sydney...

Sydney has been described as possibly the most vacuous city in the world!!!

I always knew we would make the grade.


here is an article (smh) about it (and another one, and below are some quotes from the smh blog:


Of course there are grounded, generous, happy people in Sydney - I'm sure I met one once - but, generally speaking, I think James has hit the nail on the head. I've lived in cities all over the English-speaking world - in London, in Cape Town, in Auckland -and I can truly say Sydney is the most beautiful, and the most vacuous.
Posted by: John at February 2, 2007 7:13 AM

"It reminds me of a quote from Clive Hamilton (didn't his Affluenza book come out 2 years ago?) about "people doing jobs they hate, to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't like". That's Sydney isn't it?
I have been living outside of Australia for a couple of years now. From the outside looking in, the perspective is frightening.
However, even leaving the shores is no guarantee of immunity. I find it funny that you meet ex-pats who are overseas expressly to make enough cash to go home and get a mortgage!"

When my husband and I first moved into the neighbourhood, I baked cakes and offered it to various neighbours hoping to make friends and to get to know my neighbours. People were happy to accept the cake and ocassionaly the organic home grown herbs but never once we were invited for a drink or a BBQ. It has been more than two years now and we still don't know our neighbours. People are polite and civilised but there is no real interest to interact as neighbours. I have lived in many big cities much much bigger than Sydney and in all these places I have always known my immediate neighbours. We socialised. I have a personal relationship with my fruit and veggie vendors as well as the people at the bank. It felt like living in a community. I feel very alienated here in Sydney to the point that I want to move back overseas.

I grew up in Sydney, left for 16 years, came back couldn't stand it because of the pinning of meaning onto possessions, contacts or activities driven by a fear that any sort of meaning to life would collapse under scrutiny. There is a lso a terrible rigidity of thought and people think they are sophisticated if they order the right sort of coffee. Nobody questions anything and ignores what doesn't suit them.

without a doubt sydney is the most vacuous city i have ever been to. just getting out and travelling makes you realise how shallow and pointless most sydneysider's lives are.

Oh he is so right. Combine that with the vacuous generation Y and wow what a sad city.
And why on the subject of vacuous there is Iemma to consider as well.
Sydney has so far to go till it becomes even remotely sophisticated and world class.
Posted by: Paul at February 2, 2007 6:28 AM

Years living in Sydney as well as the other capitals have convinced me that it the most vacuuous city in Australia. Some overseas, however, cities would be much worse; Hong Kong is a prime example.
Posted by: PCN at February 2, 2007 6:30 AM

Yep.
Or at least, one of them.
Wherever you find a city, or a country for that matter that is being run by a bunch of deluded economists, who operate on the highly flawed theory of infinite growth in a finite world, then you will have a profound lack of humanity, as evidenced in Sydney.
Time for a big change human race.
A big change.
Posted by: daz at February 2, 2007 7:01 AM