Hostility and thugishness in Philadelphia (live, suburbia, car)

[ApartmentNomad]

These things may be widespread, but I think they are worse in Philadelphia than in at least some other places. People who have spent no, or minimal, time in Philadelphia may be getting their negative impressions from the national media, but my own negative impressions were based on living in Philadelphia for many years.

[sues1]

That ghetto attitude is here in Scranton as well, i can't stand it either

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

Like others have said, it's not specific to Philadelphia or even that bad here.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say I notice less here than in other places I've lived.

I also wouldn't personally be surprised (although I'm not saying it's the way thing is - I have limited experience in Bucks County) if Bucks County had more people spitting and staring and driving loud cars in an attempt to appear to be a thug. That's the way it was in Berks County anyway. There was actually just a thread about that in the PA forum - people complaining about thuggish behavior in Reading.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by ApartmentNomad

These things may be widespread, but I think they are worse in Philadelphia than in at least some other places. People who have spent no, or minimal, time in Philadelphia may be getting their negative impressions from the national media, but my own negative impressions were based on living in Philadelphia for many years.

Agree.
I lived in Philly (city not burbs) for over 30 years, am a big booster, and plan to move back at some point, but this is a thing about Philly you kind of have to accept and/or deal with. We could get into speculating about some historical reasons for this stuff, but really, what's the point? Hey...it's character building! (for better and for worse haha)
The city's positives outweigh the negatives though, imo.

[sweendog024]

Honestly I would love to get into the history of it. I find things like that fascinating. If you would care to elaborate I would be interested in what you had to say on the subject.

[Shizzles]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Agree.
I lived in Philly (city not burbs) for over 30 years, am a big booster, and plan to move back at some point, but this is a thing about Philly you kind of have to accept and/or deal with. We could get into speculating about some historical reasons for this stuff, but really, what's the point? Hey...it's character building! (for better and for worse haha)
The city's positives outweigh the negatives though, imo.

It's alot of things, but character building it is not. Just today, at a local Wawa some construction contractor type is standing beside the line looking for a way to "Get In". Naturally, instead of trying to butt in on the two large beefcake guys in front of me, he decideds he'll barrel right in front of me (the glasses wearing dork). So Brave. And to top it all off, he continually takes his sweet ass time actually getting to the front.

I know someone is going to pipe up and say "Stop being a Pu##y and do something". Like what? Get decked out or better yet have him wave his CCW piece in my face. Not for a $1.69 cup of coffee. And for the next reply of "You're just jealous/have a problem with "real men"", Some of the guys I've gotten along most with were military. One teacher in tech school in particular was a Ranger. It doesn't get more man than that.

[KingKrab]

No People, this is not just every city, this is really a South Eastern, PA thing. I'm from Pittsburgh, lived on the main line outside of Philly, did the west for my mid 20s, came home to Pittsburgh, and now in Reading. Trust me, you can tell the, "yo, I'm hard brah" mentality. People stare at you trying to look like they are tough, kids driving around like their bad. Pittsburgh had it's "hard" areas, but the area as a whole was much more laid back. Most of these kids are just obnoxious. There seems to be a ton of meat heads in Eastern, PA. Dudes that need to prove themselves by building muscle at the gym all day. It's lame, read a book.

But all in all, this area is nice. It has many positives you can't find elsewhere. But Philly and SE PA people, chill. Life is to short to act like a tough douche.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by Shizzles

It's alot of things, but character building it is not. Just today, at a local Wawa some construction contractor type is standing beside the line looking for a way to "Get In". Naturally, instead of trying to butt in on the two large beefcake guys in front of me, he decideds he'll barrel right in front of me (the glasses wearing dork). So Brave. And to top it all off, he continually takes his sweet ass time actually getting to the front.

I know someone is going to pipe up and say "Stop being a Pu##y and do something". Like what? Get decked out or better yet have him wave his CCW piece in my face. Not for a $1.69 cup of coffee. And for the next reply of "You're just jealous/have a problem with "real men"", Some of the guys I've gotten along most with were military. One teacher in tech school in particular was a Ranger. It doesn't get more man than that.

like I said...for better and for worse!

[cpomp]

Im confused, is everyone talking about the thugish attitude in the city, or the suburbs? Because where i live i dont see thugish behavior, of course there are teens (usually guys ages 15-25) that act like jerks , but that is found anywhere, often times, kids from wealthy suburban communities think they can do anything because of their parents success, that attitude of entitlement, but that can be found in any suburb, i dont think it is a strict issue to SE Pa. As far as cities, thug behavior is not limited to philly at all.

[killakoolaide]

To the OP. Just move further out.