Kinda funny that instead of “Seattle Syndrome,” we just called it “S.A.D.”
Cities with their own psychological disorders
111–120 of 123 posts
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#112I'm no expert, but wasn't Stockholm Syndrome debunked? My understanding is that the response to the hostage taking was so incompetent that the hostages trusted the kidnappers more than the police. One of them was expected to "die at her post" by a bank executive. She refused to testify against them for these reasons rather than any sympathy to their cause.
> One of the hostages even became engaged to one of her captors Was that also because of distrusting the police?
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Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#113> (on Paris Syndrome uniquely afflicting Japanese tourists) Or it could be the jarring confrontation of the a priori ideal of Paris as exotic and friendly with the rather more abrasive nature of the city’s inhabitants. Having visited Tokyo (which I assume is the most Paris-like Japan gets?) and Paris (just got back from most recent trip), this rings true. Average "mild annoyance" from a Parisian would equal "severe d…
i'm from california. the funniest thing about paris was people repeatedly getting way too fucking close to me on the street. my hackles were constantly going up because some french person minding their own business was breaching my bubble. i wonder how this compares to personal space norms in japan.
I've spent more time in Paris than Tokyo, but my memory of Tokyo is that people had no problem being extremely close when necessary.
But they were also exceedingly polite, especially when in close physical proximity and with verbal volume.
I can absolutely see standard French expectations rubbing them wrong.
Which I guess is the point of the article -- no story you read about the wonders of Paris talks about the little nuances of being there. So people are informed about history/art, but little of the day-to-day.
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#114> (on Paris Syndrome uniquely afflicting Japanese tourists) Or it could be the jarring confrontation of the a priori ideal of Paris as exotic and friendly with the rather more abrasive nature of the city’s inhabitants. Having visited Tokyo (which I assume is the most Paris-like Japan gets?) and Paris (just got back from most recent trip), this rings true. Average "mild annoyance" from a Parisian would equal "severe d…
> That said, on my most recent trip to Paris, I actually found Parisians a lot nicer than the last time I was there (~1995ish?). My wife and I had the exact same experience. We had been to Paris in the late 90s and when we were there a couple of years ago, we found people to be much nicer than they had been previously. Our theory is that it is / was a generational thing.
I chalked it up to increasing globalization. My memory of France in the 90s was that it was way more French.
Now, it seems like American, Japanese, et al. cultures have penetrated a bit, and there's more awareness that there are other-than-French ways of doing things.
Which they'll still do it the French way, because god bless them they defend the hell out their culture, but at least they're more aware of alternatives.
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#115> (on Paris Syndrome uniquely afflicting Japanese tourists) Or it could be the jarring confrontation of the a priori ideal of Paris as exotic and friendly with the rather more abrasive nature of the city’s inhabitants. Having visited Tokyo (which I assume is the most Paris-like Japan gets?) and Paris (just got back from most recent trip), this rings true. Average "mild annoyance" from a Parisian would equal "severe d…
The culture shock of the Paris experience has less to do with vague aspersions against Parisian personality, and more to do with the sudden confrontation of the sight of thousands of unhoused immigrants under a bridge, or dozens of pickpockets at every tourist attraction. You know, the stuff they don't include in the tourist brochures and the movies about Paris. Personally I found Paris extremely underwhelming - it f…
Paris felt extremely different than New York to me.
Firstly, much cleaner. Just in terms of trash/litter on your average street.
Secondly, the integration of metro into the regional train network. Amtrak tries, but it's a sad cousin to European rail systems.
Thirdly, weekend markets and general ingredient quality. Paris feels like it cares about ingredients a lot more than the US. Even canned meals from Franprix were pretty good. And don't get me started on the ridiculousness that is Picard.
Small French towns will always have a dear place in my heart though. If I had my choice, I'd still pick them every time over Paris.
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#116Always heard about Florence syndrome as Stendhal's, but never did click before. My bet is that in the future somebody will eventually find a direct relationship between the symptoms and the chemicals used to clean the museums or preserve antique valuable pieces from the attack of insects and molds. As long as the ventilation systems (and insurance?) improve should be more and more rare.
