Please Forgive the Rant
Okay, as a nyc resident, living here since my family immigrated to the states in 74 from the Philippines (excepting being stationed in Germany, Korea, Fort Sill, Ok. and Fort Polk La.) I can say that I have a hate/love relationship with this city. I hate loving this place. It's a city with culture, beauty and history. Not to sound like a tourist add but It has some of the best food around. Where else can you get pakistani / indian /afghan /italian /korean /mexican /argentinian /columbian /japanese /chinese /korean takeout at 4a.m. in the morning after a night of partying? You can catch a Broadway show and if you don't want to pay full price catch a matinee show. The nightlife here is without peer outside of LA, just watch Entertainment tonight or read an entertainment mag, if it ain't LA the club you're reading about is here. Sports fanantic? We have the Yankees, the Mets, the Knicks and Rangers hockey(okay they suck) as well as the Giants, Jets and Islanders playing in nearby stadiums(if you can stomach Giants stadium, the jersey turnpike and Nassau col. Not to mention the countless pubs and sports bars to watch the game if you don't want to go to the stadiums. There is so much here the city has to offer. It never shuts down and has rhythm to it that can be Italian one day, Irish another or Afro Caribbean the next. And the women, my God thank you for creating me as a straight guy. They come in all the types guys love. Just sit outside anywhere in Manhattan during the spring and watch the cavalcade of women who walk by in their new spring wardrobes. Make sure you have napkin for the drool and sunglasses so you don't get caught ogling. Crime is way down here. People using common sense can be safer here compared to some other cities in the country. I credit that not only to NYPD but also for a good economy and the people themselves. New Yorkers are sick of crime just like anywhere else and any politician who wants to survive better be able to respond to any jumps in crime statistics.
But what do I love the most? The diversity of people. So many different races, religions and beliefs abound here and gives the city its character. Immigrants have always been the lifeblood of the city. When one group leaves another takes it's place. People don't always get along and can get a little rough around here when cultures and colors clash like the Crown Heights riots or Howard Beach but the city deals with it for the most part. As a person of color(Asian) I don't feel out of place here compared to some of the places outside of the city I've been too. When I visited New Hampshire for my friend's wedding I found the state beautiful. Loved the politics, the scenery, the gun shops and gun laws. What I didn't like was the stares I got from the citizenry for daring to walk hand in hand with my white girlfriend around the town and church my friend got married in. At the wedding reception, I sat with his neighbors who bragged about the fact that they had one of lowest populations of black people of any state. When I lived off post in La. back in the early nineties with said girlfriend I bought my first handgun for protection. Not from bad guys but from neighbors with the rebel battleflags adorning their houses who regarded my girlfriend openly, as a race traitor. Hell, I belong to several firearms forums and reading some of the threads in the politics/legal sections I see a subtle undercurrent of racism. In particular, threads about terrorism, threads criticizing non republican, non conservative non NRA people, how big cities and its "sheeple" are regarded by the mostly suburban white forum members (see the the third world country description), immigration, descriptions of the bad guys CCW laws are needed for, the gun buyer who spoke in ebonics from the worst/ignorant gun shop customer thread... Hell I've done it here when I described my experiences dealing with the NYPD license section so I guess I shouldn't throw stones at glass houses. I apologize if this starts a flame war but it has to be said.
What do I hate about the city? It's expensive to live here, 1800 a month for an one bedroom half a bathroom apt is considered a bargain. Too many liberals including the republicans who live here. They're not a bad lot but there should be a balance of libertarians and conservatives. The gun laws. It took me six months to get my premise permit which cost me almost $400 in fees and even then I have to apply for purchase orders every ninetey days for each gun I want to buy. I can't get a carry permit unless I'm Howard Stern, Derek Jeter, a diamond dealer, Wall Street CEO or a City Court Judge. In some upstate counties, your permit is lifetime(in some cases carry to boot) and you can get purchase orders by just going to police headquarters and paying your ten dollars anytime you need it though I don't know how long that will last with Spitzer in office as Gov. We also have to register shotguns and rifles and they used the registry effectively whe the city passed one of the earliest Assault Weapon bans. The police commissioner now through official fiat banned full capacity mags for handguns even though the city law says we can possess magazines with capacities upto 17 rounds. What the city does is excessive and clear example of a deliberate attempt to discourage firearms ownership. When your local politicians start ranting about waiting periods, permits and registration minimally affecting the law abiding citizen's right to keep and bear arms, just point the people toward what's happening in this city.
Now people have every right to criticize what goes on politically here, but don't call this city an UnAmerican Third World dictatorship or refer to us as sheeple. We may not be all white, rural , Christian republican red staters but we love this country just as much and are just as loyal to it. New Yorkers have fought and sometimes died in every war this country has been in. That is not the act of sheeple. To leave the country of your birth with practically nothing but a desire to become an American and have better life for their children away from poverty and dictatorship like my parents did and thrive here in one of toughest cities in the world is not the act of sheeple. I could also refer to 9/11, ground zero rescue recovery, the previous WTC bombing in '93 on the non sheeple response of NYC but that would be pandering, cliche' and downright insulting. Again sorry for the OT rant, but certain responses on this thread just set me off.
