Attitude

While living in the fast social lane of Los Angeles lately, I find I have been deeply questioning my social values. Am I a racist? A misogynist? An anti-immigration bigot? I seem to be very angry at one time or another toward blacks, young people, successful people, Hispanics, women, and the homeless. The list does not stop there. Maybe I don't like anyone anymore? I am an irredeemable hate-monger?

After six hours today of deep-probing social angst, I found the answer to my dilemma: what I hate is not groups but attitude. I dislike blacks with attitude, young people with attitude, successful people with attitude, Hispanics with attitude (both documented and undocumented), women with attitude and the homeless with attitude...you get my point.

Attitude is "Fuck you...I am better than you...get out of my way...I don't say please, thank you or I'm sorry...I've been fucked over all my life so I deserve the right of way and I can head directly to the head of the line." Los Angeles breeds attitude. I once described Los Angeles as 'six million ambitious people pretending to be laid back.'

Does that mean I have to leave Los Angeles to find nice, courteous people...the opposite of attitude? Where are the nice blacks, nice Hispanics, nice young people, nice women, nice homeless. I want to live with them. I'd really like to stay here in LA. Then I can be nice at home. A dear friend of mine (full disclosure: he was born in LA) said to me over dinner the other night that he "hates anyone that likes nice people". Now I have a new category to be angry at: cynical friends...(is cynical another definition of attitude?) Oh well, I guess that makes me a "friendist". Because I hate him now.