I am sure that at least 80% of the letters the Daily Free Press is receiving today is from New Yorkers, but since we’re all such loudmouths, you know not one of us will resist shooting back. Though I’ve never been a big fan of my hometown, I am even less a fan of ignorant hypocrisy. The first thing I noticed about Mr. Carnevale’s letter is that he tries to perpetuate the sterotype of the narrow-minded New Yorker, and yet falls into the trap himself by generalizing about all New Yorkers. Perhaps since he seems to be such a narrow-minded and sarcastic person himself, these are just the type of people he finds himself with. Secondly, Mr. Carnevale seems to think none of us have any sense of the rest of the country. Aside from the implicit and erroneous assertion that none of us have apparently ever travelled, I can only point out that since he seems to think of all New Yorkers as coming from one city, and, judging by his “crime-infested, drug-ridden” description, thinks of New York City as only Harlem or Queens (Staten Island here, epitome of the suburb), he is also guilty. Now before there is any accusation that I am only counterattacking without providing any evidence to the contrary, I have to say that while some of what Mr. Carnevale said may be true for some New Yorkers, I also happen to think it true of a good portion of Americans, something Mr. Carnevale refuses to see because he doesn’t have a quaint stereotype to refer to. Seriously now, have you ever even BEEN to New York? I’ve lived there my entire life and have taken numerous trips into Manhattan and never once have I been confronted by a drug dealer, nor engaged in any criminal activity, and I highly doubt that there is no bootleg market in all of Boston, or even Providence. Most of the crime you’ve referred to has to do with the fact that over 1 or 2 million people live in New York City! And finally, I fail to see how we are the egomaniacal centers of the universe when you can’t even resist attacking someone’s preference of bagel. Theresa Gallo CAS ’04
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