Seattle Freeze / Seattle Rage
Aside from the passive aggressive attitude here, anyone else notice the bizarre, non-sensical, very frequent rage?
I've lived all over the US, in many major metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities, and I've never seen anything like it. People in seattle run hot or cold, and nothing else. Rarely are there ever shades of grey, rarely is there any middle ground. Either you have the ungenuine, fake, freezing, "polite" tone that is frequently passive aggressive, or people snap and deliver this full-on, raging, tweaked-out tsunami of anger when you call them on something or when you correct, lead, dominate, supersede, etc. them in some manner or another.
Example 1: going into Shortie's down in Belltown the other night, I was with a friend of mine from out of state, and she had a temporary license with her (a paper issued one). I show my ID to get in, and when her turn comes, she hands it to the bouncer, who stares at it for a second. In a completely neutral tone she points out that "the date is there" (her birth date). The doorman snaps and snarls "I can fucking read!!!".
Example 2: I'm about to get on 5 from Mercer, heading northboun, and traffic is backed up. I am right at the edge of the intersection, but am not proceeding because if i did I would be blocking the intersection, as there is a car straight ahead of me just on the other side of the intersection. However, the lane to the right of that car (across the intersection) is open, and the guy who to the right of me on my side of the intersection isn't moving forward. Instead he's just sitting there. So, I navigate into that open space instead if he isn't going to go. This totally enrages the guy... and he *follows me*, freaking-out-pissed, frantically trying to get my attention in anger until I lose him.
Example 3: I'm at a gay bar, and I'm talking to this one guy out back. The place is pretty much empty except for a couple of folks. One of the other guys in there keeps trolling around the place, going from corner to corner, area to area, I guess trying to see if there is an "action" that he can gawk at. Over and over, he keeps coming outside, to stare directly at us to see what's going on, then after a second or two he goes back in. Over and over this happens in an absurdly obnoxious and disruptive manner. So, fed up, I call him on it, and tell him to go away and leave us alone. The instantly guy flips out, gets completely up in my face and fiercely accosts me, telling me it's a public place and if I don't like it I should leave, and his friend is a cop, and he's going to call him, and he can do whatever the fuck he wants, etc. etc. etc., and he won't friggin' let up. In the end, he winds up running both me and this other guy completely off.
Example 4: I'm at a pub, and I'm talking with a friend of mine, and this creep keeps trying to wedge his way into our conversation. When I ask him to please leave us alone, this guy freaks out, starts making a scene and threatens me with violence. The bartender kicked him out, but still, what the fuck?
Example 5 (which I have written about before): I've had vandalism at my house because people don't like that I moved into a structure that they don't approve of. Yet, their city allowed it, their city built it, their city made money off it, their neighborhood values are going up, and the people who owned the property that was there before sold it. Yet, you're that pissed that you have to rage on the person who just happened to move into the alread-built thing that you didn't stop from being built in the first place?
Eample 6: I'm out at this one club, and I hear this one track being played that is an old classic, so I go up to compliment the DJ. I stand by the booth patiently until he's available to say thanks. In a very annoyed manner he eventually makes his way over to me. I thank him for playing the track. He barely says anything, leans down, and then comes back up fiercely slamming a huge tip jar onto the half-door to the booth.
Example 7, 8, 9, 10... the list goes on, and on, and on...
What gives?
Why do people behave like this here? I truly don't get it. I've seen some folks on this message board equate this behavior to the attitude in New York, but that's a load of crap. I've lived in New York, and people aren't raging dicks there. It's a big place, and yes there are dicks everywhere. But in NY, people are very assertive and aggressive because it's a dog-eat-dog city. Either you step (not step-on) or be stepped on.... but people aren't dicks at core in NY (in NY, people are just occupied. Go. Just, go.). In Seattle, over and over, I find myself concluding that they are. Why is everyone pissed of and mean to each other all the time? Do they think they have to act this way? Do they think it validates them as being a city, in some perverse way?Seattle isn't a "hard" city by any stretch of the imagination, and doesn't warrant anything even remotely close to this kind of behavior to survive. Many of areas that locals consider to be "oh-so-urban!" or city-like are *suburban* by real city standards. Is this even it? And this is the attitude you get here? Where the hell does all this anger come from?
Just... bizarre...