this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
421 points (93.2% liked)

Asklemmy

43989 readers
726 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I recently moved to California. Before i moved, people asked me "why are you moving there, its so bad?". Now that I'm here, i understand it less. The state is beautiful. There is so much to do.

I know the cost of living is high, and people think the gun control laws are ridiculous (I actually think they are reasonable, for the most part). There is a guy I work with here that says "the policies are dumb" but can't give me a solid answer on what is so bad about it.

So, what is it that California does (policy-wise) that people hate so much?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 121 points 1 year ago (3 children)

California gets trotted out in the conservative media sphere as "liberalism run wild", a place where being what they consider to be a "real American" is illegal but crime is subsidized by the state, where everything is expensive and dangerous, and homeless people have gay sex in the street. There's an entire industry focused on filtering for the most extremely awful news they can find in a state of almost 40 million people, packaging that news as though it's the typical experience everyone there goes through, and then blasting that news into the brains of Americans 24/7. That image, carefully crafted to be as extremely negative as possible, is the only experience most people have with California.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I moved from Canada to California a few years ago and spent almost 5 years in the San Jose area. Loved California; the food, the people there, the scenery, definitely the weather. End up hating America though.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I live in the Bay Area and love all the natural beauty in all directions. We can hike a different trail every weekend during the months when it's not unpleasantly warm or chilly and never repeat. The tragedy of it all is that it's attached to the rest of the country, by which I mean red states.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

sure, once you look past the insane wealth inequalities and transient tech workers it's mighty beautiful.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Hating it because of politics? If so, the California-like or Florida-like type?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm from bumfuck nowhere in the US, but damn I am jealous of California and it is wasted on the US. But hey, if leaving the US entirely is out of the question, there's bound to be a few places there that are somewhat bearable.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The liberalism run wild concept is kinda what I'm curious about. Like what things? I know California protects abortions and has stronger gun control laws. But is that really it? There's gotta be more actual examples

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lot of social programs, better employee pay and benefits, legal weed. Conservatives are just jealous that their shithole backwater hick towns will never change so they point at the scary liberal boogeyman that is "Commiefornia" in some vain hope they will get noticed.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago

Nope. Conservatives are a simple people. You tell them something is bad because god doesn't like it and they won't question it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

We have different views on incarceration as well. Ask a conservative what they think about Prop 47, for example. I guarantee you they’ll not only know what it is but they’ll have a very strong opinion as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ronald Reagan began California Gun control as a response to the Black Panthers. supported by the NRA.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

That image, carefully crafted to be as extremely negative as possible, is the only experience most people have with California.

That's the thing. No one I've ever heard who says this kind of shit has ever lived here for any length of time or knows anything about the state beyond what the "news" has told them to believe. There are issues here like there are issues everywhere. So people want to focus on homelessness. Of course we have more homeless people, we have more people. We have two of the largest and most well known metro areas in the nation with an up and coming third.

The bitching takes away (maybe intentionally) from the homeless issue that is rapidly increasing throughout the rest of the country. This is an issue of inflation and greed masquerading as inflation. Of corporate property owners buying up rentals and raising rents. Of workers not being paid a living wage. Of food and essentials becoming increasingly unaffordable by the month. Of course people are losing their homes and stealing from walmart. But this is a national problem. It gets worse all over the country for the same reasons and at the same time that it gets worse in California.

But what I will say is, we do have reproductive rights. Reasonable firearms regulations. More tenant regulations that most places, though still never enough. Some cities have social worker response teams instead of sending cops to kill people having mental health problems. We have homeless outreach and a statewide homeless census. Our schools and colleges still have diversity programs and sex ed. The state provides tuition waivers and grants for low income and marginalized students. We have drag shows and pride parades. And our libraries aren't being purged by fucking nazis. So there's that.