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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Ok, here's the thing... I love New York. I love Boston. I think both cities have a hell of a lot of great things going for 'em. It goes without saying that they're drastically different places, and not just because of their relative sizes, geography, histories, layout, or population makeup.
I'm more comfortable in Boston, but for no other reason than I've spent more time on its (yes, at first confounding) streets, and feel at ease after the five years I've lived here. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy hanging out in New York, learning more about it, discovering new areas, and feeling a little less overwhelmed each time. I've got a lot of friends down there, and I'm always looking forward to another drive south. Which is why I don't get this whole Boston vs. New York thing, which lately is centered almost exclusively around baseball, of course. The worst side of people, players, and the two places are coming through, and it ain't pretty. Emotions are high, tempers and criticisms are building, and just because of an essentially inconsequential game. Y'know, I like the Red Sox a lot (although I like a couple of them a lot less since Saturday), I know the pain of being a longtime Sox fan, and I'm no fan of the Yanks, but that certainly doesn't mean I'm going to start generalizing about the behavior of New Yorkers or the whole Yankees roster. So, speaking of the worst side of people, here's a few excerpts written by Adm, from his insightfully titled post "Fuck Boston, and Fuck Baseball" ... "Boston, for the most part, is a city made up of cruel and arrogant people who think they are better than everyone else. And this seems to apply to the Red Sox as well..." and "But gradually, it dawned on me that, no, in fact it was just Bostonians who treated everyone like crap...", and how about "Once I realized this was the true nature of Boston, I began seeing absurd acts of disrespect everywhere in the city: people who worked at stores hated customers and argued over everything, the cops arrogantly dismissed everything you told them and could never trouble themselves to help you out or give you a straight answer, and racism was blatant, widespread, and ignored by everyone who wasn't directly affected by it. Everyone seems to think they're better than you, but this apparently is just a front, meant to cover up the city's deeper insecurities."So I've lived here almost as long as he did, and found little evidence of the cloud of negativity that he saw hanging over this town. Maybe I talk to different cops, maybe I visit different stores, maybe I've worked with different people, maybe I'm ignorant to the 'blatant' racism he experienced ... but honestly it seems things are no worse (or no better, perhaps) than other places I've visited, or even the small city I grew up in. It's a shame Amy's Robot doesn't have comments enabled, because I know an awful lot of perfectly well-mannered Bostonians who'd like to respond. Reading Adm's words, I think they probably say more about him, maybe how he interacted with others while he was here, than it does about Bostonians. It's hard not to take it personally when someone generalizes about your entire city because of a couple spoiled ballplayers and some obviously bad personal experiences. It takes some work to find the good in people, no matter where you live. You need to be open to it, sometimes to even seek it out. Unfortunately, wherever you go, the "cruel and arrogant" ones seem to stick out on the radar. It's easy to spot them, and thanks to the internet, now it's even easier. I didn't even have to visit New York to find this one.  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac... on the nightstand boston-area music bloggers
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