It's Not Where You Live, It's Who You Are That Counts

I understand hometown pride. Though I'm from its Jersey satellites, my family is from Philly and I don't like it when it's disparaged; as a Jersey native, I also get just a titch touchy about all the put-downs about my home state. But some people just seem to spend waaaay too much time and energy fighting over what city/region/country is better than/worse than/just as good as some other city/region/country, or that everyone from such-and-such is an asshole loser with an inferiority complex that no one cares about, while all the people from such-and-so are soooooooo cool, and, really, who cares? If the most interesting thing about you is where you live, you're as dull as I am!

(New Yorkers seem to be the worst in this way, BTW. They're mind-bogglingly parochial in their cosmopolitanism. And such internecine strife! It's all, "Oh, this borough is better than that borough!" and "People who live in such-and-such neighborhood or do such-and-so for a living are douchebags!" and "Only *I* am a true New Yorker!" and "Things used to be so much better before X started moving in!" Seriously, New Yorkers are concerned with "ideological" purity enough to make any 1940s Soviet kommissar blush! To be honest, all the anxiety about who is and is not a New Yorker just makes my little internal psychoanalyst think that they're none too secure in their own bona fides.)

Guess what? People like different things! Therefore, what is heaven to one is hell to another. And no one place in the world has an absolute monopoly on arts, culture, nightlife, cheesesteaks, assholes, douchebags, or anything. Different places have different mixtures that appeal to different people. So just chill and deal with it, people! There's no need to be so touchy and argumentative about the whole thing. It really doesn't matter all that much.

There's nothing wrong with a little hometown/regional/national pride. Just keep a sense of proportion and empathy to the whole matter. People are people, wherever you go. You just have to find the right people and all will be well.