I can confirm, being from Florence, that noone calls it that, it is Stendhal's Syndrome alright.
The name was given with reference to a passage in Stendhal's writing about a visit to Santa Croce in 1817, by the psychiatrist that "invented" it and wrote a book about it (Dr. Graziella Magherini).
Personally I always found it improper, as the original experience as described by Stendhal was a temporary and very "light" mental confusion, that could have well been due to heat or low pressure or a similar physical reason coincidentally happening at the same time he was in awe for the art before his eyes, while the stories in the book are about patients that had severe symptoms and that took days, weeks or even months to recover.
There is an interview to the doctor, mentioned on the Wikipedia page, archived here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110714081259/http://www.metrop...
that is worth reading.
The "chemicals" theory is improbable because at the time the book was published it considered around 100 cases she attributed to the syndrome over a 10 years period, so 10 cases per year to be compared with the millions of tourists per year in Florence (even in the '70's), and it is not like in Florence museums different substances are used than in the rest of Italy.
Whether this syndrome actually exists or not, is up to debate, but surely the doctor found a very catchy name for it.
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
If he was that big of a jackass, maybe his murder wasn't an assassination at all. Maybe someone was just fed up with his shit.
I think the murder of a prime minister is an assassination by definition.
I think it depends. The two main definitions I'm seeing for "assassination" are either: any intentional murder (so basically any murder is an assassination), or specifically any politically motivated murder (so a jilted lover killing the president wouldn't be an assassination, but killing your local HOA president could be).
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#118> (on Paris Syndrome uniquely afflicting Japanese tourists) Or it could be the jarring confrontation of the a priori ideal of Paris as exotic and friendly with the rather more abrasive nature of the city’s inhabitants. Having visited Tokyo (which I assume is the most Paris-like Japan gets?) and Paris (just got back from most recent trip), this rings true. Average "mild annoyance" from a Parisian would equal "severe d…
It's hard to pick up on as an American, but "French Tacos" actually don't have any genealogy in common with Tex-Mex tacos. They're essentially north African shwarma (lamb kebab, fries, cheese sauce, lettuce shoved in a wrap) re-marketed in a way that doesn't invoke knee-jerk racism from the French mainstream. Calling them "tacos" lets them get away with being exotic, and since the average Français doesn't really have…
I am not sure how your theory can both explain French people both turning their nose at "authentic arabic shwarma" but cheap kebabs being wildly popular at the same time. They're racist only against the authentic versions of foreign foods?
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of the US, in cities, you can find solid Mexican food. Chicago probably has the best "authentic" non-Cali Mexican in the country even. You won't have to worry just might have to hunt a bit. The rest of the world? Yea you're screwed. I found one place in Berlin that did legit Mexican because it was run by Mexicans (Santa Maria in Kruezeberg) but that's literally the only decent Mexican I've found in the 50+ count…
Yeah, I'm not worried about it in sizeable cities, but me moving out of CA would probably be coupled with being a bit more rural (and that's coming from not living in a "large" city already, as I live an hour north of SF). I can move anywhere in CA or any of the southwest states and probably be within 20-30 minutes of some fairly good passably authentic Mexican food. My confidence in that erodes the farther from the…
Luckily mexican immigrants live all over the US, so if you hunt hard you can probably find some good places, even in rural areas.
Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I'm not worried about it in sizeable cities, but me moving out of CA would probably be coupled with being a bit more rural (and that's coming from not living in a "large" city already, as I live an hour north of SF). I can move anywhere in CA or any of the southwest states and probably be within 20-30 minutes of some fairly good passably authentic Mexican food. My confidence in that erodes the farther from the…
Luckily mexican immigrants live all over the US, so if you hunt hard you can probably find some good places, even in rural areas.
The sad irony is there are many places with Mexican immigrants, working in kitchens of non-Mexican restaurants, without any Mexican restaurants around.
(Looking at you, Connecticut)