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and generally people are more individualistic, which means Westerners are more tolerant but paradoxically less friendly, I'm generalizing but it's more or less true on a large scale. If you clustered the social characteristics of Western American people I think they'd come out closer to Canadians or Australians than to people in the eastern United States.
I can only speak to the personality thing-- more individualistic and more tolerant for sure, but less chatty/ neighborly friendly type of thing. You summed up my experience. You take the good w/ the bad. Easterner's have their own pluses and minuses, too.
The West in a lot of ways is pretty remote. After all, half the American population lives in the eastern quarter of the country, so the people in the westernmost thirteen states tend to be kind of isolated and in many cases left out.
Left out and isolated? Only if you're talking about ranchers in Montana, mountain people in the NW, and those crazy desert people who live in horrible, small towns in Eastern California. The urban populations of the West are at least as connected to the East Coast as the South and Midwestern regions are. By the way the 13-state region has 80 million people or over one quarter of the U.S. population, not sure how you can call that isolation.
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I also think in the West especially the Northwest typical American things like barbecue, Walmart, cheerleaders, baseball and football, amusement parks, fast food and so on just aren't quite as popular as they are in the eastern states, especially the Midwest and South. In a lot of ways I feel like the Northwest has more in common with Canada and the Southwest more with Mexico than either region does with say Pennsylvania.
Just because we aren't into high school football and fish fries(frys?) doesn't make us inherently different, we just have different characteristics and interests. But just as the West has different preferences from everyone else, so do the South, Midwest, and East Coast. You could have easily made a thread asking "Is the South just different from the rest of the country?"
In order to make your argument you'd have to prove that the majority of people in the West, including everyone from the aforementioned rural recluses to West Hollywood, Seattle, and Salt Lake City residents have more in common with each other than they do with their counterparts East of the Rockies and I think that would be a difficult case to sell.
And no, the Southwest is definitely American. Arizona and SoCal feel more like Mexico than the East Coast? Seriously? Maybe only in terms of geography.
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Another thing that makes the West more like Canada is the fact we tend to be more influenced by Asia, don't really have parochial urban accents and are much less religious than our eastern counterparts with the exception of Utah and surrounding Mormon areas. The Midwest and South are both about 80% Christian the West maybe about 55% Christian, that's a huge difference.
The Northeast isn't very religious either and I think the Asian influence doesn't really carry much weight in the grander scheme of things.
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The West is still kind of a frontier, we still have a lot of Native Americans and are a resource-based economy and generally people are more individualistic, which means Westerners are more tolerant but paradoxically less friendly, I'm generalizing but it's more or less true on a large scale. If you clustered the social characteristics of Western American people I think they'd come out closer to Canadians or Australians than to people in the eastern United States.
I wholly disagree, Americans are like Americans. Subtle intra-U.S. regional differences pale in comparison to things like national identity and national culture.
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People in the West, again especially the Northwest also seem somewhat less proud of being American, like a lot of people here seem to be not all that patriotic at all compared to people in the Heartland who live and breathe American.
I think you're mostly talking about the far left, environmentalist, anti-Imperialist types that are mostly only influential in the Pacific Northwest and who do not really represent the feelings or beliefs of most people in the region, including the PNW itself.
Yes you are. As a native Northwesterner, I strongly disagree. Most of my family is back east & I have spent time in all regions of the country. You are totally off base.
- BBQ is popular in the NW
- We have Wal Marts galore
- all high schools have cheerleaders, the Seahawks have tons of them
- the Mariners have led Major League Baseball in total attendance multiple times. Oregon State recently won back to back College World Series titles.
- The Seahawks, Huskies, and Ducks are extremely popular and sell out their games
- People in the NW go to Disneyland and other amusement parks. Because our weather isn't conducive to having them located here doesn't make them unpopular.
- We have fast food galore. Just because we also like fine local establishments doesn't diminish our like of fast food.
- The NW is as patriotic as the rest of the country.
So yes, way off base.
Maybe because your family is from back east you feel more connected to 'America' as a nation. I guess I'm mostly talking about the West minus California. Anyway um.
Sure everyone likes BBQ it's tasty, but it's not a huge part of the culture here. Hell there's only a couple months where you even can barbecue on a regular basis in the Northwest, it's probably more popular in the Southwest though.
Walmart is not as popular in the West and came here last. Target, Kmart etc still hold their weight, Walmart is huge everywhere in North America but it doesn't have the complete dominance in the West that it has in most of the South and much of the Midwest.
