What's wrong with living in metropolitan areas?

[Kaizen1]

This isn't a rant, it's an honest question. I put it here rather than W&C because I'd like to know what people really think and not just give people a reason to use expletives, although I realize some people need expletives to say what they really think.

I've read so many little remarks about how they're so happy to live in the country areas (which is fine and I can understand that), but also implicit (and explicit) remarks about how horrible it would be to live in places like California where I live. I'm in the Bay Area. Yes, I understand that the gun & knife laws could be better, the criminal court system is messed up and all that, but I usually get the impression that CA and other metropolitan areas are equal to living in some Nazi state. Have the people who (seem to) hate CA so much stayed in the nicer areas of CA for longer than 2 weeks before or are they just reading a bunch of stuff and coming to these conclusions? Maybe it just because I'm a relatively young guy, but there are two huge factors that make these places worth it for me: Women & weather. Do I wish I could carry a concealed gun? Hell yeah. But not at the expense of moving to an area that doesn't have the two factors that I love.

In my last job I would speak to people on the phone around the country. I remember one guy asked me where I stayed and of course I told him that I was in the SF Bay Area. He responds with something like "Oh God, how could you live there?" And I'm thinkin "This guy stays in Nowhere Ohio (nothing against OH but he lived far from everything) and he's asking me how I could live here?" That doesn't compute.

I love the country. I've camped and vacationed in country areas. It's pleasant. Would I move there? Maybe I'm too much of a city boy but no way. I like being around heavily populated areas. I recently went down to LA, Orange County and San Diego. I plan on moving in one of those areas soon. The Bay Area gets too cold for me during the Fall and Winter.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what exactly makes places like CA, NY and other metro areas so unbearable.

 

[SamuraiDave]

The best way I have been able to rationalize others point of view is simply culture.
Within our country there are many cultures.
Even within a city there are different cultures.
My wife and I grew up in similar areas and our families are totally different, they have different cultures.
People are products of their environment, geographically and socially.

Education has some input, but the older I get and the more people I meet the less I give credit to having a degree. (I know a lot of Doctors and high end Lawyers that have absolutely no common sense.)

This is the reason why there are Liberals and Conservatives. People who consider city life is the way to go, and people who prefer to be left on their own in the country. I have a very diverse group of individuals on my team at work.

However, the reason that I know people hate California is that they see it as a "Nanny State". Too many taxes, government wanting to know everything about everything, and the question asked when people from California travel "Why cant you do this like we do in California?"

I know farmers in the Dakotas and Montana who get EXTREMELY angry discussing this very issue due to people they have met that have not realized how insulting they are. "This would be so much better if you did it like we do in California!", "Well that's not how we do it back where I come from!"

I don't think it is just Californian's though, I think the majority of people have issue with realizing that when they travel they go to places that may speak their language, but don't hold their personal beliefs.

 

[YayILikePie]

First off about SF: No Left Turns.

Second, the traffic can get really bad around the metro areas. It's not so much the people as much as it's the troubles associated with trying to get around an overcrowded area in which about half the population comes from tourism. Also, the smog from all the factories and cars can make the air unbearable, as was the case back in the '50s and '60s in Los Angeles.

 

[Kaizen1]

This is pretty much what I suspected. I doesn't seem to appear as bad when you're actually living in a nicer area in CA or any other metro area. I don't feel like someone is looking over my shoulder or reaching in my pocket. I wonder if some are taking these types of metaphors a little too literally. They just don't seem to equate on the level of actually being and living here. Too many people for your preference? I can understand that. Want to save on taxes and stock up on guns and ammo? I can understand that too. But if one thinks that I have a camera following me everywhere I go and a politician stealing my knives and money, it just doesn't happen. And the women and the weather. That stuff is priceless. Maybe if I eventually become a family man I'll start to dislike CA. Who knows?

 

[Kaizen1]

First off about SF: No Left Turns.

LOL. touche.

Second, the traffic can get really bad around the metro areas. It's not so much the people as much as it's the troubles associated with trying to get around an overcrowded area in which about half the population comes from tourism. Also, the smog from all the factories and cars can make the air unbearable, as was the case back in the '50s and '60s in Los Angeles.

