Is there a hatred of California in the USA?

[JimB]

I am from Missouri, and I have never heard an actual person say an unkind word about California, or indeed many words at all. I will occasionally hear talking heads on the TV or read letters from the NRA demonizing "Hollywood liberals who hate our freedoms," but that's as close as I've ever come to hearing anyone talk about hating California.

I wouldn't want to live there because I don't like earthquakes or smog, but that's about geology and atmosphere, not geopolitical borders or culture or anything.

 

[Fox12]

I was browsing around the escapist when I read the comments in this thread and there were jokes about nuking California.

I'm from Australia so I got that they were jokes but not why people were making them so I wanted to know if there is a common dislike of California that I don't know about.

Hates a little strong. California just has a different culture, and tends to create a sort of jersey shore image for itself. But just like no one would seriously want a nuke dropped on the American South (I hope) no one would want anything bad to happen to California. Truth be told, every region of the U.S. has its weird little stereotypes that we make fun of one another for. But just like most people in the souh aren't backwards rednecks, most people in cali aren't shallow starlets.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Californians are mostly pretty cool. A LOT of American cultural movements had their roots in California, so it'd be pretty stupid to hate them for trend-setting. That said, most people from LA suck. I think even Californians (who aren't from LA, and even then...) would agree with me there. LA is a shitty place, though that's true for most big cities in some way or another.

Yeah I live about 40 minutes from LA, and while I can't say I dislike the people of LA, I dislike the city for sure. It's one of the most disappointing major cities in the world. If you come to California, go anywhere around LA, just don't go to the city itself.

OT: Well, I think there could be some hatred for California, just as there is hatred for New York, and Texas. People probably feel like we (like them) think we are the best state, and while I love California, we have so many awful problems, education being a big one for example.

 

[Lilani]

I am from Missouri, and I have never heard an actual person say an unkind word about California, or indeed many words at all. I will occasionally hear talking heads on the TV or read letters from the NRA demonizing "Hollywood liberals who hate our freedoms," but that's as close as I've ever come to hearing anyone talk about hating California.

I wouldn't want to live there because I don't like earthquakes or smog, but that's about geology and atmosphere, not geopolitical borders or culture or anything.

I am also from Missouri, and I have on occasion heard people talk about California as though it's some blight on America's otherwise pristine beauty. They talk about it as though it's going to hell in a handbasket, and seem to think their current drought situation is their just desserts for having the gall to be so "liberal." Of course they're a great minority, but I promise you such people exist ;-)

Anyway, did you hear about the mayor of St. Louis having four gay couples secretly married in his offices? It's wonderful. Of course Kostner is trying to have their marriages stayed, but even if he continues to embarassingly try and fight them it's just going to go the way of all fights like this when it hits the federal courts.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I know a lot of people will joke about hating California but I don't know of many who would actually want it destroyed. The US is huge though so of course there are people who will want it obliterated. That being said though, I've noticed that for every person who genuinely wants California destroyed there are two more who hate Texas and, 10 more who hate New Jersey.

 

[Mark Rhodes]

In the Mecca of cultural progression that is Mississippi, some people to indeed hate California and everything they seem to think it stands for.

 

[yankeefan19]

In my experience hating certain states seems to come more from people's political affiliation. For instance, a very conservative individual will hate California because of how liberal it is while Liberals will give Texas hate for it's rampant conservatism.

 

[shootthebandit]

I guess its similar to people from Britain hating London

every place gets it really. Im from Glasgow and we get no end of shit. It's just a bit of banter that happens between cities/states

If any Californians are reading this dont worry us Brits hate everywhere in America equally...just kidding although from what the media tells us is that new york is a big London, the south is full of extremist christians, florida is full of retired people and tourists, rhode island is full of animated characters with funny chins, new mexico is full of meth dealers, wisconson is that 70's state and Jersey has a shore where weird fake tan people mince around. So I guess california seems pretty normal in comparison

 

[Jadak]

True. Canada has plenty of stereotypes that we like to poke fun with. Albertans are cowboys, the BC coast is full of stoners, Newfoundlanders are friendly to the point of creepy, Toronto has hipsters, Saskatchewan is so flat that if your dog runs away you can see him in the fields for 3 days, etc.

Having been to most of those places, most of those are approximately true.

Haven't actually been to Newfoundland, but worked with enough of them that it seems pretty accurate.

And have never noticed any particular dominance of Hipsters in Toronto

But BC is indeed super full of stoners, and I hated spending time in Calgary due to 'Cowboy' style and behavior or so many of the people, reminds me of any/all stereotypes of Texans.

 

[Foolery]

True. Canada has plenty of stereotypes that we like to poke fun with. Albertans are cowboys, the BC coast is full of stoners, Newfoundlanders are friendly to the point of creepy, Toronto has hipsters, Saskatchewan is so flat that if your dog runs away you can see him in the fields for 3 days, etc.

