Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm still not buying it. That show is new. Are you saying that almost overnight, because of the appearance of a new TV series, suddenly NM's reputation has plummeted? That simply isn't true. Most people nation-wide barely know where NM is, IF they know.
Their first association with it, for some people, would be Roswell, woo-woo. For others--Monument Valley. For others, Olympic-class skiing at Angel Fire, and for a few with vacation homes in Taos and Santa Fe--adobe architecture. I don't think Rumsfeld, Julia Roberts, and Goldie Hawn would have homes here if it had a bad reputation.
For the record, I never stated that Breaking Bad was 'the' reason for NM's reputation, only that it is the broadest and most high profile representation of the state in the current popular perception and thus contributes to a negative image, fiction or not.
In an earlier post in this thread I did list some other former and current popular associations people have of NM. Bullet pointed, no less.
Also, I never claimed that NM's drug problem is unique to the state, nor that Breaking Bad's depiction of it is accurate.
Finally, I have never disputed that NM is scenic and photogenic, has attractions both natural (Monument Valley, though?) and cultural, or is a popular place for second homes of Hollywood celebrities.
I LOVE it here. Those who don't are welcome not to move here. IMHO the bad rep is undeserved.
I agree. I love New Mexico. I went to HS in Santa Fe back in the 80s and worked for a time in Western NM. When I get a chance to visit I usually hike up the La Luz Trail to Sandia Peak. I love New Mexican food with the local flavor of roasted chili.
This 80s video reminds me of my time at Santa Fe in HS. It was made at Taos Pueblo, NM.
For the record, I never stated that Breaking Bad was 'the' reason for NM's reputation, only that it is the broadest and most high profile representation of the state in the current popular perception and thus contributes to a negative image, fiction or not.
In an earlier post in this thread I did list some other former and current popular associations people have of NM. Bullet pointed, no less.
Also, I never claimed that NM's drug problem is unique to the state, nor that Breaking Bad's depiction of it is accurate.
Finally, I have never disputed that NM is scenic and photogenic, has attractions both natural (Monument Valley, though?) and cultural, or is a popular place for second homes of Hollywood celebrities.
Your only other negative, though, in that post, was about Los Alamos. The only people who know about that, with very rare exception, and remember it are of a dying generation. No one I've spoken to about it out-of-state knows about it. It's a revelation, when I tell them. LA is not contributing to any negative image of NM.
I agree. I love New Mexico. I went to HS in Santa Fe back in the 80s and worked for a time in Western NM. When I get a chance to visit I usually hike up the La Luz Trail to Sandia Peak. I love New Mexican food with the local flavor of roasted chili.
This 80s video reminds me of my time at Santa Fe in HS. It was made at Taos Pueblo, NM.
A moronic post/thread. Every single place I've lived some hated it and some loved it. No methodology is given -no data and people like sheep flock to defend the place.t
Last time I saw a thread like this - the same person posted about about a bunch of other places too
Definitely has its charms. The sunsets, the big sky, open spaces, adobe architecture, quirky towns, unique culture, beautiful southwest art. Good housing affordability. No traffic issues. Elbow room. Good winter sunshine (summer no one cares about sunshine as everywhere gets enough or too much of it)
But it has a lot of poverty, the bone dry, brown, barren dead look to the landscape in much of the state can be an acquired taste. Great at first to people on vacation, but gets to some people over time who miss greenery. The lack of decent pretty natural lakes or rivers (the Rio Grande though much of the state is just a pathetic tiny muddy trickle). Some NM towns and cities just have a dingy run down poor look to them (Tuscon and El Paso share this southwest "dingy" run down look). The blazing sun can be too relentless month after month where you pray for some clouds or variation for once.
Not a great job market in private sector.
I do think on a national basis is has somewhat of a bad reputation. But I also agree a lot of people do not know much about it and have not visited it.
End of the day, I think it is just too dry and landscape overall too brown for me to want to live there full time. And there are no decent sized towns in the more forested north.