The smog in SF isn't noticeable as far as I can tell. LA is a different story, but not all of CA or even SoCal is like downtown LA. The traffic I can understand. I remember speaking to a real estate agent from Santa Barbara and she was telling me about how horrible it was with the traffic down there. The commute she was referring to used to be 10 minutes and because of all the people moving into the area, it had gone up to 15 minutes. I could've slapped her over the phone.

 

[Silverdagger]

Change a few words around can get fun. Us rural people are the ones who normally get made fun, questioned, and hated by liberal elites. Anyway, I had some fun with this.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH LIVING IN RURAL AREAS?

This isn't a rant, it's an honest question. I put it here rather than W&C because I'd like to know what people really think and not just give people a reason to use expletives, although I realize some people need expletives to say what they really think.

I've read so many little remarks about how they're so happy to live in THE BIG CITY areas (which is fine and I can understand that), but also implicit (and explicit) remarks about how horrible it would be to live in places like Alaska, the cornfield midwest or Southeast, where I live. I'm in the the South. Yes, I understand that the education system could be better, the good ole boy court system is messed up and all that, but I usually get the impression that Southeast and other rural areas are equal to living in some some Third World County. Have the people who (seem to) hate Red States so much stayed in the nicer areas of TN, Northern Georgia, Coloroda, Wyoming, Texas or Montanna for longer than 2 weeks before or are they just reading a bunch of stuff and coming to these conclusions? Maybe it just because I'm a relatively young guy, but there are two huge factors that make these places worth it for me: outdoorsy women with real boobs and Hunting/Fishing. Do I wish I could wear a three piece suit now and then? Hell yeah. But not at the expense of moving to an area that doesn't have the two factors that I love.

In my last job I would speak to people on the phone around the country. I remember one guy with a noticably lisp asked me where I stayed and of course I told him that I was in the Appalacia Area. He responds with something like "Oh God, how could you live there?" And I'm thinkin "This guy stays in some one unit apartment(nothing against NY but he lived on the 49th floor) and he's asking me how I could live on my 200 acre farm in a doublewide" That doesn't compute.

I love the city. I've tailgated at professional games and vacationed in city areas. It's pleasant. Would I move there? Maybe I'm too much of a country boy but no way. I like being around less populated areas. I recently went down to LA (Lower Alabama), I plan on moving in one of those areas soon. The Appalacian Mountains get too cold for me during the Fall and Winter.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what exactly makes places like The Southeast, Big Sky Country, Texas, Alaska, Canada and other rural areas so unbearable.

 

[mwerner]

For all practical purposes, I've lived all my life in an urban area here in St. Louis.
From the heavily-industrialized era in the 50s and 60s through the manufacturing decline and the "white flight" era to the present day.
Advantages.... Even though St. Louis is no longer a "big" city, you can still find anything you want at nearly any time. Art, culture, entertainment, fine dining, not-so-fine dining...You name it, it's available. You don't have to drive 20 miles for a cappucino or a new set of strings for your guitar or nearly anything else.

We live in the county, and we get excellent services as well. The streets get cleaned off promptly when it snows. Utilities are quickly repaired if there's an outage. If you get sick, there are excellent hospitals and urgent care facilities all over.
Response time for emergencies is in terms of minutes in most cases.

Disadvantages... Some areas of the city are nasty. There are single streets that account for 1/2 the annual homicides. Traffic can be very bad at times, and bad weather can make it horrible.
Local politics can be....Interesting. Despite being a fairly large city St. Louis still has some very parochial and small-town attitudes. Almost all the industry is gone. No more car manufacturing, no big industrial plants.
My wife and I find the idea of living "out" in a rural area to be rather terrifying. We get a little panicky if we're more than 5 minutes from a cappuccino.

 

[yablanowitz]

I can sum it up in one word: people. If you like them, live where there are a bunch of them. If you're like me, live where there aren't so many.

I have lived in a few places and visited several more, and it seems to me that humans hit critical mass and explode when the population density gets too high. When one can't break wind without offending another, they are too close together.

I'm about halfway between New York City and Los Angeles, and close enough to both to suit me.

 

[Mike Carter Custom Knives]

I'm in the middle on this one. Having lived in both a very small rural farming community and visiting nearly every big city in the US, I find my hometown Louisville to be a near prefect fit. Louisville is a nice medium sized city that offers most of the culture and ammenities of larger cities without the traffic and crowding.

