Where you live....defines you?

[novixz]

So yesterday, me and my friend were talking about a [link to=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hot_chili_peppers] certain band[/link]. He's been a big fan of them for a while now, since he was a child actually. Now everything they make to me just sounds to manufactured and processed, so I just tell them that they sound too mainstream for me (which I will admit, I'm not above dismissing things as too mainstream, but this thread isn't about that). He goes on to ***** me out and tell me I'm pretentious, (which I'm not, but let's stay on the topic thread, eh?) which I deny. Now here's where the topic comes from: he told me 'You live in (undisclosed location), Mississippi, a small town with nothing to do, not the suburbia of a metropolitan area like I will once I move. Even then, I'm above angst.' (Angst is another topic for another time also, children) What grabbed me is 'You live in X, Mississippi, a small town with nothing to do.', and that is true, the town we live in can be slow at times, but if you're just giving up that easily, it shows you're taking no initiative to make your own fun. But the real topic on hand is that where you live, shouldn't define you. Yes, you're environment and culture does have a huge impact on you as a person, but that's just an aspect of your life, not your defining quality, right? Dismissing somebody based on location, that's just blissful ignorance.

 

[yuval152]

That's my answer to the question, where you live will impact on you but won't completely define you.

 

[DoPo]

So yesterday, me and my friend were talking about a certain band .

Oh, those guys. You should fix your link (quote this part, if you're not sure what's wrong).

Anyway, OT: Yes, your birth (or living) place doesn't make everything about you. Same with any other one aspect of your life - what music you listen to, what your hobbies are and etc. It's even implicit, since you can't have each one of those be your sole defining feature - it's simply not logically possible. Any judgement for a person as a whole based on the fact that "Oh, you're an X-er" is therefore wrong.

 

[aba1]

In a related note I have always found you define the area you come from rather than the other way around. In a lot of ways people never really realize this. When on the internet people will have a tendency to judge the country you come from even if just a tiny bit based on how you act on behalf of your country.

I remember I was in Ireland a few months ago on vacation and while touring I saw this giant graffiti message "Ireland sucks the US's cock" and all I could think was "and this is why the US gets such a bad name for being ignorant shit like this".


Basically all I am getting at is often it is easy to forget that when in another country or in a situation with people from all over the world like surfing the net try to show a little class cause you do represent your country even if only a little.

 

[Thaluikhain]

My hometown is supposed the ancestral home of bogans, or somesuch.

Yeah, I don't have any tatts or a flag-cape or anything.

 

[FalloutJack]

I may live in Pittsburgh, and I may like both zombies and football, and my real actual voice has a recognizable accent from the area, but I am not a standard Pittsburghian. I don't often use the slang terms, save for irony's sake. I don't destroy parts of the city after a game (win OR lose).

You see, what's being mistaken here is culture, OP. It's not about where you live, but what's ever affected you in life, be it from near or far. Where you live is a FACTOR, but not a DEFINITION. The definition is where you are, what you've seen, what you've heard, what you've done, how you were raised, and what your personal opinion of all of that really is. And it doesn't have to be only near-influences. The things that shape you are international unless you're living in a cave.

That noted, living in Pittsburgh doesn't explain my craving for jellybabies when you can't get any in the whole entire city, minus ordering online. It can't explain my stubborn nature or in fact my intellect. The reason for those things are (in order) Doctor Who, being Irish, and my undying perseverance to keep my head above the tide of other people's flotsam and jetsam often called being normal.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Haha no! Ok yes the enviornment where you grew up on does played a role on your life but for this scenrio, a mere music band? You can like whatever bands you want and it got nothing to do with you background!

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

If you defined me by my hometown you'd see a drunk, a sports fanatic, someone who loves country music and someone who cares too damn much about where other people park their cars.

I'm none of those things so no, this town doesn't define me.

 

[DugMachine]

Haha no. I'll always have some love for my hometown but it's definitely not what defines me.

 

[Esotera]

I'd say it does to a certain degree. I can't understand for the fucking life of me why anyone would ever want to live in a city or large town, and why the country is seen as some weird place housing a non-stop incestual orgy surrounded by sheep.

I'm inclined to believe that living in the country will make you have a much more relaxed outlook on things, as there's less happening & there's more time to think than in a city.

 

[Lionsfan]

I dunno, I think it does somewhat. Not really on a large-scale, just because you grew up in Town X doesn't mean you can't have the same feelings as someone who grew up in City Y, and country people don't necessarily have better X than city folks.

But your life is driven by experiences, and part of that comes from where you grow up

 

[Shadowstar38]

Where you come from is irrelevant in any discussion that does not need cultural context. It's only when people add generalizations and stigmas to places does an issue present itself.

 

[Ljs1121]

I live in Illinois but I'm not a loudmouth who swears every other word or a corn farmer[footnote]Shut up it's perfectly acceptable to rudely stereotype a group of people if you're in that group[/footnote]. I think it's safe to say that I'm not defined by where I live.

 

[Furbyz]

Your friend seems to make illogical, extremely bad arguments. Can't say I agree with your taste, though. Dat Funk Rock and crazy lyrics, yo.

But yes, I've seen this behavior before where people blame troubles and attitudes on their environment. "If only I could get out of X, things would be so much better." In fact, it's practically a plague in my hometown. Also, is your friend judging himself as better than you...for planning to move sometime in the future? A place which is apparently suburbia where he becomes immune to angst? I speak from experience, there's a whole mess o' angst in the burbs.

Yeah, really bad argument from what I can tell.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Where and how you grow up does a big part in defining who you are. Doesn't necessarily determine how you act though. Its undeniable that you'd be a different person if you grew up in a different area/with different people. It has an affect though you obviously can't say something like, growing up in a rural area makes you a hillbilly and growing up in the inner-city makes you a gang banger.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I live in Illinois but I'm not a loudmouth who swears every other word or a corn farmer[footnote]Shut up it's perfectly acceptable to rudely stereotype a group of people if you're in that group[/footnote]. I think it's safe to say that I'm not defined by where I live.

I thought that was Iowa.

...Yes. No two states can have the same stereotype.

 

[Zantos]

Only if you're from Glorious Yorkshire, where you're psycho-indoctrinated to hate Lancashire, the south, the north, Wales, France and most of Yorkshire. And a love for anything that can be served with gravy, including more gravy.

Seriously, it's probably one of the larger environmental factors that influence who you are, which is probably what your friend was referring to, but it's not the entirety of you.

 

[Olas]

I'm from Missoura, the heartland of good ole Americu. where we don't know if we're southern or midwestern. According to general consensus we're all drunk rednecks who live in trailers, eat corn, and marry our cousins.

Accept I don't know anybody from where I live who fits that stereotype.

And nobody from Missouri calls Missouri "Missoura". It's just people from other states that think we do for some reason.

For other people from the US here's something fun that seems relevant to the discussion.