17 ms·
"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced." I like this guy.
by psbp 13y ago
"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced."
I like this guy.
- Xdes 13y agoI am also of the same opinion. Plus he probably doesn't want to lose his Canadian healthcare.
- eloisant 13y agoCongested and overpriced yes, but racist and incestuous? Why so?
- bane 13y agothink about living in the weird Bay Area bubble and how that doesn't translate at all to the rest of the world and Oakland.
- dllthomas 13y agoOakland is no longer part of the Bay Area?
- awj 13y agoHave you been to the Bay Area? The general sentiment amongst the other cities is that Oakland is decidedly "not one of us".
- dllthomas 13y agoI live in Oakland. It's "East Bay", but that's still "Bay Area". There's clearly differences, but much more of the bay is bordered by Oakland than SF. Oakland is more like SF than either is like Marin, which is also still "Bay Area".
- bane 13y agoThe question I was answering was about incest and racism.
- jcampbell1 13y agoI won't comment on the racist part, but by incestuous he means "lacks outside influence". That opinion is not uncommon even among people who like living inside the bubble.
- djs123sdj 13y agoI wouldn't say it's overtly racist, but there is a very strong correlation between race, class, and privilege in the Bay Area. Unlike the traditional American narrative around race (black vs. white), in this one, the privileged group consists of well-to-do Whites, Asians, South-Asians, and other highly educated recent-immigrants, while the underprivileged group consists of ghettoized African American and Latino communities. These underprivileged groups are segregated physically from the former (in East Palo Alto, San Francisco's Bayview, and East/West Oakland), and are mired in a multigenerational cycle of poverty, violence, and disenfranchisement. However, they constitute a significant portion of the low-skilled, low-paid service labor force. They reap comparatively little benefit from the economic boom brought on by the tech industry. Many of the arguments here on HN and elsewhere about gentrification in the Bay Area and it's benefits/costs ignore that the situation is layered over a long history of race-based tensions in the area.
- jonknee 13y agoHe's Canadian, he won't "lose" anything, it would be waiting for him upon his return. I'm sure Google's health plan is more than generous.
- reidmain 13y agoI have a fear about moving to the US not because I would "lose" my Canadian health care or that the company I went to work for wouldn't have a generous health plan but the fact that I have to care about it AT ALL. The idea that at any point in time something could happen and I could lose my health plan and I am now at incredible risk scares me.
- cwzwarich 13y agoThat's not actually true. A lot of provinces have waiting periods when you return to Canada after an extended absence. In the meantime you have to purchase private insurance.
- neduma 13y agoCongested, overpriced are ok. I don't know about other too..
- haberman 13y agoI'm a little sad he didn't say anything about Seattle, only a couple hours from Vancouver and with sizable and thriving Google offices. It is also has "greens and greys and unfussily variegated people" -- clearly it's not Canada, but in general it would be a much less drastic transition!
- amaks 13y agoBesides, Seattle weather and landscape are a lot like Vancouver (and lot less expensive).
- jarek 13y agoWith Seattle vs Vancouver, you get what you pay for.
- fidotron 13y agoGoogle are really consolidating in a few offices, mainly MV, NYC, Zurich, possibly London and Tokyo. MV is a whole different ballgame to the other locations and is a world unto itself.
- nobodysbusiness 13y agoGoogle recently announced that they're moving their whole Region of Waterloo office (in Canada) into a larger building to accommodate more growth: http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4368031-google-moving-into-larger-quarters-in-kitchener/ http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4368031-google-moving-in...
- mrtron 13y agoThat will be a second move to a larger space in KW.
- jknightco 13y agoIf by "consolidating in a few offices" you mean that growth in MTV, NYC, and ZRH is outpacing growth in places like Boulder, Cambridge, and Kirkland then you're correct; that doesn't mean that the smaller offices aren't growing as well, however.
- trhway 13y ago>"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced." >I like this guy. yep, he would fit well here in Bay Area.
- mathattack 13y agoI was going to quote that line too. But is it really that racist? Relative to the rest of the US, it seems remarkably tolerant, no?
- jpollock 13y agoI never realized what Scalzi was talking about when he said that being white male was "Easy Mode" until I moved here. Being white is a superpower around here.
