Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Bostonites, for all their world-class institutions, are incredibly insular and parochial. Same with Boston suburbanites. Not from the area but every time I visit it's palpably noticeable. Even NOVA feels less monotonously provincial.
I think it's made all the more obvious because people from the Boston area think oh so highly of themselves.
+1 (for the “insular” comment)
I grew up in Lexington, went to college in Boston, and left the area after law school never looking back. Boston and its suburbs are laughably overrated, as is the city’s perception of itself, especially on the global scale. It has a few excellent schools. It has a few well-respected cultural institutions. Some select parts of its economy are doing well. But Boston also has a lot of baseless arrogance, close-mindedness, and racism — all of which runs deep through its history and identity.
Massachusetts loves to proclaim itself as a liberal utopia. In reality, it segregates people better than the South ever did — conveniently using 400 year-old colonial boundaries that pen most minorities and low-income earners into specific cities, towns and neighborhoods.
Add in an exorbitant cost of living, infrastructure that is ancient and falling apart, and mind boggling traffic congestion that just gets worse and worse (without any meaningful capacity improvements), the decision to never move back was an easy one.