Does where you live make you who you are?

[gaystorm]

Religion is somewhat a family thing too.

 

[JayHawk]

If you were born and raised in Pakistan, would you not be a Muslim? In Tel Aviv, would you not be a Jew? In Hanoi, a Buddhist? and so on.

Not necessarily

 

[maxpowr9]

Religion is somewhat a family thing too.

It can be a community thing too but not really relative to a whole country. My hometown in particular has a huge Catholic population [like much of MA]. I heard during the Easter homily that about 160 high schoolers were getting confirmed and about 150 children were getting First Communion. My hometown has about 15k people so that is a large chunk of students for a particular grade for both.

 

[HunterM]

Not necessarily

^ Exactly. There are Chinese born and raised in India. They're not Hindis or Muslims. They're atheist Chinese. Indians born and raised in Israel...they did not become Jews.

 

[bankside]

I live in a small town in Indiana. I feel I am a pretty kind and loving individual, but when I go to big cities, I feel people are really rude or out for themselves. I don't get it. So, I am wondering what kind of effect of where you live has on you.

I've lived in small cities / large towns to medium sized cities. I've travelled to very large cities.

My impression is that the way of being polite is different in very large cities.

In a small town, you say hello to your neighbours. In a large, cramped, noisy, overcrowded city, the most courteous thing you can do for your neighbours is to be invisible. Go about your business without intruding on their day. It might come across as indifference, but really it is the most polite thing you can do. When your neighbour commutes for an hour each day each way, and is crushed by a river of people day in day out, ignoring them is actually a great gift.

 

[eastofeden]

I've lived in small cities / large towns to medium sized cities. I've travelled to very large cities.

Go about your business without intruding on their day. It might come across as indifference, but really it is the most polite thing you can do. When your neighbour commutes for an hour each day each way, and is crushed by a river of people day in day out, ignoring them is actually a great gift.

That is a perfect explanation. I am "friendly" with all of my neighbors but never been in their houses for a social visit nor vice versa. I have been in to get a key. My idea of being a good neighbor is to mind my own business and leave them alone but when you need someone to keep an eye on your house or collect the mail while you are away...cool. I would be annoyed if any of my neighbors decided to be too "friendly" with me. Decent and kind is so much better in my world.

 

[gaystorm]

I am not just talking about in the street. I mean places where people are supposed to be bothered.

 

[csb999]

wonder that time culturally is not as much or more effect than where . Fourty-fifty years ago everyone here would be a jailable criminal so the discussion would be more along the lines of comparing different prison systems and avoiding getting arrested .

 

[csb999]

thinking everyone then and most now would have to be big-city . Living in rural places would just not be possible .

 

[refujiunderground]

grew up in jersey and yeah, it made me into the nutjob that i am today. i've came across some REAL assholes at an early age which have damaged my perception of people and to this day, i cannot shake that mindstate out. people around here really don't have anything better to do for the most part plus we're in the shadow of new york. there's no form of identity out here where everything is basically new york related from the news to the sports team. i would say that along with who i am may have led to me becoming paranoid and fearful of others and anti social. as for the physical enviroments, i pretty much spent half of my life living in apartments and the other half living in my own house.

i also grew up in towns which many people look down on simply because the population is mostly black. i grew up around black people where it was rare to see someone who wasn't black. we had one neighbor on our block that was an old white woman but we rarely saw her. my school was mostly black as where but there were no black teachers. all of them were women and they were white or asian. you will hear a lot of people who never spent a day in their life in irvington, nj talk about how that place has always been run down and the truth of the matter is, it wasn't like that back in the day at least where i lived. it was safe to walk around where you didn't have to worry about getting shot at or whatever. it was a safe community and YET you'll have some racist ass fuckers talk about how bad irvington was in the 90s because it was filled with black people. hell, even the projects down on union ave wasn't so bad. my mom used to take care of a woman there while she was working patient care and we used to have fun playing in the hallway, going outside and etc. playing in the back of the jects and etc. this was back in 95. NOW, it's a completely different story as the town for the most part even where i used to live isn't safe anymore to simply just venture or walk around. somehow you have guys that grew up in maplewood that seem eager to go to down to irvington because they think it's cool to be in the ghetto. maplewood to me was a complete culture shock especially the high school. i never had really had any interaction with people besides blacks so going to a high school which was mixed with everybody and everyone grew up from way back made me feel out of place.

 

[altlover85]

I grew up in a small town, but tend to like cities better. I think being in a small town reinforced the friendlier aspects of my personality, but I've always been more open-minded than a lot of the people I grew up with. I think it boils down to nature vs. nuture and how that affects us.

 

[mbamike]

Where I live makes me tone down my behavior, but it doesn't make me who I am.

 

[gaystorm]

grew up in jersey and yeah, it made me into the nutjob that i am today. i've came across some REAL assholes at an early age which have damaged my perception of people and to this day, i cannot shake that mindstate out. people around here really don't have anything better to do for the most part plus we're in the shadow of new york. there's no form of identity out here where everything is basically new york related from the news to the sports team. i would say that along with who i am may have led to me becoming paranoid and fearful of others and anti social. as for the physical enviroments, i pretty much spent half of my life living in apartments and the other half living in my own house.

i also grew up in towns which many people look down on simply because the population is mostly black. i grew up around black people where it was rare to see someone who wasn't black. we had one neighbor on our block that was an old white woman but we rarely saw her. my school was mostly black as where but there were no black teachers. all of them were women and they were white or asian. you will hear a lot of people who never spent a day in their life in irvington, nj talk about how that place has always been run down and the truth of the matter is, it wasn't like that back in the day at least where i lived. it was safe to walk around where you didn't have to worry about getting shot at or whatever. it was a safe community and YET you'll have some racist ass fuckers talk about how bad irvington was in the 90s because it was filled with black people. hell, even the projects down on union ave wasn't so bad. my mom used to take care of a woman there while she was working patient care and we used to have fun playing in the hallway, going outside and etc. playing in the back of the jects and etc. this was back in 95. NOW, it's a completely different story as the town for the most part even where i used to live isn't safe anymore to simply just venture or walk around. somehow you have guys that grew up in maplewood that seem eager to go to down to irvington because they think it's cool to be in the ghetto. maplewood to me was a complete culture shock especially the high school. i never had really had any interaction with people besides blacks so going to a high school which was mixed with everybody and everyone grew up from way back made me feel out of place.

Amazing answer. Thank you.

 

[JayHawk]

Really? So you are saying spontaneously generated Greek Orthodox Christians spring forth from Hanoi, Vietnam?

No I am saying the way you put that wasn't "you would be more likely" it was "you will be " I am pretty sure in each example you offer 100% of the population is not the majority religion.