Why are Californians the most dysfunctional in the nation?

[Winston]

Is there a reason why Californians seem to be the most dysfunctional in the nation? Even in America, the rest of the country has a negative view of Californians, describing them as fake, plastic and dysfunctional. It seems to be where the most screw ups are from, as well as eccentric characters. LA is one of those places where everyone outside of it has something negative to say about it, and justifiably so.

Even in Utah, the people have told me "Oh we are not like the people from the coast. They are a different breed."

Why is that? What is it about California that makes it so dysfunctional? Any idea?

[ladislav]

You have not seen New Yorkers yet. Californians are angels, man.

[momopi]

Is there a reason why Californians seem to be the most dysfunctional in the nation? Even in America, the rest of the country has a negative view of Californians, describing them as fake, plastic and dysfunctional. It seems to be where the most screw ups are from, as well as eccentric characters. LA is one of those places where everyone outside of it has something negative to say about it, and justifiably so.

Ask them if they're referring to the richer members of the 29.4% white population in Los Angeles, or the 48.4% mostly poor-er Hispanic population.

When they say "fake and plastic", they probably have "The Real Housewives of OC" in mind:



Which is a very small % of the population. They're not referring to these guys in LA:






How dysfunctional is Los Angeles? Once when I was fishing on Redondo Pier, the cops came in and cleared the mostly Hispanic folks on the pier for a movie shoot. Then they bought in busloads of young white people from elsewhere and put them on the pier for the movie (or TV show) shoot, just so that they can show the place is full of young and beautiful white people. That's Hollywood for you. Heck, I don't live in LA, I live in Orange County, and the center of Orange County is Santa Ana, where the population is 79.6% Hispanic (74% Mexican).

Buenos días, señor!

[ssjparris]

@ momopi HAHAHAHAHA Buenos dias to you to senor momopi.

@ winston i live in the ghetto. the city of compton ( sippin' on jin and juice not included ). sooooooo.... i would automatically awesome most of america is like L.A. i don't have a reference other than mississippi to make a point here. I do see plastic people, very, very cold. seriously unapproachable women. almost ALL women here in L.A. are gold diggers.

this is where hollywood is, the land of make believe where they create fantasy stories about america that are not true. i just can't put a finger on it for ya.

but okay....i assume the mentality here from L.A. residence is " i am right next to the capital of all blockbuster movies. I am super super special. i am the shit." maybe that is over exaggereting and not very solid. but at least i tried.

[MrPeabody]

I lived in LA for 10 years, and based on my experience, I can offer the following reasons:

1. immature dreamers coming from all over the United States trying to get into the movie industry,

2. cultural movements such as scientology or EST which makes unstable people even more unstable,

3. a large population of neurotic Jews,

4. good weather attracts riff raff, and

5. concentration of spectacular wealth and a lot of spoiled rich kids.

[Winston]

But I'm not just talking about LA. I'm talking about CA in general. If you go to Bakersfield, CA for example, you will sense a depressing dysfunctional vibe, similar to the ghetto areas of Las Vegas. People seem either fake or dysfunctional. There is just something unreal and not right about it. Even the rest of the USA notices it.

[FreeYourMind]

The "dysfunctional vibe" pretty much describes everywhere in the U.S. these days. Stressed out, confused, angry, fearful, uptight, inhibited, ignorant, those also apply. It is not a happy or confident country. Americans are the most propagandized and manipulated people ever, and it shows.

[ladislav]

I guess it is because they are given impossible dreams that they are told they can achieve but they do not. So, it is all crashed expectations. Plus most people do not have roots there, the religion is not strong either and there is too much rapid change and movement.
But the weather is sure nice!

[momopi]

I guess it is because they are given impossible dreams that they are told they can achieve but they do not. So, it is all crashed expectations. Plus most people do not have roots there, the religion is not strong either and there is too much rapid change and movement.
But the weather is sure nice!

Or borrow unreasonable amount of money to buy homes at unreasonable prices, just so that you can keep up with the jones:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/07/real_es ... /index.htm

...and when the market crash, boom.

[gsjackson]

I subscribe to every theory Mr. Peabody enumerated. Also, Lewis Lapham, probably our best living writer of non-fiction, had a piece about thirty years ago about why he preferred New York to the Bay Area where he had grown up in a family that was sort of local royalty. The gist, IIRC, seemed to be that in New York the conversation with preceding generations hadn't been suspended, as it had in California, which was constantly reinventing the wheel, in the sense of embracing totally the latest insight about human development. The old carcass of the western intellectual tradition still existed in New York; in California it had been thrown out in favor of the new. California seemed to him like a primitive society, without the benefit of any tradition or antecedent knowledge.

This tied in with other writers of the time, such as Christopher Lasch, who were weighing in on the emerging "culture of narcissism" in the U.S., which they saw as in part an outgrowth of a nation that had thrown away its history and any connection to it.

[momopi]

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239797

Prof: Hispanics should replace 'old white men'
Supporter of DREAM amnesty plays race card against opponents
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: December 15, 2010
1:00 am Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A UCLA professor has given public speeches in support of the DREAM Act in which he has made inflammatory statements, including the suggestion that Hispanics should replace "old white men" in positions of power and that Republican leaders in the Senate who oppose the immigration bill are racists.

On the UCLA website, Kent Wong is listed as the director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA, where he teaches Labor Studies and Asian-American Studies.

On Dec. 13, Wong gave a speech at a pro-illegal immigration rally at McArthur Park in Los Angeles in which he endorsed the DREAM Act in racist terms, according to a video first surfaced by Eyeblast.tv.

Toward the end of his speech calling for the DREAM Act to be passed by Congress, Wong proclaimed to the rally, "When that day happens, the young people of the DREAM Act movement will go on to accomplish and do great things with our lives. You will go on to become lawyers, teachers, doctors and members of the U.S. Congress to replace those old white men. (Applause) You are the hope and future of this country. You represent the hope and future of your generation."


Kent Wong

Click on URL to read full article.

Info on the DREAM ACT:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DREAM_Act

[MrPeabody]

I live in Mexico, and I don't hear much about race, and people even seem to have a positive view of the United States. But as soon as you get into the US, you have this polarization with all these racist clowns from the right and the left.

[ladislav]

Exactly, people just go on with their lives. We have apartheid here and there should be sanctions against us for racism.

[jamesbond]

The funny thing is, southern California has the highest divorce rate in the US at 63%. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, because that figure includes the divorce rate for the celebrities that live in southern Cal. as well the general population.

[NorthAmericanguy]

You have not seen New Yorkers yet. Californians are angels, man.

I HATE dirty rat infested NYC and I hate the rude unhealthy New Yorkers.. I agree, Californians are angels compared to people here in the east. To be honest, when I was living in California, the people use to get on my nerves sometimes because they were never serious people to me, and they would party too much, but now that I'm back here in the east, dealing with all these rude, boring and depressed east coast people, I realize California people know how to have fun and they know not to take life too seriously. The problem was not them, it was with me.

Another thing I miss about California is all the daily driven custom cars. Car customization is a very big industry in California apposed to here in the east which is mostly car audio.

With that said, I would not want to raise a family in California. It's too much drugs, the alcohol flows free, and there are just too many other things to get into (ie, Vegas, lake havasu).