California got away with having this like "progressive" or whatever reputation for a long ass time, I think mostly because the way most of us non-Californians experience California is mediated by media images of Hollywood, it's excesses and self-promotion.
15 years ago, these sort of "rubes" who bought this image would ask people like me why I don't move there, where it would be more accommodating (in their mind) of my values (I am against liquidating poor people and also want to protect environmental resources). I grew up in a culturally mediated area with a national reputation management strategy, so I knew California was different than it's reputation.
anyway, I gotta say, there are way less rubes these days when it comes to California, and not because everybody suddenly became great critical thinkers and historians, either lol.
California got away with having this like "progressive" or whatever reputation for a long ass time, I think mostly because the way most of us non-Californians experience California is mediated by media images of Hollywood, it's excesses and self-promotion.
15 years ago, these sort of "rubes" who bought this image would ask people like me why I don't move there, where it would be more accommodating (in their mind) of my values (I am against liquidating poor people and also want to protect environmental resources). I grew up in a culturally mediated area with a national reputation management strategy, so I knew California was different than it's reputation.
anyway, I gotta say, there are way less rubes these days when it comes to California, and not because everybody suddenly became great critical thinkers and historians, either lol.