Cheerleaders exist but it's just not as big a thing. When I think of cheerleaders I think of Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, maybe even somewhere like Iowa.
Yes, college football and the Seahawks are huge. But you'll find plenty of people who don't give a damn about them. In most of America football is pretty much religion. Also soccer is big in the Northwest, and baseball is still popular in the Bay Area. Sports is popular enough here in the West but it's more diversified between different sports and it's not common to everyone, many Westerners couldn't care less about sports.
Amusement parks - what about Cedar Point in Ohio? That's in an even colder and comparably wet place compared to the Pacific Northwest. The largest theme park I can think of in Oregon is the Enchanted Forest, which barely even counts because it's tiny. California has a lot though yes. Fact is the West, especially outside of California simply doesn't have the amusement park culture one finds in places such as Florida and Michigan.
Fast food is popular enough but you just don't see as much of it, there's also quite a few chains such as Chic Fil A and Waffle House that don't exist or are rare in the west.
Defends how you define patriotic I guess. I think people are less passionate about being American in the West, aside from the ones who have recent roots in the east. True there's probably very few westerners who are actually anti-American but I think as a whole the West just isn't quite as American to its core. It's hard to explain but somewhere like Ohio or Massachusetts, people live and breathe American, here in the West we kinda just happen to live in the United States.
I can only speak to the personality thing-- more individualistic and more tolerant for sure, but less chatty/ neighborly friendly type of thing. You summed up my experience. You take the good w/ the bad. Easterner's have their own pluses and minuses, too.
I think it's kind of like the Sims. Every culture tallies up about the same positive points but excels in different places!
Left out and isolated? Only if you're talking about ranchers in Montana, mountain people in the NW, and those crazy desert people who live in horrible, small towns in Eastern California. The urban populations of the West are at least as connected to the East Coast as the South and Midwestern regions are. By the way the 13-state region has 80 million people or over one quarter of the U.S. population, not sure how you can call that isolation.
Just because we aren't into high school football and fish fries(frys?) doesn't make us inherently different, we just have different characteristics and interests. But just as the West has different preferences from everyone else, so do the South, Midwest, and East Coast. You could have easily made a thread asking "Is the South just different from the rest of the country?"
In order to make your argument you'd have to prove that the majority of people in the West, including everyone from the aforementioned rural recluses to West Hollywood, Seattle, and Salt Lake City residents have more in common with each other than they do with their counterparts East of the Rockies and I think that would be a difficult case to sell.
And no, the Southwest is definitely American. Arizona and SoCal feel more like Mexico than the East Coast? Seriously? Maybe only in terms of geography.
The Northeast isn't very religious either and I think the Asian influence doesn't really carry much weight in the grander scheme of things.
I wholly disagree, Americans are like Americans. Subtle intra-U.S. regional differences pale in comparison to things like national identity and national culture.
I think you're mostly talking about the far left, environmentalist, anti-Imperialist types that are mostly only influential in the Pacific Northwest and who do not really represent the feelings or beliefs of most people in the region, including the PNW itself.
So um, you think Eugene has more in common with Biloxi than it does with Victoria merely by grace of being in the same country as the former
I do think the American influence is significantly stronger in the Southwest, even though it was settled later. Probably because of California and Route 66, also the fact Nevada and Arizona have hardly any natives anymore and were settled so early. The west coast on the other hand has its own traditions that are nearly 200 years old now, even longer if you count the Spanish and Russian presences.
The West is isolated by the way. For one thing, nearly half the West's population is in California alone. That means you have 40 million people, less than the population of Germany or the UK spread out in an area comparable to all the Western European countries combined. Not only that but due to the stark nature of the Western landscape which is mostly either desert or forested mountains this population tends to be clustered into small areas along rivers and mountain fronts.
So, to sum it up, the West is different than the East?
Not sure about all the OP's stereotypes. Sounds like PNW bohemia conveniently ignoring all the gun owning, truck driving, football loving small town people in OR and WA.
I really don't know why the West and Canada kept getting compared. As a lifelong Westerner, Canada is as exotic as anywhere on the East Coast. Then again, I live close to Mexico so Vancouver BC isn't on my radar. Canadians to me are the hordes of white haired Winnebago drivers who flock to Arizona by the tens of thousands every winter from Alberta and Saskatchewan to get their picture taken by a cactus and wear belt pouches.
