[OT] LA people?

[steve-o]

I live in Santa Monica. I walk or ride a bike nearly everwhere. But people certainly do drive more than not. I've also had many near misses because drivers weren't paying attention.

[steve-o]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

can you think of any reasons not to be embarassed to be american?
I missed those in all of your post.

Good question. I've tried but I can't seem to think of much.

[stale bread]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

can you think of any reasons not to be embarassed to be american?
I missed those in all of your post.

Good question. I've tried but I can't seem to think of much.

how about because there is no such thing as american and that everybody here comes from somewhere else.

[ground_control]

Just for the record, Santa Monica and Venice do not count as LA. Damn hippies...

J

[Tone Deft]

Just for the record, Santa Monica and Venice do not count as LA. Damn hippies...

J

Yeah, that would make LA a *nice* place to live.

[knotkranky]

Nothing counts as "LA". Thats thats the real LA stigma. It is every place and no place. I Lived there 46 years and just this week I've moved to vegas. But everybody thinks they've gotta observation to make about LA, but it's only an observation from were they're standing. To me LA are the beach cities, for others, it could be anywhere else. Any observation about LA as a whole is bs.

[forge]

I'm sure it is a joke, though.

Like that Steve Martin movie where they get in the car to drive to the next door neighbor's house

I was going to mention that!

[eyeknow]

Nothing counts as "LA". Thats thats the real LA stigma. It is every place and no place. I Lived there 46 years and just this week I've moved to vegas. But everybody thinks they've gotta observation to make about LA, but it's only an observation from were they're standing. To me LA are the beach cities, for others, it could be anywhere else. Any observation about LA as a whole is bs.

LA is it's own world entirely. To say it's "this" or "that" is definatly a personal observation. One thing is for certain.....NOBODY WALKS IN LA......MISSSING PERSONS RULE!!!!!

[knotkranky]

Yeah, Missing persons was cool. I had an "only in LA" experience with them. Dale Bozzio saw the band I was in at the time. I was making a record in 1984 and received a package at the studio. My girlfriend was with me while I opened it and out came 10 Missing Persons t-shirts and a card. I opened the the card and it was from Dale with a few cute words, a phone number and a kiss in lipstick from Dale's juicy lips. I went to my car and drove with my girl to get a bite. She was upset, dogging me and then crying. She kept eyeing the card and never let up. To get her to stop and prove my devotion, I took the card and tore it up into pieces and through it out the car window. She quit crying and hooked me up with amazing sex that afternoon. Anyway, that week my band was booked to do 5 shows opening for MP. Of course my girlfriend made ever show.

[hambone1]

Just another reason to be embarassed to be American... 5% of the world's population using more energy than the other five most populous countries combined.

can you think of any reasons not to be embarassed to be american?
I missed those in all of your post.

Gun crime, obesity, ignorance, laziness, greed, corruption, wasting of natural resources, forcing American policy around the world, wasting billions of dollars and lives on global domination, etc. Yes, these 'qualities' do exist elsewhere in the world, and yes, there ARE some great things about being American, but IMO they pale into insignificance when compared to how the US fits into the global scheme of things.

I'm American, by the way. I choose not to live there. And yes, I AM grateful that I have that choice.

[stale bread]

so is it americans that you're so disenchanted with or people living in america, i'm asking because your an american living elsewhere and I see people all day long living here in america that are not from america.

[Tone Deft]

so is it americans that you're so disenchanted with or people living in america

I think it's safe to say he's sick of the US government.

i'm asking because your an american living elsewhere and I see people all day long living here in america that are not from america.

How do you know they're not from the US? You cannot tell if someone is from the US by looking at them, especially not in major urban areas like LA.

[djadonis206]

How do you know they're not from the US? You cannot tell if someone is from the US by looking at them, especially not in major urban areas like LA.

In Seattle you can - I could tell you who an Ethiopian or Somalian elsewhere born is in a heartbeat - their heads are bigger, wear different clothes and congregate together in coffee shops with their cabs running

the American born Ethiopians dress different, don't hang in the same places and carry themselves differently

same for Asian people - you can easily tell an ABC from a non ABC - it's all about how they carry themselves and what they wear. and ABC's are bigger then non ABC's

face it, most Americans look the same - bigger obese people who more or less dress the same

South Africa has some big (not fat, but big) people -

you can spot a Englishmen on camera in a heartbeat as well

I'm pretty judgemental of people (admittedly no shame in it either) the more awkward people are the less likely we'll be friends <---> makes me uncomfortable - I mean what if you wanted to go out to dinner with a Ethiopian...people would think I was ethiopian and that's bad

[Tone Deft]

In Seattle you can...

San Francisco I can't. There are neighborhoods where people still feel completely comfortable living in the clothes, foods and language of whatever country their parents came from. I've thought I knew where someone was from (like cabbies) then you start talking to them and they turn out to be native San Franciscan, or lived in the US since they were 3 (which is pretty much the same as being born here, legal BS aside.) The only profiling game I play is picking people out as locals, 'bridge people' (east bay), 'bridge and tunnel' people (far east bay) or tourists.

[Thinktanx]

Gun crime, obesity, ignorance, laziness, greed, corruption, wasting of natural resources, forcing American policy around the world, wasting billions of dollars and lives on global domination, etc.

I'm an American. I've got a lot of friends. None of them are gunowners, obese, ignorant, lazy, greedy, corrupt; none of them waste natural resources, force American policy around the world, waste money, or promote global domination. Our government might. But our government hardly represents the whole of America, just as pretty much every other government the world over fails to represent its own people.

You are most certainly entitled to your opinion. And you seem quite reasonable. I don't even totally disagree with you. And I'm not trying to stump for America. But I have travelled all over the world and have come to understand that generalizations and stereotypes are utterly useless when it comes to people of any ilk.

On top of that, you moved to England. Hardly a world away from America, man. Outside of their history, England is about as close to America as you can get. Hell, England was America, before America was America. Figuratively and literally.

BTW - I would hardly characterize the general American as lazy. Facts are that Americans work longer than any other people on the planet. Besides, laziness is never gonna lead to global domination!