Pittsburgh the 5th Gayest City in America!

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by youngabe

WTAE had the following page about Pittsburgh being the "5th Gayest City in America" up on their homepage just yesterday, I'm assuming in honor of gay pride month.

America's Most Gay-Friendly Cities - Photos - WTAE Pittsburgh (http://www.wtae.com/slideshow/news/26469905/detail.html - broken link)

It was slightly disturbing that the majority of commenters on their website found this to be a "bad" thing for Pittsburgh. I, of course, went through and made a few posts of my own in rebuttal. But, the bigger problem here is that these are exactly the people who could keep Pittsburgh from becoming the "new" city that it's trying to emerge as. Intolerance of any kind toward a group of people is NOT a positive thing and never will be. We need to attract people to this city, not turn them away and come off as typical "yinzers."

I have always noticed a disturbing amount of idiots and stupidity on WTAE's facebook comments; more than I see on WPXI's page at least. Of course, I also think WTAE and the media likes to add fuel to the fire with their comments just so they can get more traffic and responses out of people and make stories and their little write up more sensational. I'd also like to say that I bet half of those people don't even live in Allegheny County and live in the back woods or are yinzers that have moved away.

Edit: Has anyone on here ever read the Politics and Controversies section of city-data? Talk about a cesspool of comments sometimes.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Agbor

I think the young Yinzer crowd and especially the young Hip Hop crowd is VERY intolerant of gay
people..I can name incidents...

I've noticed this too among a lot of my younger friends. It makes me think a lot in my head "so much for young people being more tolerant of others".

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I agree. With the possible exception of sports sections, I find the comment sections on most local news sites--and in fact national mainstream news sites--to be a real cesspool.

After reading comments on news sections a lot of the time, I always wonder where do these people come from because I don't know anyone that stupid (or at least I think I don't).

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I always wonder where do these people come from because I don't know anyone that stupid (or at least I think I don't).

That's the problem--presumably they can't ALL be shut-ins, so these people are wandering around in real life without anyone knowing what is going on inside their heads.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That's the problem--presumably they can't ALL be shut-ins, so these people are wandering around in real life without anyone knowing what is going on inside their heads.

As much as I love the Internet, because of it I think a lot of people who post on it thinks their opinion is right, that it matters, and they can say whatever crazy thing they want to.

[fleetiebelle]

I was at an intersection in Oakland last week, and the middle-aged guy in the truck next to me was on his phone, apparently leaving a voice mail message to a mortal enemy. I had my windows open, and so did he, so I heard the whole thing. This guy was threatening to come to the other guy's house and rape his wife and kill his dog among other things, and went on and on using the most vile and profane language possible. I don't know what the deal was, but just listening to it made me extremely uneasy to think that this guy is out there in the world thinking and saying horrible things. Can you imagine being this guy's neighbor? Or his coworker? I must live in a magical land of unicorns and rainbows where one does not aggressively vocalize their homicidal thoughts.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I was at an intersection in Oakland last week, and the middle-aged guy in the truck next to me was on his phone, apparently leaving a voice mail message to a mortal enemy. I had my windows open, and so did he, so I heard the whole thing. This guy was threatening to come to the other guy's house and rape his wife and kill his dog among other things, and went on and on using the most vile and profane language possible. I don't know what the deal was, but just listening to it made me extremely uneasy to think that this guy is out there in the world thinking and saying horrible things. Can you imagine being this guy's neighbor? Or his coworker? I must live in a magical land of unicorns and rainbows where one does not aggressively vocalize their homicidal thoughts.

At least he was stupid enough to leave it as a voice mail so the person he was threatening can use it as evidence if they want to.

[aussiekiwi99]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

After reading comments on news sections a lot of the time, I always wonder where do these people come from because I don't know anyone that stupid (or at least I think I don't).

Oh the stupid is out there. So obvious on the net on news sections and some forums but less prevalent in real life because people seem to be so conscious of being 'politically correct'. But yeh get a few drinks in 'em or when they're in their car or other private space and you hear the truth.
Side comment - has anyone else noticed that "yinzer" posts are usually accompanied by poor spelling? Like getting 'they're', 'there' and 'their' all wrong?

Anyway, interesting thread. The more I read up on Pittsburgh, the more I'm glad to be moving to a relatively open-minded and cosmopolitan city (despite the litter problem).

[FreightTrainRunning]

I've always been glad that neither the Post-Gazette or the Tribune Review have comments on articles.