Why Are People In The Bay Area So Soft? (San Francisco: zip code, moving)

[Davachka]

Really?? Totally off topic but that is very apalling. Taking a stand for one's beliefs is definitely a good thing, but doing it in such a disrespectful way makes me question the person and their beliefs. If they had such faith in their environmentalism or whatever cause they believed in they would not have to deface and disrespect others to prove it. That, and many vehicles have worse or just as bad mileage as Hummers, and I see them all over the bay area, such as Range Rovers, many sports cars, etc.

Originally Posted by californio sur

Another example of how San Franciscans are not soft is an almost militant environmentalism. I saw 2 guys arguing in the street\ profanity because one guy was sitting in a parked Hummer near Union Sq. It wasn't that uncommon for Hummers to have dog poop smeared on the door handles [even in Malibu]. The willingness to take a stand is certainly something the people of San Francisco rarely shy from.

[BayDude]

Originally Posted by rah

What, are you jealous? Actually, i know Gentoo can handle himself. I wasn't defending him, more like joining in on a tag-team ass whooping of a pathetic troll.

Fail if you actually believe flaming someone on an internet forum constitutes an "ass whooping" (in your words).

If they had such faith in their environmentalism or whatever cause they believed in they would not have to deface and disrespect others to prove it. That, and many vehicles have worse or just as bad mileage as Hummers, and I see them all over the bay area, such as Range Rovers, many sports cars, etc.

Range rovers are everywhere! lol. Dont't see any dog sh*t on their door handles lol.

[californio sur]

Originally Posted by Davachka

Really?? Totally off topic but that is very apalling. Taking a stand for one's beliefs is definitely a good thing, but doing it in such a disrespectful way makes me question the person and their beliefs. If they had such faith in their environmentalism or whatever cause they believed in they would not have to deface and disrespect others to prove it. That, and many vehicles have worse or just as bad mileage as Hummers, and I see them all over the bay area, such as Range Rovers, many sports cars, etc.

Eco-terrorists set fire to Hummers in a Pasadena car lot & burned down homes still under construction in San Diego. They are fringe groups.

[rah]

Originally Posted by BayDude

Fail if you actually believe flaming someone on an internet forum constitutes an "ass whooping" (in your words).

It's an internet "ass-whooping" smart guy. No, i don't believe that killakoolaide is now in the intensive care unit.

the real "fail" here is the logic used by the Bay Area troll brigade.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by Davachka

Really?? Totally off topic but that is very apalling. Taking a stand for one's beliefs is definitely a good thing, but doing it in such a disrespectful way makes me question the person and their beliefs. If they had such faith in their environmentalism or whatever cause they believed in they would not have to deface and disrespect others to prove it. That, and many vehicles have worse or just as bad mileage as Hummers, and I see them all over the bay area, such as Range Rovers, many sports cars, etc.

What's appalling is driving around in a gas guzzling, expensive, massive dinosaur of a military vehicle trying to run people down on the freeways to prove what a wealthy, pompous, self absorbed jerk you are. People that drive these are essentially "flipping off" anyone that gives a hoot about the environment.

After living in Ireland and spending a lot of time across Europe (where the air is fresh and clean), you really get a sense at how disgusting vehicles in that realm really are. If you tell someone on this continent that Americans were driving military vehicles on the freeways (or anything of this massive size), they actually think your lying. It's just too unbelievable.

So you could argue that it's more disrespectful to blatantly spit in the face of environmentalism and anyone that cares about road safety. Do I believe in defacing someone's property? No. But when someone makes a conscious choice to disregard any information on the subject they SHOULD feel marginalized. Just like a fool that would throw a lit cigarette out in a National park on a dry, hot day.

[Meldrey]

I was looking around and found this: http://www.taxi-library.org

Take a look at how many taxi cab drivers were murdered in California. You will soon be overwhelmed by the number of cab drivers killed in New York. If the softness of our culture is what permits life to continue, however boring it may seem from the outside.... well, I'm okay with that.

I think it's an interesting thing to go to a different place and ask why it isn't like your home town. Consider these examples:

- In Italy: how come you guys take naps in the middle of the day?
- At your girlfriend's mom's house: how come you don't use nutmeg in your pumpkin pie?
- In Iraq: how come you don't have greater women's rights?

