Originally Posted By Mr X The truth is... And this is gonna hurt, guys...... The south sucks. Except for DisneyWorld,, New Orleans at Marti Gras, and certain select cool beach towns like Miami and Clearwater. But don't feel bad. The midwest sucks way harder. The southwest totally bites too (nice desert, losers!). Everybody knows that the NorthEast is the ONLY place to be, except for California which equally rocks. Everyplace else..is for flying over. Sorry, chumps!
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo It's ok Mr. X. There are no feelings hurt. I discount your statements with the fact that you don't even live in the US. It's not that I don't care what you think, but you don't see me stumbling over my own feet to move to Japan either. It's all good. ;P
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo Awww darn, I spoiled it! How did that underscore thing get in there!!!???
Originally Posted By Mr X Nice "JAPANESE" Style smiley there Chris. What's wrong with Japan? Hot chicks in short skirts, beer drinking on the street without police hassling you, and the best damned steaks ANYWHERE. Plus Tokyo DisneySea. Beat THAT!
Originally Posted By Lisann22 No quarrels from me Mr X, I call myself a coastie. Give me either coast, but not digging ANY of the middle. LOL!
Originally Posted By Mr X NYC beats Tokyo on Italian food though. And L.A. on the Mexican (although believe it or not Okinawa, Japan has some jammin mexican food for some reason). I will give you the Que...which is a very big plus (AND soulfood which also rocks the house)... Yeah, the South is probably the coolest "non-coast" zone, if only for the food and DisneyWorld.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<That was my first inclination that things outside of The South aren't all they are cracked up to be when it comes to race relations. In fact over the course of the next three years I can tell you, it was far more segregated than it is here IMHO. The "you are fine as long as you stay over there" mentality was out right confusing to me. Since then, I tend to wrankle a bit when people comment in such as way as to suggest that The Southern States are more racially charged than other places. It is simply NOT the case at all.>> You certainly have a good point there. In Minnesota we talk a good game. Damn... we are one of the most liberal and enlightened states there is. We LOVE minorities. As long as they don't live next door to us. Minneapolis is the most highly segregated large city in the United States. :-(
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo And the list of why I regret missing meeting you at Epcot three years ago, grows. *sigh*
Originally Posted By Mr X ***You certainly have a good point there. In Minnesota we talk a good game. Damn... we are one of the most liberal and enlightened states there is. We LOVE minorities. As long as they don't live next door to us. Minneapolis is the most highly segregated large city in the United States.*** Highly segregated how? Of topic, did anyone see that "How I met your Mother" episode where they talked about Minnesota having "no blacks" in their population, at least while Prince was on tour? Here in Japan things are easy. We outsiders know exactly where we stand. (it's especially difficult for the ethnic Koreans who were forced to come here three generations ago and are still afforded no benefits of citizenship...imagine if America had done THAT to the African Americans (OR the Indians for that matter!!??)??)
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, in fairness that IS what America did to the African Americans for a long, long time. And certainly prejudice still exists, although the laws have come a long way thank goodness! I wonder if, 200 years from now, Ethnic Koreans who came to Japan as slaves during WWII will finally elect their own leader. Knowing Japan, it'll take 450 years.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Since then, I tend to wrankle a bit when people comment in such as way as to suggest that The Southern States are more racially charged than other places. It is simply NOT the case at all.<< Understood. Having not lived in the Midwest, I got no basis to talk on that topic. And having lived several places in the South, I can tell you that it really was worse in Memphis, as much because of the constantly demonstrating militant African American groups as because of the occasional dumb hicks in the ghost outfits. I guess Southern California has me spoiled. And there are certainly racists here too (as I'm sure the local Mexican-Americans will confirm) but I just don't feel that tension that I was constantly feeling in Memphis. I will admit that I didn't find nearly as many links as I expected, so perhaps things in Memphis have moved forward faster than I thought.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Highly segregated how?>> Blacks are more highly concentrated in certain sections of Minneapolis (near north side and near south side) than in any other large city in America. I hate to sound like a freaking conservative, but part of the reason for this may be Minnesota's extremely generous benefits. We are well known for attracting folks from surrounding states (particularly the Chicago area) because the benefits here are much better than those where they come from. Consequently, we have a large concentration of poverty level black people where most cities have a more "normal" mix including a significant number of middle-class to upper middle-class blacks.
Originally Posted By markymouse I dread being an alarmist, but I just read <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106978/America%27s-Most-Dangerous-Cities" target="_blank">http://finance.yahoo.com/real-...s-Cities</a> that Memphis has the second highest violent crime rate in the country, essentially tied with Detroit. Given the difference in US and Japanese culture, you might want to give your friend a good long talk about being defensive, knowing your surroundings, etc.
