How can we ever have a meaningful discourse where the subjects are straw people born of subjectively-based stereotypes?

By chance is this person a Trump voter? They all seem to be stuck in the past and seem to fear change exactly like this guy.

"survived the grunge era"

Fnarf?!

Ewwww grunge area

Can I blame the grunge era for Casper Babypants?

Kinda harsh on the Amazombies, shuffling down Westlake Ave. with hollow bloodshot eyes focused alternatively on their phones and their feet.

For fun, imagine the freeze-ee is a person-of-color, and then you can have all sorts of fun with the "we don't want you here" kind of talk. It'll be just like Seattle in the past! And for some additional fun, imagine the freezer as a homeowner in the fancier parts of the city, getting all NIMBY about "their" Seattle, and how it shouldn't change, and how density is bad, blah blah blah. Now imagine you're that same rich asshole, laughing as everyone fights with each other about this kind of crap instead of focusing on you, the rich asshole, are actually the actual problem.

@5 Yes, yes you can.

So every time someone has experienced the Seattle freeze, they went to the trouble of approaching that person after the freeze, and asked them "Hey, are you actually from Seattle?"

All this freeze stuff is BULLSHIT. I grew up here, and I have great interactions with people every day. You get what you give. What, it's up to someone else to smile first? People are people everywhere you go.

Plus, this

PLUS... this I, Anonymous is pretentious.

Someone the other day was bitching to me about the freeze. You know what I do? I make it a point stoke the flame of current friendships and set solid plans to hang out with new people. What a concept. You don't have to accept the cold shoulder - no one is going to save your from your own preconceived notions about this city .

I experienced a Seattle refreeze when visiting there 15 years after I moved away. It stung, but then I was having too much fun in in fabulous Seattle to worry too much about it. Thanks for the freeze!

HA! Excellent and true! Its why the "actual working class" is leaving Seattle and Washington State and frankly, my "democracy vouchers" made for excellent packing confetti. 20 years of democrats slowly turning this state, and its most populated city, in it into a shell of its former glory. I cant believe I was a willing participant in it for as long as I was as a democratic voter. Enticing every over-entitled, over-educated, common-sense-lacking ass to middle-manage at an over-inflated wage, buy property at an over-inflated rate so we can relive the good years ol days of the 2008 housing crash while leaving those still struggling in the dirt. Life is too short, and there are too many viable states to live in that will pay better and wont bend you over for the clone army of waifish androgynous hipsters.

Nah, the freeze is there because educated and observant folk have noted over the course of their lives that most interactions with anti-intellectual, hostile, and downright addled Americans are generally more unpleasant than not. It's best just to keep one's head down, keep the unavoidable interactions impersonal and transactional at most, and hope that those three or four tolerable people in one's little circle don't run away or die too soon.

When I last visited Seattle by myself to confirm I was in love with the city, I found everyone to be extremely friendly, helpful, and just overall wonderfully different than east coasters. That's why when I finally do move there, I'm planning on just pretending that I'm visiting from out of town for the first 18 months or so...

@7: double heck, that was good

@7 yes let's just ignore the clashes of culture (or rather, culture vs manufactured "experiences" and "identities") at the center of the current problem. we're not transforming from a fishing town into hippy-dippy land, we're transforming into the worst parts of SF and LA.

The hipsters that complain about 'new seattle' ruined things way before the tech crowd did... We're just more familiar with your plight because hipsters whine and complain about f***ing everything.

If the Seattle freeze is real you "outsiders" brought it with you because you outnumber the people that were born here and I don't remember it being a "thing" 20 years ago.

The CHZA very perfectly described the problem with the new Seattle, "transforming into the worst parts of SF and LA". Spent three days in SF last summer and left believing that it's what Hell must be like.

@21 because you were visiting... Seattle-ites are friendly people...they just aren't looking to invest in forming a new relationship.