Roswell, Alpharetta & East Cobb
-
8/22/2006
Roswell, Alpharetta & East Cobb are adjacent, extremely affluent, northern outer suburbs of Atlanta, very recently superimposed on small country towns through “sprawl”. The population in these areas is primarily composed of three types: rich Republicans, brainwashed Christians, and blue-collar people whose families were the original inhabitants prior to sprawl (sometimes called “rednecks” around here). Obviously, all these people are very conservative, though for different reasons. There are a scattering of people with other attitudes, but they are rare and, in any case, they generally keep their mouths firmly shut (as do I, I confess), so it can be very difficult to recognize them. The great majority of people here, if asked, would undoubtedly say that the dominant religion in the area is Christianity – and a pretty strong brand of it. Actually, the main religion is Materialism, in the form of Consumerism. Conspicuous consumption reigns supreme here. The most important aspects of life here are the size of your house, exactly which neighborhood it’s in, how expensive your vehicle is, and what your job title is. I have to admit that you can certainly buy a humongous house for a relatively small amount of money compared to other similarly affluent areas of the country. There's a very strong odor of Business, nouveau riche entitlement to the good life, and cigars in this place - for the business elites, but also for the aspiring legions of wannabes a little further down the ladder. The out-priced residual blue-collars live somewhat resentfully in parallel. Everybody mouths the old platitudes regarding the importance of education and talks about how excellent the local public schools are. This is hogwash. Most people don’t really know, or care, what the quality of the schools is. When you go into most peoples' houses, there's never a book in sight. I've had children in a local public high school, and the course content and the rigor are pathetically watered down, the grades laughably inflated. The local teenagers are typically spoiled/complacent and exist for partying/slacking, alcohol & other assorted drugs, and since this definitely remains the South, cars. Kids die in car accidents all too often around here. If you have a brain and like to use it for more than just scoping out business deals, you might want to consider someplace else. On the other hand, this is a philistine's paradise.
Cato | Roswell, GA