Having been to most of those places, those are all approximately true.

Haven't actually been to Newfoundland, but worked with enough of them that it seems pretty accurate.

Well, they do have some basis in reality. There are licensed growers of medical marijuana on the BC coast. Just like how Alberta fosters cowboy culture through the Calgary Stampede.

 

[Adam Locking]

Pretty much this, if any state is hated by Americans, it's Jersey. Having lived there, that hatred is deserved.

Have noticed the huge amount of New Jersey hate. Me and the fiancé have made a game of trying to find more pop-culture jabs at NJ than the other. It's a pretty easy game.

 

[loc978]

Up here in Oregon, hatred of California used to be synonymous with hatred of tourists. Now 75% of the population is from California... [sub][sub]They're the ones who constantly complain about the rain.[/sub][/sub]

 

[OysterEleven]

No I don't hate them, but I definitely have an unfair stereotype of people from CA as thinking they're better than other people and being superficial. Only cos I've met a few Californians who are like that and that's kind of the image the state has, especially LA. But it's not a real dislike, it's just like any other state that gets stereotyped. Except for New Jersey. The hatred for NJ is real.

 

[Euryalus]

Californians are mostly pretty cool. A LOT of American cultural movements had their roots in California, so it'd be pretty stupid to hate them for trend-setting. That said, most people from LA suck. I think even Californians (who aren't from LA, and even then...) would agree with me there. LA is a shitty place, though that's true for most big cities in some way or another.

Well I could believe people would hate them for trend setting, even though it is stupid to hate for that.

I'v eheard that sentiment about LA a lot as well, why is it bad?

Traffic. Arrogance. Vapidness. Disconnected from the rest of the world. Gangs. Dirty Cops. A crappy airport that most flights route through. Smog.

Not to mention the urban sprawl design, poor public transport, and political corruption.

OT: Being from the Midwest I'm obligated to hate California for being a Starbucks drinking, Designer clothes wearing, surf loving, hippie stoner new age business men cesspit of bad liberalism and shit financial management...

Being a rational individual I gotta say it's pretty nice. The stereotypes above are stereotypes for a reason, and some of them are annoying, but California's alright XD

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Kind of reminds me of the New Jersey sterotype that we have AWFUL roads. Sadly this stereotype is 100% accurate.

Pretty much this, if any state is hated by Americans, it's Jersey. Having lived there, that hatred is deserved.

New Jersey: Land of perpetual roadwork, crooked politicians, six hundred school districts, Jersey hair, disgusting beaches, Atlantic City, and all of the attitude of New York City with none of the justification.

I couldn't get out of that state fast enough, and you couldn't pay me enough to go back.

 

[Souplex]

As a New Yorker, I'm obligated to hate the rest of New York's country, just like the rest of New York's country is obligated to hate the rest of New York's country's planet.
We're supposed to have a special hatred for New Jersey, Florida, Texas, and California though.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I've lived in California, and I've lived in two states that have seen large influxes of people from California in recent years (Texas and Colorado) and here's where the 'California hate' comes from:

California has consistently ranked over the past few years as one of the worst places to do business in the US, thanks to a combination of high taxes, lots of regulation, expensive real estate, and high cost of living, thus many have moved to other states for their greater job opportunities. Now, many believe that California's issues are a result of it's largely very left-wing politics. Thus, many people fear that Californians will move in, vote for the same kind of politicians they voted for back in Cali, and thus cause the same problems that Cali faces now (high taxes, crippling debt, loads of regulations, terrible business environment, etc.).

Obviously that's a very simple explanation, and people can agree or disagree on it, but it's what I've seen cause most 'California hate'.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Isn't California the state where all arbitration happens when you get into a law based disagreement with tech companies? It's the only thing I can think of to hold against the place and I might be completely off the mark on that too.

[hr]

[small][sub]*I'm not a US citizen though so what do I know?[/sub][/small]

 

[Steve Waltz]

Up here in Oregon, hatred of California used to be synonymous with hatred of tourists. Now 75% of the population is from California... [sub][sub]They're the ones who constantly complain about the rain.[/sub][/sub]

Exact same thing over here in Nevada. And our tourism problem is way worse; you can?t even go to the grocery store without seeing a California license plate. And yet, despite a good chunk of our population being from California, there?s still a lot of hatred towards towards it. I?ve heard the term ?California refugee? more than once. XD

Maybe it?s because we live next to California that we have the ?California problem" that the OP is asking about.

 

[VyseRogueKing]

Californian here dude. You just gotta hella chillax and go with the flow. Don't know where all these haters come from.

Seriously though never heard much hate for Californians and I've been all around the country. Although I do know Jonathan Coulton has a song about hating California because it's too nice here.