Where are you from? (Part 2)
One of the things that most intrigues me as I make my pilgrimage to various locales in the country (Missouri, California, New York, Michigan) is the way in which not simply classism but regionalism affects our perceptions and assumptions of others–whole parts of the country are relegated to stereotype based on the general area in which you live, such that “South” is often a metaphor for racist, backward ice-tea drinkers, “East Coast” is considered cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and perhaps a bit snooty or elitist, while “Pacific Northwest” connotes lefty, coffee-drenched Sierra Club members. During the course of the 2008 Presidential election season(s), I was fascinated with the way “Alaska” became an adjective, as if whatever nonsense Sarah Palin was spouting at the time could almost be chalked up to her Alaskan roots–a place where people engaged in “straight talk”, wore beards, and flattered their women by likening them to pitbulls.
Ms. Palin herself touched on this regionalist bias during her recent interview for the documentary, “How Obama Got Elected” (I’m sooooo not dignifying the project with a link, but I suppose you can Google if curiosity is getting the best of you). Of course, she conflated it with classism, which is not entirely true, at least in her case. (It is also true that she has not the foggiest what a class analysis really is.) In the interview, she compares herself to Caroline Kennedy, stating that Kennedy has not had to go through the extreme media circus or political vetting process that Palin did because of a “class” issue. Well, er, not exactly. But we can’t feel too bad for Palin, because she used her Wasilla bona fides endlessly throughout the campaign to drive home the point that, based purely on geography, she was anti-establishment, straightforward, honest, and–you know I’ve got to say it–a Maverick, a REAL AMERICAN.
I suppose I should feel flattered that I hail from a part of the country square in the middle of REAL AMERICA, a place where American flags wave in the breeze and people have never heard of such Communist appetizers as babaganoush. John Stewart lambasted the McCain campaign, and the mainstream media, for the ongoing implication that REAL AMERICANS acted and did and lived in very specific regions of the country, of which New York City was decidedly not, and he was right to do so. However, it was difficult to swallow a lot of the ire the lefty types were lobbing back at the McCains regarding their perception of REAL AMERICANS as a Midwesterner. Many times the progressive media outlets and talking heads were guilty of making just as many egregious stereotypes about the Midwest, the South, the Bible Belt, Alaska, etc. as were the McCains and the conservative establishment. As one might say in one of the aforementioned regions, it got my dander up. And really–if I can be allowed a moment of pettiness here–is there anyone in the United States today that doesn’t know the whole country revolves around whatever the East Coast does? News, finances, politics, global affairs, analysis, time zones–it’s all centered around New York and D.C., let’s be honest. Living in New York is kind of like living in a bubble where everything centers around you: you really have to work to learn about what’s going on in the rest of the country, save for a smattering of reports about Jersey or the Florida hurricane season.
That being said, I do think there is this perception by some people in the Midwest that both of the coasts are full of well-to-do, somewhat testy individuals who eat babies for breakfast and hate Christmas.
I find it interesting that even in the course of writing this I have trotted out many of the same ridiculous stereotypes that I so despise when applied to me by some “outsider”. It aggravated me to no end when I would hear people in California or New York talk about the “fly over zone” (i.e. the great expanse of expendable shit in the middle when you’re jetting off to one coast or another), or express amazement that I’d heard of enchiladas, or conflate small-town Missourians with uneducated, racist, cow-tipping white trash. I once yelled at someone in a bar for saying “hick”. To me, “hick” and “hillbilly” and “white trash”…these are words you don’t get to use unless you self-identify, OK? And that’s why a lot of times I found myself in the truly distasteful position of wanting to defend Palin from other disaffected progressives who felt no compunction, apparently, in throwing out all of the above mentioned words in reference to her, her family, her pregnant daughter, and her accent.
Another interesting thing about regionalism is the regionalism that is perpetuated within regions. For instance, the “Midwest” covers a huge swath of country, the borders of which are debated amongst its inhabitants. I have been told on numerous occasions by Wisconsinites and Michiganders that I am not a Midwesterner, but a Southerner. While there is certainly nothing wrong with being either, I also do not understand the pressing need by these individuals to rigidly delineate themselves from the apparent ghastliness of Missouri (or “Missourah”, as everyone who is not from there likes to say). Also, if you live in the Midwest and you want instantaneous awe and approval, you need only to whip out your New York or Hawaii state identification. I have been roped into more conversations than I can count at gas stations along I-44 following the revealing of my driver’s license, and witnessed the same phenomenon happen to my brother last summer when he was visiting from Honolulu.
I suppose part of what makes living in a country as big and diverse (ethnically, racially, geographically) as the United States so fascinating is the myriad ways we have come up with of distinguishing “us” and “them”. Every state, every city, every locality has its own mythology about the area weather, drivers, accent, and overall uniqueness of its residents. None of us can possibly imagine that it might be similar in Nebraska or Washington or Texas (well, maybe not Texas). Should we embrace regionalism to a certain extent as a harmless, if willfully ignorant, prejudice? After all, as many gloomy Frontline documentaries and nonfiction writers* have pointed out, North America is increasingly becoming homogenized, as the same strip malls, fast food franchises, and neon signs stretch across the amber waves of grain. Maybe regionalism is part of what keeps us interesting.
On a final note, are there any regions of the country more harshly maligned than others? My vote is for the South.
*I’m looking at you, Eric Schlosser.
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January 22nd, 2009 at 10:46 pm
for another gloomy documentary check out ” The Florida Dream” (the full-length vid is posted on the site below)
www.daxorionbedell.com
My friend Dax was the creative director and although I had little interest in Florida, this was quite interesting. Another story of our country boldly pushing on, with no plan whatsoever. big mess, .. good stuff.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I would vote for the South as well, but possibly only because I doubt that many ‘coasties’ would have a problem with the labels Mid-Westerners and Southerners would pile upon them (like ‘liberal’, ‘granola’, etc.). While among those groups, such labels have a negative connotation, they don’t to those to whom they’re applied. Whereas calling someone a Bible-thumper or inbred could probably be mean no matter what (the former less so, obviously)
January 28th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I vote South too. I, also, was confounded by the number of people were so awed by a Maryland driver’s license last time I was in Springfield. Everyone assumed I lived in the ghettos of Baltimore and my life was just like “The Wire” on HBO. And people seemed actually disappointed that my town is almost identical to Springfield in every way. You’ve been to both - if you take out the racial demographics, it’s the same freakin town. And no one here is awed by my Missouri upbringing. The most common response is, “wow, you made it out.” As if Missouri is something that will eat me and keep me, that I need to escape from. (well, that might be true, but that’s a whole other debate!)
January 28th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Technically, pronouncing Missouri as Missourah is correct. I didn’t believe it when I heard it, but I did once I read
this article