The God/guns/football people exist in OR/WA but they're not really the dominant demographic whatsoever. At least not any more so than they are in rural Canada. The west is an overwhelmingly urban population, well at least outside of the Rocky Mountain region which doesn't really even have any true cities.
Amusement parks - what about Cedar Point in Ohio? That's in an even colder and comparably wet place compared to the Pacific Northwest. The largest theme park I can think of in Oregon is the Enchanted Forest, which barely even counts because it's tiny. California has a lot though yes. Fact is the West, especially outside of California simply doesn't have the amusement park culture one finds in places such as Florida and Michigan.
Washington has Wild Waves/Enchanted Forest which was once owned by 6 Flags and Idaho has Silverwood. People I know just head on over to Silverwood because of the better weather and better offerings. We also have a Great Wolf Lodge (though that's more of a water resort thing). 6Flags did look into building a location out in Centralia, WA but didn't get the people to sell their land.
I would've never associate Michigan as having a "amusement park culture".
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Originally Posted by belmont22
Defends how you define patriotic I guess. I think people are less passionate about being American in the West, aside from the ones who have recent roots in the east. True there's probably very few westerners who are actually anti-American but I think as a whole the West just isn't quite as American to its core. It's hard to explain but somewhere like Ohio or Massachusetts, people live and breathe American, here in the West we kinda just happen to live in the United States.
Well, yes it depends on how you define patriotic. Oregon and Washington have been voted as being very patriotic due to high voter turnouts. I believe OR is a huge American flag fan given that most purchases of American Flags are in OR.
Just because its different out in the West doesn't make it less American.
Sure everyone likes BBQ it's tasty, but it's not a huge part of the culture here. Hell there's only a couple months where you even can barbecue on a regular basis in the Northwest, it's probably more popular in the Southwest though.
Walmart is not as popular in the West and came here last. Target, Kmart etc still hold their weight, Walmart is huge everywhere in North America but it doesn't have the complete dominance in the West that it has in most of the South and much of the Midwest.
Cheerleaders exist but it's just not as big a thing. When I think of cheerleaders I think of Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, maybe even somewhere like Iowa.
Yes, college football and the Seahawks are huge. But you'll find plenty of people who don't give a damn about them. In most of America football is pretty much religion. Also soccer is big in the Northwest, and baseball is still popular in the Bay Area. Sports is popular enough here in the West but it's more diversified between different sports and it's not common to everyone, many Westerners couldn't care less about sports.
Amusement parks - what about Cedar Point in Ohio? That's in an even colder and comparably wet place compared to the Pacific Northwest. The largest theme park I can think of in Oregon is the Enchanted Forest, which barely even counts because it's tiny. California has a lot though yes. Fact is the West, especially outside of California simply doesn't have the amusement park culture one finds in places such as Florida and Michigan.
Fast food is popular enough but you just don't see as much of it, there's also quite a few chains such as Chic Fil A and Waffle House that don't exist or are rare in the west.
what you've put forth are REGIONAL differences but they do not mean the Western areas are any less "American" than the rest of the country
Also alot of the differences brought forward are rural vs suburban vs urban (and their racial/ economic implications), not east vs west. Also weather affects alot of day-to-day things and mentality. Plus, there are already so many differences alone between the Western states. I dont see too much in common between WA and Montana, really. Or California with Idaho. Let alone the differences within California- for a start.
"American culture" encompasses all these angles of diversity & regional differences.
I believe OR is a huge American flag fan given that most purchases of American Flags are in OR.
I find that really hard to believe. I'm pretty sure being highly patriotic would be almost looked down upon in Oregon, unless maybe you lived in Salem or Albany or something. Do you have a reference? I'm not saying you're wrong but I'm curious and would like to know for sure if it's true.
what you've put forth are REGIONAL differences but they do not mean the Western areas are any less "American" than the rest of the country
Also alot of the differences brought forward are rural vs suburban vs urban (and their racial/ economic implications), not east vs west. Also weather affects alot of day-to-day things and mentality. Plus, there are already so many differences alone between the Western states. I dont see too much in common between WA and Montana, really. Or California with Idaho. Let alone the differences within California- for a start.
"American culture" encompasses all these angles of diversity & regional differences.
I'm not saying the West isn't American at all, but I just think the things I consider typical American culture are stronger in the Midwest, South and Northeast. Psychologically I think all those regions are very different from each other but Westerners are a different breed altogether and they're all similar relative to how different they are from the West.
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