Read this Seattle Times'
article about the
Seattle Freeze, the fear of intimacy of people that live in this area. I wonder if the same happens in other areas in the US or in other countries (especially in Europe) to the same extent as here.
We ride bikes alone; go on walks alone; troll bookstores alone, then go home and read alone.
On the one hand, it's nice to bop in and out of situations knowing people will smile and treat you well. Nice is like bubble gum — it's sugary and pleasant." But if all you ever get is nice, never flirty or risky, she says, that gum loses its flavor pretty quick, and the human experience becomes ultimately less rewarding. Even depressing.
Since arriving from Argentina, he's turned down the volume on his laugh, no longer reaches out to hug friends and has even stopped wearing his favorite loud red pants. Those first lonely years in the Northwest even gave him a bit of a taste for solitude.
[...] [S]he realized that when Seattleites say, "Let's do something sometime," what they really mean is: "Let's never do anything ever."
3 comments:
Is it about Seattle or Finland? hahahaha!!
It's quite the opposite around here in Europe. There are so many different cultures around that everyone do whatever they like (within limits, of course) and everyone else is expected to respect.
Also, people do like to get together in pubs and parks, even talk to strangers in the street! My Brazilian heart is not that dead around here... ;)
I initially thought I had that bad impression about the fear of intimacy or how hard it is to actually make friends in this area, but it seems to be a regular phenomenon. One of the explanations mentions the Asian-Nordic reserve, so maybe that is why Finns and Nordics may have similar behaviors - and not (or not so much) in other parts of Europe.
One interesting comment as for the reason for this behavior is the "the influx of socially disinclined tech workers" :-)
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