Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Stacy, I’m sorry, but you are wrong. MANY locals ***** endlessly about the area yet choose to stay put. In fact, I get tired of all the bitching. Many times with civic developments and other progressive actions taken by the city.
It's fairly disgusting, imo.
Once again, until you are more integrated with the people of Omaha in general and how they interact, you have not one freaking clue about the racial tensions in Omaha and where they stem from.
Seriously and no offense, you do not have the slightest clue. Maybe some white people don't understand racism, but I sure as hell can tell you black people do not either. Many blacks in Omaha feel as though there is no such thing as racism when as it applies to them/only against them.
Sorry, you're a nice person, just a wrong person in this instance.
See this is exactly what I mean. You find the griping of people to be "fairly disgusting" where I would find it perfectly normal and acceptable.
There is actually a fairly common view among socioligists that racism can only be perpetrated by those with power. In other words you can only be a victim of racism of you are not part of the dominant hegemony. I got into many fights with professors over this one (because I personally think its crap) but so you know, it is a fairly common point of view.
I think that it is pretty rich to tell someone who grew up in DETROIT that they know nothing about racism. Please.
I wasn’t speaking of Detroit. I thought I was very clear that racism IN OMAHA isn't always what it seems and may be different from other cities.
You do not have a clue about racism in Omaha. I don't know how else to explain it to you.
Omaha is the land of GIVE ME GIVE ME GIVE ME in North Omaha at the expense to tax payers, people's credibility, and people's jobs. I don’t give a damn how politically incorrect this post is because it's the truth.
Of course, you will always run into white idiots who play the "all minorities are victims role" because MTV and BET told them to. They think it's trendy and cultured to follow that thought process.
I agree with you regarding the sociologist point of view. It is total crap. (I guess you could have guessed that one)
See this is exactly what I mean. You find the griping of people to be "fairly disgusting" where I would find it perfectly normal and acceptable.
It's the complaining by a large population who seem to have an identity crisis with Omaha. Many people cannot understand the fact that Omaha is not a town anymore. It's a city that has to have very big ideas and investments into projects that may have little or no function other than to look nice, for recreation, and possibly spur economic development. Cough cough...pedestrian bridge....Stadium, etc. Heck, even the Qwest was very controversial.
Especially people who use the phrase "well I'm not going to use it". That is disgusting to me.
SF has neither an identity crisis nor a lack of progressive leadership so I can't relate as to how the locals "complain".
Staci I am a rental property manager and the only things I care about when someone wants to rent from me, is 1) Have they been evicted for ANY reason not just skipping rent 2) is their credit at least average and 3) do they have a job. I am sorry but if someone has bad credit the risk is too much for my owner's investment. I could care less about anything else, especially race; all other rental managers and landlords I know feel the same way. They just want to get paid and they do not want their property to get destroyed. If this policy leads to more White people becoming my tenants I don't think that is racism because the original criteria are not based in race. I beleive the underlying socio-economic problem may have had its roots in racism but has become something much bigger than racism nowadays, and so while taking race as a criteria out of a decision making process is great it will not, in the short run, solve the problem that has already been created.
That bozo posted the same exact thing in another thread. He/she is apparently here for no other reason than to dump on Omaha and it's people with half truths and flat out lies.
Actually, he posted the same thing in pretty much every other thread he's posted to (which is 8 so far), word for word, with the intro changed leading into his rant about how uninteresting the scenery is here, how he wasn't welcomed, etc...
Not only is this person a troll, but they are a lazy troll that copies and pastes their rants!
OK, so I have decided that the extreme sensitivity y'all show to any criticism of the area is a cultural thing...which I actually find really interesting. The West Coast is a culture of critique; people are always, constantly picking apart everything in an attempt to showcase the flaws and (ideally) make things better. That is just the way it is there. If you go to the San Francisco board and read some of the threads you will see what I mean. Someone posts that "San Francisco sucks" and you will get many, many locals agreeing for one reason or another. Not everyone but many. This does not mean that they are miserable people, but that there is a real difference in the local ethos. It also does not mean they don't love living there most days.
Of course here it is the total opposite, and I admit that I have had trouble getting used to it. Any flaws in the city, its systems, or its social structure are not to be admitted, and ardent (often strident) rebuttal ensues. Its a very jingoistic attitude, and I don't get it. How can anything ever change for the better is nobody will recoginise there is a problem? But anyways...
