NY City -Center of the Universe

 
Isn't there some way to force New York City out of the Union?  This idea has been festering in what passes for my mind for a long time.  New Yorkers (of the city) are so self absorbed and regiocentric that it makes one ill.  The local culture there is so alien to the rest of the country as to be absurd.  The Irene weather coverage exemplified this.  The "weather guessers" covered the rest of the storms track but when it appeared that the storm would touch "the big apple" then all the "stops" were pulled out and the spectacle was presented Sunday morning of a Weather Channel reporter standing in Battery Park at the foot of Manhattan in six inches of water saying that she was at "ground zero" for Irene.

BTW, we have blue sky in patches in Alexandria now.

Seriously, the morning TV drivel is an example.  All these show are so New York centric as to be somewhat irrelevant to the peasanty in other places.  "Morning Joe" is probably the worst of the lot in this regard.  "Donny Deutsch?"  Who the hell is this man to have his egotistical opinions inflicted on the public so often?  A nouveau riche millionaire who is a feature on the New York egotist scene?  Why should we care what he thinks?  Mika Brzzzznsccki?  Who cares what this empty headed fille a papa thinks?   She perfectly represents the nagging scold type of self-satisfied New York matron.  Poor Joe Scarborough, he is evidently condemned by the lure of money to live in that awful place.   Well, perhaps Irene will give THE CITY a good rinsing.

 
  pl

 

 

Comments

[Pan]

Pat,

Please differentiate between the elite carpetbagger NYers and the hardworking people who grew up and lived there all their lives, struggling to raise their families. The majority are not the rich Wall Street, Upper East Side crowd. My heart remains with my family and friends who remain in the city.

[zot23]

But ... 6" of rain in the center of a skyscrapered and cemented city can do 100x the damage that 20" of rain can do out in the countryside.

[Patrick Lang]

zot23

How terrifying! pl

[Patrick Lang]

Pan

OK. pl

[Fred]

But the Wall Street levies may break! Some co-located super computer may get flooded and some almost billionaire may not get to trade his portfolio a microsecond ahead of the day traders. My God think of the lost profits.

BTW a nice sunny day in Michigan. Had my share of hurricanes from 20 years in Florida - they bring wind and rain every time, no big surprise and it shouldn't require Bloomberg's authoritarian response nor the media overload. I'd rather hear about the central bankers meeting in Wyoming - the decisions made there are going to have lasting consequences unlike a passing hurricane.

[Will Reks]

I haven't lived in NYC so I can't really comment on its residents. Living in a city of 8 million people in a metropolitan area of 20 million people has to have an effect on the psyche though.

NBC and Fox are based in NYC so that might explain some of the coverage.

[frank]

zot23: 100x the damage that 20" of rain can do out in the countryside.
Hardly, my man. I live in the Green Mts of VT and the thing has not even gotten here yet and many roads are already out. In fact, I'm essentially marrooned here where I am with bridges out on each side end of the road I live on. While we're few, we think we're just as important as folks anywhere else.

[J]

Colonel,

Ahem, excuse me, I hate to bust NYC/Wall Streetrs bubble, but there is another one who claims to be the 'center of the universe', and that entity is the Royals of England's financial husbandry a.k.a. as the City of London. Talk to any of their financiers within their wall of Valhalla and they will tell you categorically that 'they' are the center of the universe.

Which makes me wonder why Irene landed on the wrong shores perhaps? Hmmm....the weather gods got it wrong? Hmmm.....

[Medicine Man]

I read this then turned to my wife and asked "would you say that New Yorkers are self-absorbed and regiocentric?" My wife, who is from New Buffalo, Michigan, only had to think about it for a split-second before answering: "Yes."

That's probably about as close as I'm going to get to NYC, mind you.

[Margaret Steinfels]

Actually Chicago, my native city, is the center of the universe; too astute to advertise that.

Mayor Bloomberg et al gave Irene the attention they failed to give the great snowstorm of this past January. Uber-hysteria this time: What will happen when the leaves begin to fall in October? New Yorkers in general are a fine lot; why don't some of you out there in pristine territory volunteer to take some of our over-supply of tabloids and TV networks? They'll make you (in)famous too.