The answer: because that's they way they do it. Sure we'd rather have mom's pumpkin/sweet potato pie. Of course we'd like to visit Iraq and soak up its rich history while seeing beautiful uncovered Iraqi women in a more active societal role. And yes, it is inconvenient to try to buy gelato when those Italians are napping.

But that's the way it works. If you're looking for great weather, California is an excellent option. If you want communication that appears more tolerant and ignores PC boundaries, New York still has vacancies. If you want both... well, I hear there's a couple places for rent on K-PAX.

Good luck.

~M

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by BayDude

Fail if you actually believe flaming someone on an internet forum constitutes an "ass whooping" (in your words).



Range rovers are everywhere! lol. Dont't see any dog sh*t on their door handles lol.

Baydude, you must have a memory that last no more than 25 seconds! Are you seriously talking about others flaming?

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by clongirl

What's appalling is driving around in a gas guzzling, expensive, massive dinosaur of a military vehicle trying to run people down on the freeways to prove what a wealthy, pompous, self absorbed jerk you are. People that drive these are essentially "flipping off" anyone that gives a hoot about the environment.

After living in Ireland and spending a lot of time across Europe (where the air is fresh and clean), you really get a sense at how disgusting vehicles in that realm really are. If you tell someone on this continent that Americans were driving military vehicles on the freeways (or anything of this massive size), they actually think your lying. It's just too unbelievable.

So you could argue that it's more disrespectful to blatantly spit in the face of environmentalism and anyone that cares about road safety. Do I believe in defacing someone's property? No. But when someone makes a conscious choice to disregard any information on the subject they SHOULD feel marginalized. Just like a fool that would throw a lit cigarette out in a National park on a dry, hot day.

Well said indeed!

[GirlAbout(Oak)Town]

It's amazing how quickly talk about how "unsafe" Oakland is tends to reveal itself to be spoken by people with racist ideas about "too many" poor black people (how many is too many, I wonder?) and whatnot.

Yes, Oakland has crime. I've lived here since 1997 and had a car stolen and broken into a couple of times, and there was an attempted robbery at my old apartment on MacArthur near Grand. But I've never been subjected to any sort of physical violence and even though I live in one of the "good" neighborhoods (Grand Lake) I spend a lot of time all over Oakland, particularly with friends who live in Temescal, West Oakland, and so on. I walk downtown from BART to my place all the time late at night - in 10 years I have never had a threatening or hostile encounter. Maybe I'm just a lucky white liberal, or maybe the kind of crime that Oakland is famous for isn't random and has to do with pre-existing problems in specific communities and neighborhoods.

At this point I'm mixed, because the reputation Oakland has for being such a horrible place keeps it affordable and pleasant, unlike large parts of San Francisco, but it's also enraging to see such racist tripe used to justify these ignorant views of the city.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by GirlAbout(Oak)Town

It's amazing how quickly talk about how "unsafe" Oakland is tends to reveal itself to be spoken by people with racist ideas about "too many" poor black people (how many is too many, I wonder?) and whatnot.

Yes, Oakland has crime. I've lived here since 1997 and had a car stolen and broken into a couple of times, and there was an attempted robbery at my old apartment on MacArthur near Grand. But I've never been subjected to any sort of physical violence and even though I live in one of the "good" neighborhoods (Grand Lake) I spend a lot of time all over Oakland, particularly with friends who live in Temescal, West Oakland, and so on. I walk downtown from BART to my place all the time late at night - in 10 years I have never had a threatening or hostile encounter. Maybe I'm just a lucky white liberal, or maybe the kind of crime that Oakland is famous for isn't random and has to do with pre-existing problems in specific communities and neighborhoods.

At this point I'm mixed, because the reputation Oakland has for being such a horrible place keeps it affordable and pleasant, unlike large parts of San Francisco, but it's also enraging to see such racist tripe used to justify these ignorant views of the city.

Good points. You know when I go to Oakland I stay in that same area you live in (off of Vernon st.) and I walk around, often with camera gear all the time and never have had any sort of bad encounter. That area has always been the same. Most of Oakland is actually like that. The crime is concentrated in specific areas and it can be intense in those areas. However unless you live there, those areas are never anyplace anyone would ever have to visit.

It's interesting you mentioned the racist aspect. While I'm not one to cry racism at every opportunity, it does seem that cities with high black and/or Hispanic populations get the attention to crime more often. Compared to a city like Everett Washington which also has a fairly high crime rate but is mostly white.