I think it's alot more simple than that. Omaha is a very close knit community, and just like a normal family, bickering and disagreement within that family are normal and even sometimes healthy...but if you go and start bad mouthing the family to outsiders and/or if outsiders start bad mouthing the family...it's going to get a very negative response.
We Omaha people are very proud of city and the people who live here. Outsiders who bash us (usually with lies and/or misconceptions) and those who go out of their way to discourage people from living here (often with the same lies/misconceptions) really tend to **** us off.
Quote:
I don't have an axe to grind against Omaha I simply don't like living here. It is not the most segregated area I have ever lived in but it comes very close. I personally believe that segregation is not healthy for a society. It makes me very unconfortable to see the segregation here (which sometimes manifests itself on this board, as when a Latina person asks about Omaha and is told she should move to south O to be with her people...that was a couple of months ago.. Yikes!). I suspect that you will probably see more and more people moving here for jobs because there are areas in the country where the economy is so bad there is no work (Michigan for example). Yes, houses cost less here and that is a good thing.
That's fine. I understand you don't care much for Omaha. It's certainly not for everyone. I don't much care for the Tampa area either, but at the same time I don't feel the need to constantly voice my displeasure about the area (except to my family ). I'll just bide my time until I can get back to Omaha. No need to raise a stink about.
Quote:
I agree that the people here are not very friendly and prefer to be left alone. In fact some of my neighbors are downright rude.
You have over half a million people in Omaha, there are bound to be some jerks.
Quote:
While I do not think that the area is rampantly conservative (I visit family frequently in Oklahoma...so I know the difference) I do find the worldview of most people I have exchanged with to be very very small. This is neither here nor there but I think this is reflected in the Omaha World Herald...which is the worst newspaper I have ever seen. Why do they even bother to put the word "World" in the title?
Agree completely about the OWH. That rag sucks!
Quote:
The 7 months of winter thing is funny (although was true enough in Michigan when I lived there) but I don't think its an exageration to say 5 months instead. And frankly if you do not like winter sports, eating out, shopping or going to the movies there is really nothing to do in those months. What do y'all do when you cannot spend time outside? I went for lots and lots of walks when I lived in Cali but its usually to freaking cold to leave teh house here! What the heck do you do if you have no family or firends to visit and no larger social network?? Seriously.
You gotta adapt a little bit. The winter does kinda suck (I'm no fan of it myself) but there are things like snow sledding, snow boarding, ice skating and what not. If you're willing to go out and try new things, you'll be ok.
Quote:
I think that those of you who love Nebraska do because you have found a community here. It has nothing much to do with the attractions of the area itself, but about the network you were able to build for yourself.
Gotta disagree here. I have lost contact with just about all of my childhood friends from Omaha, and I'm coming back because I truely love the city and the atmosphere there.
Quote:
This is great for you, but please remember that for people without any sort of social interaction outside of work this area has little to offer. Sorry, but that is just the way it is.
I really don'tthink thats the case at all. Sure, Omaha may not be enough for someone from San Fran (a city almost double in physical size and population) but there is plenty to do in Omaha, if you're willing to go out and do it.
Quote:
So you can see how it would be very difficult for someone to come to Omaha and fall in love with it.
It's not difficult at all. I know lots of people who came to Omaha from other places and loved it.
Quote:
Finally I have to address the alligations of racism one more time. I really do not think that most white people really know what racism is. Its not about how you treat your friends, or about how many people of color you hang out with, but instead about how entrenched such things as selective hiring (and firing) are in the culture. How hard is it for a black person to rent an appartment outside of what is accepted as their segregated "sphere". How comfortable do non-whites feel living here? I do not have the answers to these questions (being white and all) but I think this is where people should be looking to see racism.
Sorry Stacy, I know damn well what racism is and I've seen it happen multiple times. Is there racism in Omaha? Yes. As I mentioned earlier, you have over 500,000 in Omaha so you're bound to get all kinds of people. You wanted diversity, as racists are part of that diversity. That's just life. It happens everywhere and it will probably never go away completely.
Its not a cultural thing. Its just that a few posters get on here and blow the facts way way way out of proportion and speak of Omaha as if it 1937 Berlin.
I will be the first to admit that Omaha has its issues and needs to make improvements in many areas. But our point is that's the case with EVERY CITY.
