Yes, California is neoliberal hell. Yes, California is part of the United States and the US is evil, so by extension so is California. The state was built on stolen land and genocide, just like the other 49.
But I've been in the weird position of defending California on this site not because it's "good", but just because I think for those of us who have no choice but to live in the US, it's the least bad option.
I think the issues around homelessness are a good microcosm to look at. Yeah, CA is really shitty towards our homeless population, no doubt. But at the same time there are quite a few people here who actually want solutions that help homeless people and there are programs at the state and local level - feeble as they may be - that try to do this. Meanwhile, since I'm a transplant I can compare CA to my native Midwestern state. Back there, they are only a couple steps below "just fucking shoot homeless people we don't care". Literally every person I know back home sees homelessness as a "problem" that just needs to go away. If I was homeless I would never even consider going back to where I grew up, I'd stay here.
So yeah, I would sorta defend CA here. And now I feel like over the last year you've seen how absolutely christofascist the red states are going w/r/t abortion, trans issues, even gay marriage, you all are starting to see just how awful most of the US can be for anyone who isn't a well-off cishet white guy.
Fun CA fact: if you can land a job in CA state or local govt (including in the massive UC system), your health insurance is required by law to cover all gender affirming care, including expensive surgeries.
California Pizza kitchen couldn't lie to me, could it?
I visited California once for like two days. I have some friends who live there, but all of us are originally from the east coast. One of them announced that he had finally found a pizza place with decent pizza. We got it for takeout and tried it. It was seriously, no exaggeration, like burnt cardboard. I've eaten pizza all over the world. California has the worst pizza by far. Nothing else comes close.
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It is ALL CALIFORNIA and it must ALL sink into the sea because of Californians’ FUNDAMENTAL INHERENT GENETIC INABILITY to manufacture DECENT PIZZA! /s
It was near Palo Alto and just funny that I’d heard the pizza sucks, my friends said the pizza sucks, and then we tried some pizza which was supposed to be good, and it sucked.
The east coast should sink into the sea too btw even if the pizza is superior.
I have never seen one of those outside an airport.
I remember seeing people complain on Reddit about Austin airport. It has all these local eateries instead of the chains they're used to. Apparently that's hostile to travelers because when people travel they don't want any local flavor, they want the same restaurants they always see in airports. CPK was mentioned by name.