it's nice to call out the disingenuous.

As far as your other point, can place play a role in a person's outlook on life? Certainly. But to say a state depresses them is so gross an overgeneralization that I indeed find it an absurd concept, as absurd as thinking that moving over the border into another state would solve their concerns. If that's what someone thinks, then their understanding of depression is woefully inadequate.

[SPSGuy]

Bringing personal accounts into state comparisons is asinine. For me personally, yes I lived in other states, and 6 different towns across all of PA from East, Cemtral, and West. I lived in Colorado where I was extremely depressed and broken financially, but I was young and single. Why would bringing up personal accounts be good in comparing factual data among states? You make it sound like your personal account sums up everybody's in PA. Then you talk about high school debating. Talk about Irony.

To make it personal though, yes living in low cost Pittsburgh as an engineer gives me a wonderful life. I had an opportunity in MD years ago but compared cost of living ratios and never took it. Every place has its ups and downs.

[pman]

Originally Posted by PA/MDGuy

I dissagree, but again, I didn't start the thread, I can't believe the things people said a few pages back but yet there were so few responses. I tell you my life story and WHY I feel that way, and somehow get the blame for a many yr old question?

People's lack of financial success and inability to achieve their goals in life are usually the main cause of depression and suicide. So really where you live makes a large impact on your overall happiness. I would figure that was what someone was implying yrs ago.

So I know that the higher PA intellect will now tell me how this is silly. Really any discussion on the net is silly because many just argue to argue and are always right. I do it for the fun of seeing people's irrationality in so many things.

A convincing argument would be to relate ones life story and help me understand why Pa is great. You know, your awesome job, or your tremendous growing income as well as property appreciation. How close your daily commute is, things like that.

Not, your silly, your comparing apple's to oranges, its the Govt fault, your state has issues, or the big one, It's pretty here.
Convince me and the others posting before me that how some know it can't be better if they have always lived in the same state?
If you have personal experiences about how PA rescued you from financial ruin please share them. That's how discussions work and why I get rude, because the other quote and add a smart ass sentence wouldn't get you through a high school debate.

Federal policies and other long term trends are often, but not always, a mahor factor in a states decline. To say the deindustrialization was pas fault but massive goveenment growth was marylands decision is irrational at best. Moreover plenty of rich people are afflicted with depression. Id be surprised if even a simple majority of the most successful were "normal." Lets think about mortgage interest deductions. If we eliminate them we stop subsidizing housong prices in ny, dc, ca etc. Home prices there decline...through no fault of their own. I have a good job with a good income. I make less than my dc counterparts but live better.

[pman]

Originally Posted by PA/MDGuy

Ok, things I like about PA:

Kennywood
Ohiopyle
Hershey
Seven Springs
Historical Philly
Point State Park
Fallingwater
Gettysburg
Fort Necessity
Presq isle
I never said it was all bad, of course I can drive to many of them just as easy from here because PA is so big everything isn't convenient to everyone in the State. I must be doing something right to get so much attention to a thread that's been dead for months.

And tou can get to md /dc easily from.sepa and south central.congrats on being a good troll.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by SPSGuy

B
To make it personal though, yes living in low cost Pittsburgh as an engineer gives me a wonderful life. I had an opportunity in MD years ago but compared cost of living ratios and never took it. Every place has its ups and downs.

Precisely. As someone who recently moved to the DC area of Maryland from the Philly area, cost-of-living is so critical to the equation.

The DC area seems to be obsessed with how "wealthy" it is compared to the rest of the country, but honestly, there is no perceivable difference in wealth here (aggregately) than what you'd see in other major metro areas like Philly (which -- based on raw statistics -- are supposedly less well-off.)

Measuring income means absolutely nothing unless you consider the broader context of cost-of-living and other quality of life issues.

[BlinkingBlythe]

Originally Posted by imright

Just wanna know what you think.

I've been to or though at least a dosen major cities in the United States,
yet not one of them looked as trashed out and derelict as many parts of
Philadelphia do, not even the "bad" areas. I've even been through South Central Los Angeles and Compton,
and they look ritzy in comparison to North Philadelphia, especialy the Badlands!
What gives?

(The only other 2 cities I can think of that look just as bad or worse than Philly
id Camden, NJ right across the Delaware River and Detroit, Michigan)