That is good to know! Thanks! It has been before 9/11 since I have been to NYC.
Many years ago we lived for a year in Conn. and I remember people being unfriendly and when someone would find out I was from Texas I was slightly ridiculed, (where is your horse, you aren’t wearing boots etc.)/ Maybe they were joking but I remember it made me feel like the outsider that I was. I came away and I had not made a single friend and that is not my nature.
From Conn. we moved to Virginia and it was totally different, more like home.
Occasionally, if I had nothing else to do, I would leave my hotel in mid-town and take the subway to Times Square and make my way over to Hell’s Kitchen which is away from the tourist area. I would stop at a local bar and invariably land up sitting next to a group of strangers. They always invited me into their conversations, regardless of the topic. The topics were usually controversial and everybody had an opinion which they were certain was the right one. I enjoyed playing the devils advocate to get a good argument going. In no time, I felt like I was one of the gang! I don’t know any other city where I could have such a stimulating conversation with strangers.
That is an example of the leftist elitism which is common along the coastal states (east & west). They have an air of superiority over and a very dismissive view of anyone from "flyover" country and have no shame at all about putting their ignorance on display in that regard.
I see this first-hand from time to time, living in NJ and commuting to NY each day to work. Trying to live as frugally as possible and squirrel away as much as possible while working a relatively high-paying job so I can relocate to "flyover" country sooner rather than later.
None of these Manhattan "elites" would last a week in an economic meltdown. Most of them lack the ability to do anything self-sustainable in the way that some "rube" from flyover country is able to do. A "crisis" to the NY crowd is a long line at Starbucks.