First, let me point out hat I am a Portland native. I lived here until 1995, when I got a job in California, and then I moved back in April of last year.
This is a comparison of the attitudes of Portland vs. the S.F. Bay Area.
As
urbandivision mentioned to me, "Portland is a hard city to break into." I have to agree with her. At least when Portland is compared to the S.F. area. At one point I thought it was the individualist nature of Oregonians, but it has slowly dawned on me that Portlanders are just pretentious and clicky. Everyone has "their thing", be it bicycling, indie music, or regional sports. Everyone seems to feel the need to one-up each other in their fannishness. To know the most about some super obscure music label or a total hatred of SUVs. And if you are not just as into their thing as they are, they don't want to talk to you. Portlanders seem to have no interest in meeting new people, and broadening their horizons through other people varying interests and experiences. This society, while it preaches tolerance, does not follow its own words. It isolates and excludes. It's not a based on hate, but self absorption and indifference. Frankly, this disgusts me. I was once very proud of my Portland heritage, but since my return I have seen how narrow minded and socially backwards this town is. It just leaves me wondering how did it become this way, and can this trend be reversed. 