In a comment to my last post, I got a slap for "New York elitism." I suppose I wouldn’t be happy with someone taking a shot at my state, as I did to Kansas in that post. I respect Dave’s feelings, and I read his blog. It’s nothing against him personally. Obviously, I don’t think all Kansans are bad. I married one! Plus, we have many friends there.
However, I do think there are things that New York does much better than many other states. For one, education is a priority here. One very regular demonstration of the value of the tax dollars we pour into our school system comes on an annual basis. Every year, the Intel (formerly Westinghouse) science awards are announced. This year, yet again, New York students walked away with way more than their share of the awards.
As you can see, of 300 semi-finalists nationwide, 140 were from New York. We’re only one of 50 states, but our students took home nearly half of the semi-finalist wins. This is something the President and his cronies are seeking to undermine (for example, the recent effort to take away our tax deduction for school taxes). We also could discuss things like religion in public schools (Intelligent Design, anyone?) and which states put George W. Bush in the White House.
On the other hand, perhaps the point of the comment wasn’t that the objective evidence doesn’t support my feelings. It may simply have been that it was undiplomatic to voice the opinion. Maybe so. However, when it comes to my editorial opinion, as expressed here (and to those who speak to me directly), I'm far too angry about the destruction of our liberties to take anything this President does lightly. That, perhaps unfortunately, extends to any Americans who enable this trampling of our freedom. Maybe I shouldn’t vent so freely, but that’s one of the reasons I have this blog—to vent.
With all of that said, Dave, if I offended you, for that I am truly sorry. I don't mean to offend you. I'll go off on anti-red state rants every so often. It's hard to read the newspaper and not have that happen.
3 comments:
I sincerely appreciate the olive branch, but no need to apologize.
Having recieved all of my post-secondary education in NY, and living there for six years, I concur with everything you say/have said. But since I highly doubt any of the Kansans to whom you were referring actually read your blog, I felt obligated to stand up for those of us that try hard to make Kansas a hospitable place.
And, um, sorry if I implied you and George W. were of the same mind. That was just the worst possible thing I could think of. hehe
:)
Well, I'm not sure NY's education system can necessarily take so much of the credit. The major magnet schools aside, I think the education picture in this city is pretty dim. I would wager that the high percentage of bright children is due mostly to their parents; New York is the city of the best and the brightest. I say that not to be elitist, but really just an expression of a general truth: New York is where you find the top people in the country in almost every discipline. As the song goes, if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere. That's not to say there aren't brilliant people in every metropolitan center and in rural areas as well, but because we are the world's financial capital (as well as being a global leader in advertising, the arts, retail and higher education) we simply have an unusually high concentration of smart folks.
NY does a lot of things extremely well - it's not for nothing that it has become the place it has on the world stage. And New Yorkers, from what I've seen, are justifiably proud of those accomplishments. They're also highly critical of New York's failings, in my experience.
Why is it when people show pride in a place, it so easily get's dismissed as elitist or arrogant? Is it because we're not allowed to say such things, especially with a sense of humor?
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