What do you think are the values of the region you live in?

[XemaSab]

People speak of different regions of the country having different values, like Midwestern values or Southern Values.

I'm a Californian, and I've lived here pretty much my whole life. I have taken trips out of the state, but California is my home. Even though there are areas where Californian values differ from Western values, I think there's a lot of common ground between the two.

Californians have a pretty strong connection to the outdoors. Even people who live in the city frequently go to the park, the mountains, or the beach. Whether you're a farmer, an environmentalist, or a hunter, Californians like the outdoors.

We're a little bit libertarian. On issues like gay rights, marijuana, or other topics, most people I know are pretty happy leaving their neighbors alone. Most of us, even the liberals, don't really trust government to do what's right or make good decisions on behalf of the people.

Californians are pretty curious about other parts of the world, like Asia and Latin America. We like foreign food, and sometimes foreign movies and art work, but we don't always like foreigners themselves. We're also curious about Native Americans. We indulge this curiosity at our local casinos. :P

Most Californians that I know are spiritual, but not religious. There are also many Californians that are VERY religious, though. Faith is usually a pretty personal matter.

We're not very neighborly, which is lame. I have only ever lived in one place where I knew more than one or two of my neighbors. People have really varied interpretations of what family means to them, with some people basically disowning their relatives and other people very close to their relatives.

Californians can be a bit snotty and insular, especially people from the Bay Area and LA. If you move inland, people are a little more laid back and folksy.

So what do you think are the general values where you come from?

(This is not a region bashing thread, just a thread to promote discussion and learning. :) )

[TomInTib]

1. I am in a little town in California and it is basically all-inclusive

North across the Bay from SF.

We have a wonderful sense of community here and welcome all who come here.

But Tiburon/Belvedere is a relatively small community (maybe 7000).

Come on out, DUers, we will welcome you with open arms.
And I will buy drinks/lunch/dinner.

[Ladyhawk]

3. My little town in California is about 60%

"Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out."

I feel like I'm a state of constant red alert.

[TomInTib]

6. So pack 'em up and move to Marin

Just do it

[Blue_In_AK]

7. If I were in California

I'd be in Marin. I lived in Bolinas for three years back in the early '70s. I loved that place.

[Ladyhawk]

10. Can't. :(

My chronic illnesses tie me to right-wing Republican/fundy family. It's a distinctly uncomfortable situation.

[LibDemAlways]

9. I live in a suburb of LA where many people are

employed in the entertainment business. I was filing some emergency cards while volunteering in my daughter's school office and came across a parent who listed her occupation as "Mickey Rooney's agent." It's that kind of place. People are shallow, self-absorbed, obsessed with outward appearance, desperate to outdo each other by sporting the biggest everything from fake boobs to hummer.

I moved into the area 30 years ago before it was trendy. Now its all McMansions and wall to wall SUVs. Depressing as hell. If not for family considerations - elderly parents nearby - I'd bail in a heartbeat.

[EFerrari]

15. I lived in Santa Monica for three years and found the culture

creepy. It was so good to come back up north.

[Raine]

13. I'm in a suburb of Los Angeles County

that is REALLY conservative and repug and well to do. One reason it's so conservative is that most of the people used to work at places like TRW, Garrett and Airsearch (defense plants). They are upper middle class and snotty they are always concerned with other's (AKA/minorities)trying to take away what they have "worked" so to achieve.

[leftofthedial]

2. lip service to high ideals, but really . . .

make money. more money than the other guy. aww fuck money. go skiing. wait. you can buy the new SUV and new skis if you make money. more money than the other guy. aww fuck money. go skiing . . .

[PDJane]

4. I'm a Canuk

who lives in downtown Toronto.

If I stand on the corner of Yonge and Dundas (about 3 blocks from me) every single type of person on the face of the earth will pass by. I do mean everyone, including the woman wearing a bourka to the femme de nuit wearing a mini skirt and spikes, from the guy who wears a tin foil hat to the lawyer with the briefcase.

It's too diverse a community to have much in the way of shared values, but tolerance, a general outlook that would be indistinguishable from communism to the average American, and a concern for the environment are pretty much the norm.

The religious nuts are thinner on the ground here, I think, and the gay rights question appears to have been settled for once and for all. Same sex couples are nothing out of the ordinary, gays and lesbians can marry or serve in the military........actually, we've had a wedding for two male officers shortly after the decision was finalized!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Alaskans

like to think of themselves as independent libertarians (small l) --
"We don't care HOW they do it Outside" -- we like the outdoors, a lot of people hunt and fish, ski, snowboard, hike and mountain climb in the summer. There are a lot of artists here - painters, photographers, native carvers and basket makers, etc. There's kind of a live and let live attitude up here. We're pretty casual and laid back. People like their privacy, but they're generally pretty friendly and open. If you get stuck in a snowbank someone will come along and pull you out.

I think there's more of a sense of statewide "community" here because there are so few of us and we're so isolated from the rest of the US. I really like it here because I'm not big on crowds (except for peace and marches and such). :)

[mdmc]

8. "I gotta protect my kids and help them pay for college."

Hudson Valley, NY

[murielm99]

11. The work ethic

I live in a small farming community in Northern Illinois.

Here, the highest compliment one person can pay another is, "He (or she) works hard."

It does not seem to matter that much what they do, as long as they work hard.

I would like to say the people here always help their neighbors. But it is not true all the time. People who make an attempt to be a part of the community in some way usually fare better if they need help. If they volunteer for something, or go to church here, they usually get better acceptance, no matter what they are like. Small town folks here seem to appreciate those who make an effort. On the other hand, I would have to say that farmers here usually help anyone who needs it without question.

People here are becoming more educated and more accepting all the time. We do have some diversity. We even have a gay community.

Nearly everyone here belongs to a Christian church, even if nominally. But the work ethic is the primary thing that I have noticed about us.

I have noticed, over the last ten years or so, that some nutty fundies think that this place might be a paradise for them. Some of those families have moved to town. They don't merge very much with the community, except to join the more conservative churches here. They home school their kids. A fundie church has even set up shop here since 2005. I am worried by the number of new converts they are getting. They seem to want to take over a lot of community events. They were brought here by the young marrieds of a prominent family in the community. I guess we will have to see what happens.

This is a red area. However, Democrats have made some great inroads in the last few years. My precinct voted 44.5% Democratic in the last primary. The way the repukes are going, we may up that number even more in the future.

I am sure that my area is not like the suburbs or the larger towns in my area. I can only speak for small town Midwestern values that I observe here.

[XemaSab]

14. Thanks for the insight.

I can't recall thqat being said about many people, unless they're co-workers who work harder than their bosses are aware of.

[BlueIris]

12. Oregonian here. Pacific Northwesterners are, um, er...

I'd love to say we're straight up liberal, but...if you move to the eastern portions of either Oregon or Washington um, well, er, it's pretty "conservative" (read: ignorant, bigoted, pro-war and very "religious"). And the liberal...ish regions of western OR/WA have their nasty, reactionary rightists, too, and always have. And, of course, the wealthy in the metro areas of the western parts of the state tend to be Republican (and very elitist) by economic necessity (theirs, of course).

So, it's hard for me to put a political stamp of any variety on Oregon or the PN generally. It leans liberal, but not by much (especially these days, when many former liberals who are still registered Democrats are too chickenshit to use any term other than 'progressive' to describe themselves so as not to risk rejection by their Bush-era-reinvigorated Republican spouses, business partners and kids' college admissions' staffers). And then there's that problematic Idaho factor. If I have to mix in Idaho, it takes Oregon and Washington's dark purple and turns the whole PN region completely maroon.