[Mongoose]

Re "Morning Joe": I must agree with the Colonel concerning the morning Talking Heads, especially Mommy Mika & Squinty-Eye Joe. I can only watch it minus the Mommy & Joe. At least Willie Geist is funny &, like his father doesn't take himself too seriously. New Yorkers, or at least the Wall Street Masters of the Universe, think they are the center of the universe but the provincialisms of the Southern Plains ironically produces the same mindset--we are the center of the universe. I'm convinced said mindset is true for most Americans, regardless of where they live--American Exceptionalism run amuck.

[ThomasOfNY]

The storm turned into a glorified nor'easter...

[John Waring]

Cleanse the Augean stables of corruption on Wall Street? We need a category six.

[Cronin]

I wish to thank the Colonel for not including -- as so many wrongly do when (rightly) castigating the vanity of the Yorkers -- New England in his denunciation. It must be remembered by the rest of the country, that we who live to the eastward of the Hudson, have no great love for the island of Manhattan. The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry reflects historical reality. Eighteenth century observers noted the differences between relatively egalitarian and democratic Boston, and class-stratified, autocratic New York -- this is not to say that the picture is unmixed. They had their vaunted tolerance, while we, of course, have our vaunted fanaticism. Yet I do think we come off favorably in the comparison. And of course, the Colonel remembers, as should we all, that it was New Englanders, arm-in-arm with Virginians, who led the Revolution, while the isle of Manhattan was, and remains, a center for mere Toryism. We are a different people than they, and we breathe a sigh of relief when they cease colonizing our coasts and mountains, our islands and coves, each September. Of course, they then send their idle and dissipate youth to our colleges and universities, but that is somehow less enraging than having your own childhood pond, or bay, crowded with rude New Yorkers, attempting to tell you how things ought to be. Boils the old briny blood just to think of it.

[highlander]

If we didn't have NYC, then a goodly portion of the New Yorkers, would be out here living amongst us normal people.

Then, what the hell would we do? I say quit poking at them. Leave them alone, to watch each other on the boob tube, and run billion dollar sub prime scams.

[R Whitman]

Talk about self-absorbed and egocentric, I live in Texas. New Yorkers come down here for lessons.

Remember all those media people are entertainers not serious news people

[Jake]

What do you want from Islanders?

[ISL]

Highlander: would be great if they could do it in their own currency.

Hat tip for the pre-vacation post.

[steve]

I like New York City, and don't consider the media elites representative of the rest of that city's population.

Having said that, when I lived in New Orleans, we always used to get a kick out of the likes of Dan Rather who would put on his battle fatigues and be gushing doom and disaster anytime a Cat 1 or Tropical Storm was headed up the East Coast.

A small cat. 1 or tropical storm in the gulf of mexico would barely rate a blip on the national news, and in New Orleans we were very cognizant of that difference in coverage.

[Mark Logan]

While on the subject of our illustrious cable news and their self-serving coverage..

Has anybody else noticed that the "Sensational-Crime-Trial-Involving-Somebody-Photogenic-Du Jour" always happens in someplace cool to hang out?

Monterrey CA in the spring...Florida in the winter...Aruba (twice!)?

I have a hunch that the person photogenic enough to be interesting, should they be off-ed in Cleveland during January, has never been born. And never will be.

[HankP]

I don't get the hate on cities. New York is a great, historic city and the residents are proud of living there. I've been in many cities in the US and I've heard the same from residents of Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, etc. etc. - and those cities are great as well.

While I wish no ill will towards anyone, the fact is that if you live in a rural area and a bridge goes out that may affect several hundred to several thousand people a day. A bridge going out in Manhattan will affect hundreds of thousands of people a day. Cities are the centers of the economic engines of the country, and if they suffer you will suffer as well.

Aren't we all Americans? Isn't this petty regionalism something we should have outgrown by now?

[MRW]

Colonel,

Excuse my language on your site:

THANK-FUCKING-YOU for this post.

I'm breathing easier now.

[g. powell]

Ha! If we NYers left the USA to form a new country, rump America would be begging us to form a new union in just a few years.

[Patrick Lang]

HankP

My vision of the US does not include a homogenized country. pl

[linda]

jeez louise ... what's with all the hate for nyc? (i live here and love it) though i completely agree with the comments about the morning joe fratpac & meeka (btw -- i believe she's connecticut, not nyc) and the hysterical coverage in general..

and donnie douche -- but, he's sooooo buff and rich (inherited via daddy) -- clearly his advertising background makes him an expert in all issues.