Atlanta class obsession/Class insecurity. (Nashville: renting, house, bankruptcy)
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I think many people posting on this board may be a bit aged or too sheltered from many things that go on. Not because they are girly or anything, but because they are in Completely different socioeconomic class than the average person.
No, I think they all know exactly what WE are talking about. I work in a white collar office job, but when its break time in the cafe...the ATL culture comes out. Whether I listen to V103 or Hot 107.9 all I hear is the celebrity worship. Magik 105 is cool, but they dont spin enough old school hip hop. Then you have Essence Magazine, Sister2Sister, Upscale Magazine who are always playing up to the "Gurl Get your money and dont settle until a Denzel finds you in ATL" Hell even Jet & Ebony play into the Atlanta Culture overhype sometimes. They know what people see everyday here. Not sometimes but EVERYDAY. Whether you on 285, 85, 75, 20, Red Line, Gold Line, Blue Line, Fulton, Dekalb, Clayton, Cobb, 404, 770 or 678 it doesnt matter. People try really hard to seem rich and important. Anyone who says otherwise is a lying. I say just embrace it and own it. Some people here have embraced it and owned it, but to say they do it everywhere else is a LAME(Atlanta's word) cop out.
To be honest my dude, the only "culture" ATL has that CAN be pinned is the locals way of doing things. There are tons and I mean TONS of people transplanted here from different p;laces that brought their way of doing things with them from wherever they come from. But what else would you expect? To say that everybody in the city follows the same beat is false....
of course not. Everybody doesnt set a local culture, but MAJORITY does. Hell I am way different from most black men, my ole lady is way different from most black women so yea we are odd balls compared to the ATL norm. To answer the part in bold, sadly that is just not the case. most people come to Atlanta and adapt, especially blacks, I have seen it. Buy new clothes, new cars, waste money trying to keep up with the other money wasters and for what? Its for the culture, and no this aint even a BLACK thing, its an Atlanta Black thing. I really wish transplants could influence the culture as you state, but again the culture is pretty much set in stone. There is NOTHING wrong with that. I have to keep saying it is what it is.
My comment wasn't even directed to you, but it really is as simple as that. I simply don't surround myself with the sort of people y'all are talking about. You do, and quite often, which is why you see it all the time.
Location: Formerly NYC by week; ATL by weekend...now Rio bi annually and ATL bi annually
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Originally Posted by FlyiMetro
of course not. Everybody doesnt set a local culture, but MAJORITY does. Hell I am way different from most black men, my ole lady is way different from most black women so yea we are odd balls compared to the ATL norm. To answer the part in bold, sadly that is just not the case. most people come to Atlanta and adapt, especially blacks, I have seen it. Buy new clothes, new cars, waste money trying to keep up with the other money wasters and for what? Its for the culture, and no this aint even a BLACK thing, its an Atlanta Black thing. I really wish transplants could influence the culture as you state, but again the culture is pretty much set in stone. There is NOTHING wrong with that. I have to keep saying it is what it is.
Truly not the case. And who says you and the ole lady are any different? To even make the statements above and try to blanket it over the majority of Black's in ATL is preposterous. The both of you may actually fit into that moniker...in someones eyes. At the end of the day, It may truly be the people whom you surround yourself with that you see this type of behavior. So if I buy new clothes and a car I'm buying into whatever rat race you think is indicative of ATL? Come on...you dont believe that yourself. It it was true then you would be in the majority you speak of also...
And do you really think that the influx of people from other cities assimilated to ATL culture? Some may have, but the majority?
It's typically a sign of being insecure of one's identity. I live in an apartment complex where one bedrooms average 1K and a two bedroom around 1.5K/month. About half of the cars in the complex are "income appropriate" cars. A third of the remaining are import cars, that based on the models are clearly being leased to appear to a higher status than one currently has. It's funny because the driver really isn't fooling the financial savvy folks - they recognize said individuals are wasting money on leasing/being insecure. What it tends to fool - are those attracted to such ostentatious displays - but at least the two can comiserate together. I've always wondered why someone would try to pretend to have more wealth than one has - it attracts people who think you have that wealth - creating a downward spiral to keep up when one doesn't have the financial wherewithal. It's a death spiral to the bottom. The underlying cause. Coveting.
It's typically a sign of being insecure of one's identity. I live in an apartment complex where one bedrooms average 1K and a two bedroom around 1.5K/month. About half of the cars in the complex are "income appropriate" cars. A third of the remaining are import cars, that based on the models are clearly being leased to appear to a higher status than one currently has. It's funny because the driver really isn't fooling the financial savvy folks - they recognize said individuals are wasting money on leasing/being insecure. What it tends to fool - are those attracted to such ostentatious displays - but at least the two can comiserate together. I've always wondered why someone would try to pretend to have more wealth than one has - it attracts people who think you have that wealth - creating a downward spiral to keep up when one doesn't have the financial wherewithal. It's a death spiral to the bottom. The underlying cause. Coveting.
Yeah but...
Renting does not always = broke. In some circumstances it makes more sense than buying.
And $1K/month for a 1BR apartment in Atlanta isn't exactly a cardboard box. That would land you a pretty upscale pad in most parts of the city.
Renting does not always = broke. In some circumstances it makes more sense than buying.
And $1K/month for a 1BR apartment in Atlanta isn't exactly a cardboard box. That would land you a pretty upscale pad in most parts of the city.
Parking said upscale car outside for the world to see(and acid rain to etch) b/c you can't afford a garage does kind of say you're putting on airs. You'll find upscale cars in a lot of apt buildings that cost a lot less than 1k/mon. I bought a new Infiniti a month before moving out of my complex in Duluth but I had a garage and my all in was maybe $750/mon and my payment+insurance+gas was all less than 10% of my income. I rented rooms in homes w/ garages for 2 more years before I finally bought a home but I was also putting away 30-40% of my income into savings/investments(right into the downturn unfortunately). Pretty sure I'm the exception case vs. the norm.