What we consider heavy traffic gets a belly laugh from someone from NY, Chicago, DC, LA, Atlanta or Miami. We are large enough to attract a lot of top notch entertainment and interesting shows and conventions but you can drive less than an hour in any direction and be in rural countryside or deep in the woods. And KY is a very gun and knife friendly state.

I have spent time in NY, LA, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, Philly and Chicago. They are OK to visit but I can't imagine living in any of them with possible exception of Phoenix. They are just too crowded, expensive and hurried to suit my tastes.

 

[jill jackson]

I hate having neighbors so close you can, see or hear them from your home or lawn.
I just don't want to walk into my yard and see somebody standing in their yard looking at me, I also don't want to be bothered with other people's kids and pets in my yard.
I was born out in the sticks and I'll die here!

 

[Mike Carter Custom Knives]

I hate having neighbors so close you can, see or hear them from your home or lawn.
I just don't want to walk into my yard and see somebody standing in their yard looking at me, I also don't want to be bothered with other people's kids and pets in my yard.
I was born out in the sticks and I'll die here!

On the other hand, good neighbors can be a blessing to help when you need it or to keep an eye on your house while you are away. But bad neighbors can be a nightmare.

 

[Lycosa]

Jill--- I'm in the sticks and love it. If I need help I'll ask a bear.

 

[Kaizen1]

I'm in the middle on this one. Having lived in both a very small rural farming community and visiting nearly every big city in the US, I find my hometown Louisville to be a near prefect fit. Louisville is a nice medium sized city that offers most of the culture and ammenities of larger cities without the traffic and crowding.

What we consider heavy traffic gets a belly laugh from someone from NY, Chicago, DC, LA, Atlanta or Miami. We are large enough to attract a lot of top notch entertainment and interesting shows and conventions but you can drive less than an hour in any direction and be in rural countryside or deep in the woods. And KY is a very gun and knife friendly state.

I have spent time in NY, LA, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, Philly and Chicago. They are OK to visit but I can't imagine living in any of them with possible exception of Phoenix. They are just too crowded, expensive and hurried to suit my tastes.

I'd probably prefer overall the medium to large sized cities. I don't love heavy traffic and I don't hate the small town feel.

 

[SPXTrader]

I like it where I am. I'm on a mountain top, 20 minutes away from a cluster of 2 cities, one town (all three border each other), and suburbs with a total population of around 150,000 or so. I can ride down the hill and have a wonderful world class dinner and hear the symphony, or stay home and ride around nekkid on the tractor all day and no one will see me.

I guess its all what you're used to.

 

[Kaizen1]

Change a few words around can get fun. Us rural people are the ones who normally get made fun, questioned, and hated by liberal elites. Anyway, I had some fun with this.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH LIVING IN RURAL AREAS?

This isn't a rant, it's an honest question. I put it here rather than W&C because I'd like to know what people really think and not just give people a reason to use expletives, although I realize some people need expletives to say what they really think.

I've read so many little remarks about how they're so happy to live in THE BIG CITY areas (which is fine and I can understand that), but also implicit (and explicit) remarks about how horrible it would be to live in places like Alaska, the cornfield midwest or Southeast, where I live. I'm in the the South. Yes, I understand that the education system could be better, the good ole boy court system is messed up and all that, but I usually get the impression that Southeast and other rural areas are equal to living in some some Third World County. Have the people who (seem to) hate Red States so much stayed in the nicer areas of TN, Northern Georgia, Coloroda, Wyoming, Texas or Montanna for longer than 2 weeks before or are they just reading a bunch of stuff and coming to these conclusions? Maybe it just because I'm a relatively young guy, but there are two huge factors that make these places worth it for me: outdoorsy women with real boobs and Hunting/Fishing. Do I wish I could wear a three piece suit now and then? Hell yeah. But not at the expense of moving to an area that doesn't have the two factors that I love.

In my last job I would speak to people on the phone around the country. I remember one guy with a noticably lisp asked me where I stayed and of course I told him that I was in the Appalacia Area. He responds with something like "Oh God, how could you live there?" And I'm thinkin "This guy stays in some one unit apartment(nothing against NY but he lived on the 49th floor) and he's asking me how I could live on my 200 acre farm in a doublewide" That doesn't compute.