- philangist 13y agoCan you expound on this? Is there really that much overt racism in SV?
- jpollock 13y agoSure, here's some off the top of my head. 1) Everyone calls me "Sir", but they don't use that term with others. 2) I have a jacket that sets off store alarms. I never get questioned, but others do. 3) I've seen apartment staff be rude to other residents (and prospective residents), but they're all smiles and sunshine when I walk in. 4) My wife was talking about how she wasn't able to work because of her visa. The other person then said she wouldn't have that problem if she was Mexican (working illegally). It really is "easy mode". I don't have to argue for anything, and people give me the benefit of the doubt - even when they shouldn't.
- mathattack 13y agoIs this more so than anywhere else in the US?
- jpollock 13y agoI don't know, I've never lived in the US as an adult. I just moved here from New Zealand.
- 13y ago
- ulfw 13y agoGlad to see people feeling free enough to voice their honest opinion for a chance.
- ChuckFrank 13y agoWhereas Vancouver is not? Vancouver is the most congested, racists, incestuous and overpriced market in Canada. Toronto might be more congested in parts, but it's much less racist and incestuous, and perhaps equally overpriced. Halifax might be more incestuous. Calgary might be more racists. Montreal might be more elitists, but he didn't mention that. Whereas, in defense of San Francisco, San Francisco has Oakland. It has Fremont. It has Berkeley. It has Richmond. So when you think about San Francisco, you don't have to think about the congested, racists, incestuous and certainly overpriced part. You can think of the whole. Which is far from that. Especially when compared to Vancouver. A rather depressing, squat, shabby and moist city. My thoughts when I was in Vancouver were 1. If it wasn't for the border ending right here, there'd be no city here. The city here would be Seattle. 2. Vancouver stopped thinking in the 70s. Everything is just a short 70s convenience store building. 3. Yes, the natural beauty is amazing, which is why the city sucks so much. People would rather leave daily. 4. The natives really got it bad here. Never were they defeated like their eastern and southern counterparts, but still they were simply taken over. You can sense their deep frustration with their lack of autonomy and it's a feeling that I think is completely justified. and finally 5. No wonder Heroin is so popular here. I'd do heroin too if I lived here. But I guess people love where they live. Even if that place is god awfully moist and moldy like Vancouver.
- tomkin 13y agoDownvoted for your blanket statements about an entire populace. Calgary might be more racist? Based on? Most major Canadian cities are close to the US border, for three very important reasons: geography, temperature & economy. Geography: because a good part of the country is covered in Canadian Shield, making it very expensive to excavate land. Temperature: because the nicest temperatures are near the border. Economy: Transit to exporting is cheaper if you're near the border. Why would Vancouver be around for Seattle? Wouldn't that be the other way around based on population? Also, if we're going to use US exceptionalism as the standard, then you should help explain Detroit vs. Windsor. Because Windsor isn't getting torn down neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
- yeukhon 13y ago
- debt 13y agoSounds like a nice guy going through a bad breakup.
- bcantrill 13y agoI know Tim (he and I worked together at Sun) and like him a great deal -- but I take exception to his labeling of the Bay Area as "racist", especially from a Canadian. Indeed, the only time in my life that I have heard the n-word used in earnest by a white person was while I was living in Canada (Ottawa, 1995). Not only was I gobsmacked to hear it, I seemed to be the only person who was horrified. (This was at a corporate retreat, and there were about 15 people gathered in a circle casually drinking beers.) As bad as that was, I found the attitudes toward indigenous Canadians to be worse: the racism there was broad -- and seemingly accepted in polite society. So while there may be many reasons to prefer living in Canada over the US (and Vancouver over the Bay Area), in my experience the lack of racism in Canada shouldn't be among them...
- kevingadd 13y agoIf you think the definition of racism is about whether people say the n-word, you don't understand what racism is. How people treat you is way more important than what they call you (even if those words are unacceptable), and the way minorities get treated in the bay area is not particularly stellar... EDIT: This poster said it better than I could: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7273077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7273077
- schrodinger 13y agoSeems a little disingenuous to paint the entire country of Canada as racist based on one incident.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]