"the bay area is a perfect example, with the berkely-san Francisco nexus in particular...it's beautiful here, and there are lots of "liberal" people, and the atmosphere is probably more open - in some neighborhoods - than in most other spots in the nation...but... the holier than thou, elitist, hipper and more lettered than thou attitudes - even when heartfelt and not meant to be negative - are as offputting as more familiar kinds of class bigotry..."
It's interesting you say this. I have a friend who is pretty active politically, locally. Calls himself a democrat and volunteers literally hundreds of hours every year at the local schools: tutoring, making all the computers work, coaching sports etc. Here's what he says about Berkeley "liberals/radicals"...:
"If these people spent their time doing something locally they could make a real difference. What gets me is, unlike in conservative areas, these people at least say
they care about the poor. The next step is doing something and these people have the brains and money to actually make it happen. What it is, is that Im incredibly disappointed in these people. Brett Harte [local middle school in flatland/black/lower middle class area] had a work day on Saturday and about 300 people showed to clean graffiti, bathrooms, move dirt for planters and so on. Elitists [liberals/radicals with an attitude] take one look at the school and wouldnt think of sending their kid there. They cant tell you exactly why, just that its not right for their family and dont get too personal with those family questions. Just think, if they didnt skim off 90% of the kids with high test scores and send them to private schools what these schools would be like. These people spending $10-30k each year [to send their kids to private schools] could buy a few politicians and make something happen. But that would mean they would have to actually deal with poor people. Maybe they would help show a poor little black kid who has no parents how to scrape off the graffiti from a locker. You dont think that would be better then meeting Yasir Arafat?"