I love the city. I've tailgated at professional games and vacationed in city areas. It's pleasant. Would I move there? Maybe I'm too much of a country boy but no way. I like being around less populated areas. I recently went down to LA (Lower Alabama), I plan on moving in one of those areas soon. The Appalacian Mountains get too cold for me during the Fall and Winter.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what exactly makes places like The Southeast, Big Sky Country, Texas, Alaska, Canada and other rural areas so unbearable.

Have you actually seen anyone post anything negative about the country on these forums? I've been on here for 3 years and I haven't. And yet I have seen many times comments like the ones that I've been talking about. So unless you've seen comments like I've been talking about on these forums about the country, you switching the words around is unfounded. You may hear stuff outside of the forums, but I was originally talking about comments made on these forums with the exception of the phone conversation story.

People on these forums tend to like knives and the outdoors which tends to take place in the country or country type places. So I don't see the contempt about the country like the type that I see from people making comments about the city areas.

 

[Kaizen1]

I like it where I am. I'm on a mountain top, 20 minutes away from a cluster of 2 cities, one town (all three border each other), and suburbs with a total population of around 150,000 or so. I can ride down the hill and have a wonderful world class dinner and hear the symphony, or stay home and ride around nekkid on the tractor all day and no one will see me.

I guess its all what you're used to.

Nekkid on a tractor? That does sound like an appealing form of freedom:thumbup:

 

[Randy C]

I can say I've lived n central Ca. for over 40 years. It was nice growing up there ,but now it's too much like a big city; crime, crowds, smog, and the 'Me First' mentality. I moved to upstate New York, 'in the stix', so to speak and I love it. Only been here about 18 months but, I'll never move back. Remember, it's not what you have but, being happy with it.

 

[Trent Rock]

The commute she was referring to used to be 10 minutes and because of all the people moving into the area, it had gone up to 15 minutes. I could've slapped her over the phone.

The MAIN reason I live in Santa Barbara is the traffic
It has gotten worse the last 10 yrs
Mostly around commute hour
It slows down to about 40 mph
She is right
It used to take 10 minutes..now it is about 15 minutes

I HATE traffic
Pisses me off to no avail

I guess I will live in Santa Barbara until the commute gets to be about 45 minutes
Then I will try and find another coastal town with "little" traffic

I also don't like some of the unpleasant sights of the big city
I know homeless people exist
I just don't like seeing them every day 24/7
It brings my morale down..........
And the smell of dumpsters is a downer too...

 

[SPXTrader]

Nekkid on a tractor? That does sound like an appealing form of freedom:thumbup:

Yeah, it's fun. Kinda like Green Acres, except without clothes! :thumbup:

 

[Silverdagger]

Have you actually seen anyone post anything negative about the country on these forums? I've been on here for 3 years and I haven't. And yet I have seen many times comments like the ones that I've been talking about. So unless you've seen comments like I've been talking about on these forums about the country, you switching the words around is unfounded. You may hear stuff outside of the forums, but I was originally talking about comments made on these forums with the exception of the phone conversation story.

People on these forums tend to like knives and the outdoors which tends to take place in the country or country type places. So I don't see the contempt about the country like the type that I see from people making comments about the city areas.

I didn't know you were talking about this forum specifically. You mentioned "work situations", specifically "in my last job" where you told people where you lived, so I took it as you are talking about life in general, not Bladeforums. My bad.

Just watch any show and the dumb crook speaks "southern". And watch an news channel and watch them make fun of Sarah Palin and all Alaskans and how stupid they are for electing them.

You are correct, you won't hear much in an outdoorsy second ammendment freedom loving place like this about the virtues of the big city. Just won't happen.

It all goes back to the Civil War really. Big gov't vs small gov't never has been settled since the last shot of the Civil War. It's just now that the southern states are red states and the northern states are the blue states. The geography has somewhat changed. The mindset hasn't.

Hoping the Big One will hit and take California, at least it's cities, outside the United States, to Communist China, where they belong. They'll be begging for government bailout money for their big spending big city foolishness soon enough.

LOL Is that what you are talking about??? ROFL