One thing that increasingly gets under my skin is “geographic arrogance”.
It’s a term I’ve made up but it’s on the increase so watch out for it! The simplest way to describe its meaning is with an example.
I’ve lived in the New York area for the best part of 15 years and I love it. Yes, the winters are bloody cold and I wish they were shorter but I love living here and always will. I can get to London as easily as California, Florida and the Caribbean are only a short flight away, spring is exhilarating and the fall is spectacular. Being so near to Manhattan is the icing on the cake. I’m happy and I know it, clap your hands!
But increasingly others I know tell me I need to move. Where they live it’s warmer, people are nicer, drivers more polite, everyone just loves being ‘here’. During the winter months any weather related Facebook status immediately generate comments like “It’s a frigid 65 here today!” or “Just want to say I’m wearing flip-flops!” I do smile at the innately human character trait of “one upmanship“. I don’t know if that is a purely British term; it means to always have to demonstrate that you are better than the next person.
When geographic arrogance raises its ugly head I always think about Harry Enfield, a British comic, and his “considerably richer than you!” character:
Geographic arrogance is ultimately more than saying “Don’t you wish you lived here?” it’s saying “Don’t you wish you were me?”
I have to laugh at the fact that most of these people live in areas with other major problems, they just choose to ignore them. Live in an area with earthquakes? “They are so rare, I really don’t worry about it!” Live in an area hit by hurricanes? “But we don’t get snow! We can eat dinner at 4pm and Disney is on our doorstop!”
Ultimately we all see what we want to see, the truth is there are lots of great places to live, not just one. Of course any scale with a ‘great’ has to have some ‘not so great’ choices and so to a recent Forbes report on America’s 20 Most Miserable Cities.
The ranking “takes into account unemployment, taxes (both sales and income), commute times, violent crime and how its pro sports teams have fared over the past two years. We also factored in two indexes put together by Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling that gauge weather and Superfund pollution sites. Lastly we considered corruption based on convictions of public officials in each area as tracked by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.”
They also “expanded the list of cities under consideration this year to include the 200 largest metro areas (in years past we’ve examined 150) which led to a shuffling in the ranks. Any area with a population of more than 245,000 was eligible.”
Here is the top 5, for the entire list click here. And note, my town isn’t on the list 
No. 1: Cleveland, OH
Residents of the Mistake by the Lake endure brutal winters, high crime and a tortured sports history. They are voting with their feet as the net migration out of the metro area was 71,000 over the past five years.
No. 2: Stockton, CA
Stockton relinquished its most miserable city crown to Cleveland this year, but the city still faces jarring unemployment and violent crime. Unemployment is expected to average 18.5% in the metro area this year.
No. 3: Memphis, TN
Violent crime is second worst in the country and public officials are getting locked up at an alarming rate. On a positive note, the city’s sole pro sport franchise, the NBA’s Grizzlies, is winning some games after losing 72% of the time the past three seasons.
No. 4: Detroit, MI
Thousands of homes in this ravaged city were available for less than $10,000 last year. After shrinking for six straight years (including 9% in 2009), Detroit’s economy is actually expected to expand in 2010.
No. 5: Flint, MI
The city of Flint is buying up houses and demolishing them in an effort to shrink the size of the city to a sustainable level. The area received $25 million in stimulus funds from the federal government to help with the plan.
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Fantastic post. I couldn’t agree more – now imagine what’s going to happen when consumers learn of this from Forbes, and then ask their agents “what they think..” I’d like to be a fly on the wall for that!
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