Friday, April 3, 2009

Midwestern Niceness

But I thought we were all intolerant, racist, sexist, redneck, ignorant, bigoted, inbred, fat, lazy, fascist, Nazi homophobes that hate everybody? Here's a couple letters to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader where out-of-state individuals took the time to express how good of impression they got from their time in South Dakota:




Apparently we're not pompus, deluded jerks after all. Maybe the rest of the country could take a note out of our book and try to be truly interested in the well being of our fellow men and women, rather than going through life with a contented disconnect. There's a pattern of thought around the country, where if you don't know a person personally, they don't matter as much and someone else will take care of them. Here, we truly care for others and genuinely care about what is going on with them. Once you leave the midwest, in my expericence that attitude disappears, and as these articles show, people are impressed when they come here to visit.

1 comment:

alishalyn said...

I agree that South Dakotans do have a different kind of respect for our fellow citizens; however,its connection to the racist, sexist, bigot stereotype is slightly misguided. Those stereotypes were created by the governmental policies of the region that impact women, minorities and persons with various sexual persuasions as well as the way they are treated on a day to day basis. Just as there are many examples of persons exhibiting respect and tolerance there are probably many examples of the exact opposite.
Also, although it may be more likely to happen in South Dakota, no matter where I have traveled I was able to think of one example of a local going out of their way to make me feel welcomed and vlaued. Quality individuals live everywhere