I was thinking the same thing, but then I was probably being retarded and that standing on a cushion thing is the new ground breaking rule rewriting way of doing things, and I was just behind the times.
I live in Sydney, Australia. Here we have quite a large population of recent or second-generation immigrants (many of whom are refugees) living in what is a shitty part of an aesthetically beautiful city. So they hate on it and talk about how their heritage makes them culturally superior to the locals, even though the unpleasantness of their very presence has caused white flight. Then they leave their retarded slums and bring their inability to act like civilised human beings into my fucking neighbourhood. It is laughable that these people look down on others for having received an education and for working harder than themselves. There is no "authenticity" in being an illiterate, aggressive, uncouth dropout whose aspirations do not extend beyond drug-dealing and being a degenerate gambler. Yet I've encountered people who take great pride in these things. Sydney is a great city with education and employment opportunities which are available for anyone willing to take them and fuck people who think their shitty European/Middle-Eastern heritage means they can look down on this place.
I'm from Texas. Everywhere else is just a geographically diminishing suburb. Except Oklahoma; they are to Texas as Scotland is to England. Witness Ray Wiley Hubbard; I know. I'm a caricature of myself. Sometimes perception really is reality. Ambiguity feels so unbecoming. Now, if I could just find my steak and beer I'll head over too the drunk thread.
A quote from The Hammer came to mind: You guys sure seem to love Nicaragua except for the part where you risked your lives not to live there anymore. The ones that really get me are the dudes who aren't even 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants. I'm talking about those idiots that talk like Sonny Corleone and think they have ties to the mob because they are a tenth Italian. Or my buddy who is fucking adopted that has an Irish flag hanging in his man cave because he likes to drink Bushmills. Then there are those that are slightly different only because they don't know what their heritage is. I'm talking about those clowns that adopt a personality because of nothing other than what they think is cool, the thug who has never done anything thug worthy in his life, the cowboy who wears tight jeans and a 5 gallon hat but couldn't tell the difference between a Tennessee Walker and an Appaloosa. Or,,, on the other side of the spectrum.... The Hipster doofus, that agrees with me so much about hating the cowboy's and the thugs, decides that they are going to live the lifestyle of being proud of nothing at all. When I run into people like this in my travels, I immediately think to myself: This is a person that has never had a sense of direction or purpose, and they will never add anything to this conversation. Insomuch, they are willing to adopt a lifestyle to give them direction. And instead of finding a passion, or direction or purpose, has embodied one that gives them pride. Even if its fake. What's ironic is that they probably do it so they can look themselves in the mirror at night.
Okay, I live in Cincinnati. As far as I'm concerned, it is what it is. I was born here, grew up here, found a job here and continue to live here. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. Had I find something better somewhere else, I probably would have moved. I didn't, so here I am. I work with a few guys in particular who will punch you directly in the carotid artery if you pretend not to love everything Cincinnati has to offer. Sure, Mason is great. They hold no allegiance to Mason. They love Cincinnati itself. Everything about Cincinnati is great in their eyes, whether it be the bars, the redneck sluts running around, the watered down Chili that some guy decided to put onto Spaghetti and hot dogs (fucking delicious, by the way), and etc. But come on. How many people here have been to actual Cincinnati? Seen anything to do that's worthwhile aside from athletic events? Seen anything aesthetically pleasing? Chances are no and no. The city is a fun combination of dangerous minorities and dumb rednecks. The economy is in shambles. The infrastructure is dying. The homeless are taking over. Race riots are never far off. Point is, there's not much to be proud of. Some of the things that made Cincinnati a great city once upon a time (Over the Rhine - historic district that housed German immigrants and some awesome archetecture) are now downtrodden and ghetto. The people guilty of what this thread is all about are too busy preaching blind pride to change anything.
Because your dullard of a coworker was too molasses-brained to give a valid answer to a very easily answered question, I'll do it for her. DC has so much potential to be a great city. It has a decent arts culture, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to national treasures, and an ability to draw upon the nation's best and most passionate minds. But it isn't a great city. Why? Because the culture of this city fucking sucks. DC is the city of the bloodless, soul-sucking career. Of the Machiavellian maneuvering for the corner office. The power lunch, climbing the corporate (or public service. The distinction doesn't really matter) ladder, the lunch at your desk, the conversations about who you know and who you work for (and who they know, and who they work for). Of the petty, the ambitious, the hypocritical. Where being on the right side of an issue or an aisle matters more than giving a shit and having some gumption. Where you can go 6 months without having a legitimate discussion of ideas, but not ten minutes without the latest faux-scandal designed to push someone down so others can eagerly trample over him. It's a city where everyone wants to know what you do and who you work for, but it's taken as a given that no one here actually has any passion or caring. Every year, DC takes in the latest hoard of the passionate, the intelligent, the interesting. Some of your town and state's best and brightest, perhaps, regardless of where that might be. And it chews them up and spits them right back out without thinking a thing of it. It takes good men and women, and twists them beyond recognition. It may appear that all I've done is describe the shittier side of the human race, but that's just it. DC is that side, everyday. Relentlessly and sometimes even proudly. DC probably isn't our worst city. But it is our most sinister and insidious. Oh, and it makes you cynical and hyperbolic about things as well.