My g/f's coworker (they're almost all flight attendants so they all make the same) drives a Benz that's ~40% more than her annual gross. She needed a cosigner for the dealer to let her hand over half her monthly take home for a car. She parks it outside at her apt in Gwinnett and drives the ~40 miles each way to park it outside for birds to crap on. The thing's maybe two yrs old but the paint looks 5+. Found out how much she owes on it when she mentioned she wanted to get a new one and she's probably 10k upside down at minimum. I almost threw up in my mouth when another of her friends showed off a new upscale VW she bought by trading/rolling in the loan of a Camry she was upside down on.
Hopefully not too many have that level of insanity but I'm thinking there are plenty of people that have similar unhealthy levels of materialism. These are all college graduates (Asians...I am too) and come from solid middle class families so they don't have a lot of excuses for this financial idiocy.
Parking said upscale car outside for the world to see(and acid rain to etch) b/c you can't afford a garage does kind of say you're putting on airs. You'll find upscale cars in a lot of apt buildings that cost a lot less than 1k/mon. I bought a new Infiniti a month before moving out of my complex in Duluth but I had a garage and my all in was maybe $750/mon and my payment+insurance+gas was all less than 10% of my income. I rented rooms in homes w/ garages for 2 more years before I finally bought a home but I was also putting away 30-40% of my income into savings/investments(right into the downturn unfortunately). Pretty sure I'm the exception case vs. the norm.
My g/f's coworker (they're almost all flight attendants so they all make the same) drives a Benz that's ~40% more than her annual gross. She needed a cosigner for the dealer to let her hand over half her monthly take home for a car. She parks it outside at her apt in Gwinnett and drives the ~40 miles each way to park it outside for birds to crap on. The thing's maybe two yrs old but the paint looks 5+. Found out how much she owes on it when she mentioned she wanted to get a new one and she's probably 10k upside down at minimum. I almost threw up in my mouth when another of her friends showed off a new upscale VW she bought by trading/rolling in the loan of a Camry she was upside down on.
Hopefully not too many have that level of insanity but I'm thinking there are plenty of people that have similar unhealthy levels of materialism. These are all college graduates (Asians...I am too) and come from solid middle class families so they don't have a lot of excuses for this financial idiocy.
No one in Atlanta does this sort of thing. You are just miserable and you need to have new friends and surround yourself with premium people......
Its apart of the ATL - Wannabe Hollywood Culture. It mostly comes from young people. I dont think the older people here do it. Its a Monkey see, Monkey do type of thing I used to see in school back in FL, but to see adults doing it here is irritating at first, then you just get used to especially once you start to make friends with the few normal non flashy type that pop up now and again. I have two very close female friends...love em to death, but both of them suffer from this illness. One girl is on unemployment from BOA, single and only dates men who are "professional" she attended FAMU but never graduated not even with an associates. Her Audi was about to be repossessed but her parents back in Florida stepped in. My other Best best friend almost same story...graduated from South Carolina State Uni, she works at an AT&T call center just got a brand new 2011 Bimmer and I know she cant afford it with her utilities & rent and she had a Maxima that worked perfectly fine. Some dude she was sexing, but would never give her a relationship told her, he wasn't feeling her because she wasn't on his finance level. Truth is dude just didnt want her and I tried to tell her...but Im not a baller so she didnt listen to me lol. Now she has the BMW I guess to make herself feel better. I dont know other peoples stories, but I do know both of these ladies situations one is 30 the other is 29. Neither of them seem to see the big picture. One of them is from my home town and the culture back home was not like how it is in Atlanta. I have almost fell into traps myself. Luckily I have a girlfriend who does not care about material things and what other black people think and she hates Atlantas Black Culture more than I do, I like to make fun of Atlanta people, but my girl really takes the things black woman say about her at her job to heart. I always point out that the women who are teasing her about driving a ford explorer and wearing her hair natural dont even have boyfriends or husbands and that she does. She always says "why people always talking about me" I tell her, because they want to have control over how she moves. Its a big reason many of the posters here dont like me, especially the black ones. I tell it like it is. The whole "I think Im all that" "Get yo swag up shawty" Attitude is very powerful here in Atlanta and its not even bad with the teenagers. Adults in their 30s and 40s are just as guilty.
Nail on the head. This is exactly how it is. A lot of leased cars people can't afford while renting where they stay. It's all an illusion for a lot of people with the flash. Some people actually have it but more doesn't. I was talking to a guy at the club with me and some other friends of mine and he keep throwing in the conversation about 4 Mercedes that he has owned in the past and was talking about getting a Porsche soon. Now maybe had he had it like that or not but with him thinking that's everyone is interested in his flash was not cool.
It's typically a sign of being insecure of one's identity. I live in an apartment complex where one bedrooms average 1K and a two bedroom around 1.5K/month. About half of the cars in the complex are "income appropriate" cars. A third of the remaining are import cars, that based on the models are clearly being leased to appear to a higher status than one currently has. It's funny because the driver really isn't fooling the financial savvy folks - they recognize said individuals are wasting money on leasing/being insecure. What it tends to fool - are those attracted to such ostentatious displays - but at least the two can comiserate together. I've always wondered why someone would try to pretend to have more wealth than one has - it attracts people who think you have that wealth - creating a downward spiral to keep up when one doesn't have the financial wherewithal. It's a death spiral to the bottom. The underlying cause. Coveting.
Eh, a 1k apartment is not cheap.
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