Those of us who, to you, seem to zealously defend Omaha are simply defending it against attacks that we view are irrational. I have a number of times agreed with negative conclusions concerning Omaha. But the type of posts "Independent" is making are completely irrational are are filled with paranoid delusional rantings.
The other thing that drives me nuts are some people's tendencies to take ONE event and conclude that behavior applies to an entire city. Do you not think that someone in LA has a rude neighbor?? Should I therefore conclude all of LA is filled full of rude people?? That's just such simplistic thinking it boggles my mind!
I've never said Omaha is the greatest city on Earth. I've simply said its problem are very similar to what is seen all over the country.
Finally, we're in Omaha because we want to be. Why wouldn't we defend it? You can go to any city board on this website and find tons of examples of people defending other cities...I can guarantee some of those cities are in CA.
What do you think would happen if I went to a Sacremento board and say the city is unbelievably racist and is probably the most racially tense city I've ever seen? Or if I said you can find a job unless its a mindless position doing data entry? Do you really think no one would argue with me???
I also have to make another comment concerning "winters." Well, have you even experience winter here? We are NOT in a deep freeze all winter. We live in the middle of the continent and as a result get a mix of jets streams from the gulf and the north. For example, last Friday we got 8 inches of snow. Well, that snow is now completely gone, as the temperature have been around 40 all week. Further, MOST people in this country have winter!! The fact of the matter is from March thru November you have nearly NO problem at all with going outside and doing things. During the miserable days of winter you do things INSIDE...like the majority of people in the US. We do things that those in Boston and NY do. Would I rather it be nice? Of course. But, on the other hand, I could never live somewhere that didn't have well defined set of seasons either.
And as far as your reference concerning Californians "picking things apart" to make things better. Give me a break. There is NOTHING to pick apart when you say "SF sucks." That statement has ZERO intellectual consequence. Further, how is our "critique" of people's idiotic comments any different?? Maybe the fact that nearly EVERYONE disagrees with statements like "Independent's" and "Mattden's" should indicate they are completely off base. If you'd notice more nuanced and intellectually honest statements get a lot more back and forth discussion.
I don't know...maybe its a CA cultural thing to be dishonest and rude? Must be. (that's sarcasm for the record).
Last edited by mattpoulsen; 02-20-2009 at 08:53 PM..
What do you think would happen if I went to a Sacremento board and say the city is unbelievably racist and is probably the most racially tense city I've ever seen? Or if I said you can find a job unless its a mindless position doing data entry? Do you really think no one would argue with me???
I also have to make another comment concerning "winters." Well, have you even experience winter here? We are NOT in a deep freeze all winter. We live in the middle of the continent and as a result get a mix of jets streams for the gulf and the north. For example, last Friday we got 8 inches of snow. Well, that snow is now completely gone, as the temperature have been around 40 all week. Further, MOST people in this country have winter!! The fact of the matter is from March thru November you have nearly NO problem at all with going outside and doing things. During the miserable days of winter you do things INSIDE...like the majority of people in the US. We do things that those in Boston and NY do. Would I rather it be nice? Of course. But, on the other hand, I could never live somewhere that didn't have well defined set of seasons either.
And as far as your reference concerning Californians "picking things apart" to make things better. Give me a break. There is NOTHING to pick apart when you say "SF sucks." That statement has ZERO intellectual consequence. Further, how is our "critique" of people's idiotic comments any different?? Maybe the fact that nearly EVERYONE disagrees with statements like "Independent's" and "Mattden's" should indicate they are completely off base. If you'd notice more nuanced and intellectually honest statements get a lot more back and forth discussion.
I don't know...maybe its a CA cultural thing to be dishonest and rude? Must be. (that's sarcasm for the record).
First off I think you are completely off base to call me dishonest and rude since I am certainly being neither.
Second, as I posted before there are many critical conversations going on about California cities right now. Go look. For the most part many locals in the area are happy to agree with the critique. Like I said its a different culture.
Third, um yes I do understand how Omaha is faring this winter because I currently live here. Well defined seasons are certainly nice, its one thing I did not like about living in LA (the trees bloomed in January!), but as this is my first "real" winter in 15 years I am going stir crazy. I don't have anything to do inside.
Your definition of an "idiotic comment," or a "lie" seems to be anything concerning Omaha that you do not agree with. That's unfortunate, and rather intolerant dontcha think?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
). I'll just bide my time until I can get back to Omaha. No need to raise a stink about. 
