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Home Front: Culture Wars
She Just Doesn't GET It
2019-02-11
[TheDeclination] There is a woman ‐ Diana Helmuth ‐ who wrote a first-person essay for Curbed, a San Fransisco area website. She was telling the story of a dear friend of hers, who was moving from SF to Pittsburgh, and the trip to the airport that left her in tears at her loss of a close friend.

She had realized that many of her friends had left ‐ 12 in all ‐ and that they were generally not employed in the tech fields, but in relatively low-paid fields. Some were leaving for a job, others for a more affordable life. Some wanted to have a family or home, and realized that it was never going to happen unless they left.

So, 1 by 1, this women’s social circle is developing gaping holes in it. In her naiveté, she implores the residents who see fleeing CA refugees to realize that they are good people, just hoping for a better life.

And, I’m sure she believes that.

They may have ’good hearts and big dreams’, but what the resistant old residents of the new locations are wary of is the newcomers’ refusal to recognize several important things:

  • The state of CA has become ruined due to their own actions ‐ voting in high taxes, limiting residential homes/apartments, zoning that keeps out affordable housing, overbearing Big Brother government, a prevailing ethos of "you BETTER watch what you say and do or we will RUIN you".

  • CA has held its arms open to illegal immigrants, because cynical Dems want the votes, as well as the increased representation in the House of Representatives.

  • Only the poor-to-middle-class suffer from the problems illegal immigrants bring in. It’s their local school systems that have been over-saturated with non-ESL students, overage "minors", and virtually uneducated students. The rich can afford the exclusive private schools, or to live in a community that insulates itself from those problems.

  • It’s not that they hate YOU, it’s that they hate the cultural assumptions that you bring with you:

  • That they are inbred hicks

  • That they’re dumber than you

  • That the way they live is designed to oppress minorities, reject LGB‐‐?, and force their Christian religion on you

  • That the reason they don’t think like you is because you haven’t explained it well enough, rather than the truth ‐ it doesn’t matter how long you lecture them about the superiority of your values, they think those values are severely lacking

  • You want to change that place ‐ NOW!

  • You expect your natural superiority will entitle you to immediately take leadership roles in any community activity

  • You turn your nose up and roll your eyes at the food, dress, and interests of the locals

  • You cannot keep your damn mouth shut about your dumba$$ opinions
That about covers it.

I’ve lived in cities, small towns, and rural areas. I’ve always been warmly welcomed, but a lot of that is probably because I didn’t come in with wrinkled nose about my new home, and immediately set about changing the neighbors "for their own good".

Treading lightly in new environments is a real good idea, if you want to be accepted.
CA metastasis?
Posted by:g(r)omgoru

#4  Off course some cynical people on the Right are interested in cheap labor. Between the cynics on the Left and Right is why nothing ever gets done to control immigration
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2019-02-11 21:23  

#3  Don't worry. Most of California will be full of affordable housing in a couple decades at the rate they're going.
Posted by: gorb   2019-02-11 18:14  

#2  I was born in Pissburgh. Don't miss it at all.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2019-02-11 12:04  

#1  I have found Pittsburgh to be a tough town very much like NY or NJ. In a hurry when dealing with anyone. I found DC to be a bit better believe it or not. DC however is so political and politically opinionated. I enjoyed leaving that behind.
Posted by: Dale   2019-02-11 11:43  

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