For the most part, I like what Emmett O’Connell is saying here about the Northwest attitude and the difficulty of outsiders to get it.
The same study pointed out that the typical Northwesterner was very open, but also very introverted. So, take that with the very sane label, I could see why crazy extroverts from other parts of the country would have trouble here.
So, long story short: we have a regional personality here in Cascadia. It is open, quiet and sane. It isn’t for everyone, but it was what defines us. There’s Southern Charm, Northeast brashness and up here we have Cascadian Calm
Right!
Still, I think he understates some of than animus toward people from the rest of the country. I mean it has warn off some, but Emmett Watson made a living hating Californians. And while the California hate was probably stronger than the rest of the country, East Coasters and people from all over get it too.
Cascadian Calm, I like it. And snow days. When the east coasters calm down, stay home, and play with the kids on a snow day, that’s when you know they’ve gone local.
…and then there are those outsiders who, once they arrived here, immediately recognized they finally had come home for the first time…
Thanks man!
Do you think there are various levels of animus towards Californians/New Yorkers throughout Cascadia? In Olympia, we seem pretty open to outsiders, who mostly choose to come to Olympia for culutre (Greeners) or government work. We also have a good amount of military, but they don’t tend to leave much of a mark.
Is there more/less outsider animus depending on where you are?
“And while the California hate was probably stronger than the rest of the country, East Coasters and people from all over get it too.”
Unreconstructed Confederates deserve special mention, too. That includes you, Rick Perry!
@3 “Is there more/less outsider animus depending on where you are?”
Yeah, everybody east of the Cascades thinks they’re in Arkansas.
@3,
I think Seattle was probably the height of it in the early 90’s, and it has definitely faded compared to the “Have A Nice Trip BACK to California” days. I wonder if Microsoft recruiting more people from around the country/world has made it more uncouth to complain because there are more people from all over. Olympia seemed like it was less when I lived down there.
I call it passive-aggressive.
Everyone hates California and Californians. When I lived in Reno, there was a long-standing joke that Nevadans wanted to put up a wall to keep the Californians out – seeing how they drive, I buy that. That said, Nevadans have no problem embracing Cascadian Calm as a better alternative, considering how many folks from the I-5 corridor had moved there. And that works both ways, as I know more than a few Nevadans (including my band’s most recent keyboard player’s move to Portland) have come up to enjoy the Calm.
I’d agree… What I’d like to know is… 1) Why should we like people from “outside,”, and 2) why should we let them in?
Californians especially… They elected that filthy jew c()nt to the senate. That by itself is enough reason to despise all of them.
@8 The last time I was in Chicago, the two most aggressive drivers I saw both had California plates.
Is it possible that we inherited these traits from the scandinavian immigrants that settled in Ballard and developed the comercial fishing and timber industries here? Seems to me that perhaps that’s a reason why some new immigrants complain about how Cascadians “keep to themselves” and are “hard to get to know”.
@6 “I think Seattle was probably the height of it in the early 90’s”
…after which it’s supposed to have migrated to “Port-land, Port-land, Port-land…….”
@ 12:
Being half Norwegian myself, I’d buy that.