What is your frame of reference? Smug and humorless compared to whom? Just yourself? Have you lived or spent time in places where people weren’t smug and humorless? If the only frame of reference is you, personally…
Than perhaps it is just humanity that is subjectively smug and humorless and you are the lone outlier in this grey, grey world. Or, you know, it is something else.
I see you are from the West Coast too. You see, I find this attitude is ESPECIALLY prevalent on our coast. Maybe it’s a holdover of the Wild West everyman for himself mentality, but I just think a lot of people here really are insufferable pricks to the “have nots”.
And yes, I’ve traveled to many different parts of North America and while I think humanity pretty much sucks everywhere, the West Coast is the absolute dregs when it comes to unwarranted snobbery and self righteous standoffishness. England seems pretty bad too, tons of humorless and smug people there also.
Oddly for all the stuff you hear about Southerners and Midwesterners being narrow minded I find that most of the people I know from there are a lot more open and friendly than the people from my home region. Most of them only have positive things to say about the West Coast too, while West Coasters never have anything nice to say about anywhere that is not the West Coast, aside from Hawaii.
You’re nuts, plain and simple. The above post has so much wrong in it it might as well be Republican.
I was born back East and have lived both there ( multiple cities ) and in the Midwest. I have been out West for quite a while though. That much is accurate.
Regional cultures do differ, but I suspect you’re seeing the surface and mistaking it for the substance. Southerners very generally have a tradition of hospitality, but a lot of that can be skin deep and outward warmth can mask a lot of internal hositility or at least diffidence. My mother’s side of the family is almost entirely southern - they can be as nasty as anyone ( not necessarily nastier ), they just usually aren’t in your face about it. As folks have said, people pretty much are people.
The poor are treated bad everywhere. This is a fact. But honestly for all the paternalism and condescension ( par for the course ), the urban, liberal Pacific coast is probably on average more compassionate to the poor than many parts of the country ( and most of the world ).
I know folks that preferred other regional cultural attitudes. Horses for courses. But your “grass is greener” syndrome is really causing you to dig in your heels on this argument to the point where it seems hyperbolic and is causing people frustration. Hence a lot of the pushback you’re getting.
The people in this thread are behaving exactly the way I thought they would.
What amazes me is that they have the nerve to tell me I am the one being uncivil and rude. :eek:
You’re the only person in this thread who has called someone rude (ok, Darth Panda did too in the context of saying how most Parisians are not rude). We don’t think you’re rude, we’re just tired of your whining and lack of self-awareness.
My Irony Meter 2015 also exploded. I can’t wait to get another updated model next year.
I haven’t had too many interections with Gulf Arabs but those in the Levant are extremely generous and outgoing.
Same with Egypt.
I can’t remember who said it but someone said when you go from Egypt to Israel you’re going tom the politest country in the world to the rudest.
You’re a complete fucking moron.
Cite? 
Well, except for Jews, of course.
I wouldn’t say “unfriendly,” just more direct and less willing to sugar-coat things.
Have you considered the possibility that you suffer from depression, protoboard? Really. Really, really, really. Get some sort of psychological counseling to find what the problem is. If you truly want to not be so unhappy all the time, it’s something you ought to consider. I’m not saying this to be nasty to you. I’m trying to help you.
I think you’ll find that most countries are sufficiently unfriendly not to be too keen on people thinking they can just up sticks and move in from overseas, without first investigating things like immigration rules and work permits.
Likewise most of them will have different customs and conventions as to what is polite, or rude, or over-familiar, and so on. A fair proportion of American complaints about French unfriendliness might well have something to do with not opening the initial conversation with a simple “Bonjour”, for example.
My apologies. The post above was supposed to go in the other thread that protoboard started.
No, scientific surveys have unequivocally concluded that Europeans are vastly kinder than Americans. They’re also vastly more intelligent, athletic, taller, good looking, not so fat, have better fashion sense, better cooking skills, and European girls have larger and firmer breasts. Except Swedes. They suck big time.
But stay away. We don’t want your kind over here. Or if you absolutely most, go to Stockholm.
I’m pretty sure I do suffer depression actually. But I don’t think it’s just a chemical thing, I think my personality and values are just really far away from the mainstream for human beings and I don’t get along with others because of it.
BTW, I don’t get why I’ve got so much hostility for “bitching” here when the BBQ pit is specifically meant for bitching lol