Are suburbanites aware of how unattractive living in Metro-Detroit is to outsiders?

[ghettopalmetto]

I work for a foreign corporation with facilities here in Metro-Detroit. Recently I had a discussion with some young European co-workers that were here on short-term assignment. They all told me that they didn't care much for Metro-Detroit. They weren't crazy about Downtown Detroit or the suburbs. They stayed in Novi. Their dislike of the suburbs was equal to their dislike of Downtown Detroit. Take Detroit proper out the picture. No one I know in cities such as DC, NY, Miami, etc. says "Detroit sucks but its suburbs are world class". This makes me wonder. Are suburbanites aware of how unattractive living in Metro-Detroit is nationally and globally? And are they aware of how unattractive it is to single people or people under 40?

It's similar to North Koreans buying the propaganda of their regime. If you don't [[or can't) go anywhere else, you don't know what "normal" really is.

Yeah yeah, big plastic houses and acres of grass to cut might be attractive to some, but you can find that shit anywhere. If the suburbs of Detroit are so fantastic, then why do Detroiters flock to Chicago on weekends, and not Schaumburg?

I've found that ordinary folks in other countries are far more interested in learning about American culture than their counterparts in the U.S. are interested in learning about other places. Every time a thread like this starts, the Sprawl Apologists start going on the defensive about how wonderful their shopping malls are, and how every other place sucks so bad. Maybe we're just a little too full of ourselves sometimes?