I'm not sure what you are disagreeing about. Surely you know that TV shows influence people's perceptions? That's all anyone has said about it.
I've never seen "Breaking Bad", so I don't know what impression people would get or if it portrays Albuquerque in a consistently negative way. Regardless, Albuquerque appears to have enough crime issues in reality, to warrant its reputation.
Also, the abq tourism board promotes the linkage and has entire pages with BB maps and tours of film locations. Several of the key actors and production people actually bought homes there! Many of them have been quite vocal how much they love NM. The production value of the show was high and amply demonstrates the visual beauty of the surrounding area. Hell, the little town in Murder She Wrote had a Honduras level murder rate, but it sure didnt kill off Cape Cod's image, or Mendocino, where the show was actually filmed.
NM has a bad image due to the unfortunate realities of weak economy, bad schools, drug issues, etc. A show like BB reflects that, but did not create those issues or image, no more than the Wire create the image of Baltimore as a crime ridden hellhole
I didn't read much of the posts in this thread, but I'll give my opinion as an outsider.
There are several reasons New Mexico has a bad reputation:
1) It's relatively sparsely populated. The majority of the population for the entire state is in one city (Albuquerque), which a distant second being Santa Fe, the capital. That means that huge areas of the state are either completely unpopulated desert or just composed of very small towns. That's true of lots of states, but keep in mind that even Albuquerque is not that large a city compared to the larger cities in other states (think Dallas or New York City). There just aren't a lot of people living there.
2) There isn't a lot of industry in New Mexico. It's a weird place (again, I'm an outsider) because I'm not sure what people do there. Yes, there are lots of top scientists at Los Alamos, but if you asked me what New Mexico produces, I'd be at a loss. It seems like there are a lot of unemployed people and people who just work in the service industry. There aren't, for example, car manufacturers or pharmaceuticals or things like that.
3) There doesn't seem to be a lot of college-educated people. The University of New Mexico is the state university and I don't think there are even a lot of people there. I have no idea if this is true, but I'd be willing to bet that there are a significant number of people who are only high school educated or dropped out.
4) There's a LOT of poverty. Besides what I already said, one thing you notice almost immediately when you visit the state is that a lot of the girls are (single) mothers in their teens. It's really unfortunate because even the residents will tell you that basically everyone there becomes a teenage mom or dad. That leads to dropping out and not having a job, which then leads to drinking and drug use.
5) Referring to point 4, there's a lot of drunk driving, is my understanding.
So you might say, sounds like the bad reputation is deserved. There are also some great things about New Mexico.
1) If you're a city person, it's probably rough outside of Albuquerque, but if you're into the outdoors it's amazing. In just a short time you realize that you can find almost any outdoors situation you want. There are forests, there are mountains, there are deserts, and there are rivers. It's not just sand, which most people think. But even the desert areas have a great look to them. It's not like the Sahara with just sand dunes or like Arizona with cacti.
2) The Southwest vibe. It's all over the place. In Albuquerque, the adobe houses look great and I had a blast looking at the homes that had a Mexican influence or the xeriscaping. A lot of people do local arts or crafts, so you can find jewelry or pottery. It's definitely distinctive, not like just going to Baltimore, where everything is pretty generic.
3) They're really laid back. I think mostly because of the poverty, nobody is stuck up. Like if you go around sort of scruffy, nobody is looking down their nose at you or whatever. It would be the opposite, like if you're really dressed up, you'd stand out. I'm not saying "look like you're homeless," but if you went out without combing your hair and had bed head, nobody notices or cares.
4) The cost of living is low. Since a lot of people don't have jobs, if you have a halfway decent job, you probably can live fairly well here. But I hear repeatedly: do NOT go to New Mexico if you don't have a job. You won't find one.
5) There's zero traffic, outside of Albuquerque (and even then it's only at rush hour). You can seriously drive around on the highways pretty much as fast as you want. I'm not advocating that, but if you're driving, for example, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, you can basically floor it. Since there are large areas in between any populated places, you basically can drive however you want because you're probably going to be the only person on the road.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
