Is it true Maryland has no identity or basically any culture? (Silver Spring: to live, move to)

[tcave360]

Originally Posted by bufflove

...because MoCo doesn't have a singular identify, of course. I don't understand if you're joking or honestly think a place with a million people should have 1 identity. As I already noted, there are a number of MoCo neighborhoods that have very distinct and well-defined identities. MoCo isn't a homogenous or small place; pretending like it should have a single identity is beyond nonsensical.

Exactly. Most large cities in the country are the same way as well. Just like other states, Maryland doesn't have just ONE identity, it has a MULTITUDE of identities. Apparently, the "American In Miniature" moniker still escapes people for some odd reason....

[personone]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

What is the culture of Chevy Chase and Bethesda? Also, what identity does Montgomery County have? Five Guys? No one's been able to answer that question so far.

Maybe "culture" isn't the right word. When I think of Bethesda, I think of the older, beautiful housing stock. I also think of NIH. I think of downtown Bethesda, which has a lot of cool shops and restaurants. I think of Congressional Country Club. Similar for Chevy Chase regarding it's housing stock and downtown area. Basically, I don't see those places as traditional 'suburbia'. I was using the word culture in the general sense of characteristics that come to mind when I think of those places as opposed to bland suburbia. If you're asking about something more profound/ unique than that, then I won't be able to answer your question either.

I don't know what the 'identity' of Montgomery County is. When I think of 'identity', it's something that stands out as unique and recognizable to the given area. I can't really come up with a good "identity" for MoCo. I'm not saying it doesn't exist; I just personally can't come up with one, but a native may be able to.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by bufflove

...because MoCo doesn't have a singular identify, of course. I don't understand if you're joking or honestly think a place with a million people should have 1 identity. As I already noted, there are a number of MoCo neighborhoods that have very distinct and well-defined identities. MoCo isn't a homogenous or small place; pretending like it should have a single identity is beyond nonsensical.

So New York City, which has 8.4 million people, can have an identity, but somehow Montgomery County is too large to have an identity?

A place doesn't have to be known for ONE single thing. An "identity" means many things can come to mind, not just ONE thing.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by personone

I don't know what the 'identity' of Montgomery County is. When I think of 'identity', it's something that stands out as unique and recognizable to the given area. I can't really come up with a good "identity" for MoCo. I'm not saying it doesn't exist; I just personally can't come up with one, but a native may be able to.

Yes, that's exactly it. I mean something that is distinctively MoCo/DC area and recognizable. With Chicago, for example, I think...

Windy City
Gangsters
Deep dish
Toughness
Corruption and "rough and tumble" politics
Da Bears, Da Bulls

Among many other things. It doesn't really matter the extent to which those things are true or not. The point is that Chicago has a reputation.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Yes, that's exactly it. I mean something that is distinctively MoCo/DC area and recognizable. With Chicago, for example, I think...

Windy City
Gangsters
Deep dish
Toughness
Corruption and "rough and tumble" politics
Da Bears, Da Bulls

Among many other things. It doesn't really matter the extent to which those things are true or not. The point is that Chicago has a reputation.

I don't think it is possible to go from a rural farm community of about 80,000 people to one of the country's richest and most diverse suburbs of over 1,000,000 people in about 75 years and maintain or create any unique and cohesive cultural identity.

What was in 1940 is long gone. What exists now has grown up within living memory of the WWII generation and has shallow roots.

The closest you are going to come to "identity" is the smaller vibes of various subsegments of this particular segment of the DC metro area. Contrast this with other populous areas that have had centuries to form cultural identities and have held enough critical mass that even constant internal and foreign migration only adds some veneer to what the place is already. Large parts of Maryland have grown so fast that their only cultural identity is the transplanted culture of where the residents (or their parents) were born. Once you get enough multi-generational natives sticking around over the next 50-100 years or so, a unique cultural identity will form.

[bufflove]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

So New York City, which has 8.4 million people, can have an identity, but somehow Montgomery County is too large to have an identity?

A place doesn't have to be known for ONE single thing. An "identity" means many things can come to mind, not just ONE thing.

Of course New York City doesn't have one single identity, either. That's patently absurd to think. The financial district, Chinatown, Harlem, Staten Island, etc. etc. etc. all share one identity? Are you kidding me? I'd love to hear this identity you've come up with that applies so universally to all of NYC.

You cite Boston as having the "identity" of being working-class Irish; that's not its identity - that's the inaccurate, incomplete, superficial, and stereotypical image you have in your head about the place because you don't have any deeper knowledge of the region.

[Quick Enough]

Originally Posted by Deluusions

So I got to into a debate with BajanYankee. Apparently Maryland has no identity or basically any culture at all? Do you believe this is true? I obviously disagreed and thought it was pretty absurd but I want other opinions from Marylanders themselves.

What BajanYankee said is in bold:

Most of the DC suburbs, as eschaton said, could be anywhere. They have no identity, particularly Montgomery County.

Southern Maryland has a Southern identity (though you still haven't acknowledged that).

Western Maryland is not particularly unique, and in many threads, people argue it's really an extension of Pennsylvania.

Baltimore claims to be a carbon copy of Philadelphia.

Basically, if you're always trying to use another place's identity as your own, then you don't really have one.

Is it true Maryland has no identity or basically any culture? NO!

I have NO idea where you got this crap but it is still crap.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by bufflove

You cite Boston as having the "identity" of being working-class Irish; that's not its identity - that's the inaccurate, incomplete, superficial, and stereotypical image you have in your head about the place because you don't have any deeper knowledge of the region.

That's not what I said.

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

In Philadelphia, for example, that could be anything from its historically WASPy aristocracy along its Main Line suburbs to boxing to the South Philly mafia. Similarly, Boston may conjure up images of Brahmins or tightly knit, working-class Irish American towns and neighborhoods.

I never said Boston had "the" identity of working-class Irish. The "to" and the "or" that are in bold suggest that there's more than one thing. That's like me saying "Philly has produced basketball players from Wilt Chamberlain to Kobe Bryant" and then you jumping in and saying "You're so stupid, Bajan! Wilt and Kobe aren't the only players from Philadelphia!" Those are just examples just like the Brahmins and the Irish are examples of things Boston is known for.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

The closest you are going to come to "identity" is the smaller vibes of various subsegments of this particular segment of the DC metro area. Contrast this with other populous areas that have had centuries to form cultural identities and have held enough critical mass that even constant internal and foreign migration only adds some veneer to what the place is already. Large parts of Maryland have grown so fast that their only cultural identity is the transplanted culture of where the residents (or their parents) were born. Once you get enough multi-generational natives sticking around over the next 50-100 years or so, a unique cultural identity will form.

This.

[tcave360]

Originally Posted by Quick Enough

Is it true Maryland has no identity or basically any culture? NO!

I have NO idea where you got this crap but it is still crap.

Not the OP, he's just providing examples of the "facts" BajanYankee spoke of regarding Maryland.