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Why do so many people hate the Midwest and Rustbelt?
The Rustbelt is just depressing from lack of jobs, high unemployment rates. I don't hate it, but I have a real compassion for anyone who lives there.
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MidWest (and South): Social Conservatism, simple as that.
In more cosmopolitan areas, people have a live-and-let-live attitude. When you have 10 or 20 or 30 million people squeezed into a small geographic area, everyone has to learn to get along or at least ignore people's differences. In less densely populated parts of the MidWest people don't like "different" and different is defined as "anything or anyone not like me and the people I know." (The world is full of billions of people, and most of them are not like you or I) I know many pro-business, fiscal conservative, Republicans here in the North East. The tone of political discourse has become so nasty they have to pinch their nose to support their own party... and the MidWestern and Southern members of the Republican party call them "RINO's" for not being Social Conservatives, and tell them to get out of the party, that they don't want them (and then they wonder why their party's membership is dwindling down to irrelevance).
There are many things to dislike about big metropolitan areas-- noise, traffic, high cost of living, less space, etc.
Speaking for myself, I don't hate the MidWest or the South. Having been born and raised in the deep South, Dixieland South, I've spent time on both coasts, lived in Miami for a while, and all my living relatives are in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Colorado, I don't hate the South or the MidWest, but I could never ever live there. People are far too small minded. Too much bigotry. Having strong opinions is fine, but this cultural politics where they all define themselves by which demographic they hate... Life is too short. I'll stay here in New York.
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Last edited by ChrisGnyc; 07-19-2009 at 01:52 AM..
MidWest (and South): Social Conservatism, simple as that.
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Sounds like you haven't spend much (any?) time in the Midwest, other than visiting your relatives in MO. Midwest=social conservatism? Not in my neck of the Midwest. I grew up in Minneapolis, which, believe me, is about as far away from a socially conservative kind of place as you can get. Many parts of the Midwest aren't. Look at Iowa and their recent move on gay marriage. Parts of the Midwest may be culturally conservative, but many areas are on the very liberal/progressive side of the spectrum (and not only the cities).
And again, just to point out the obvious, the Midwest does, in fact, have big metroplitan areas.
I don't really hate the Midwest (hate is such a strong word) but I do think midwesterners in general have an attitude that they are better than the rest of the country. It's different from the northeastern and southern attitudes because atleast they can identify faults with their regions.
This couldn't be further from the truth. Most Midwesterners have an inferiority complex where they think every other region is cooler than the Midwest.
I think it's the people who live in the Midwest by choice that have more pride, and perhaps arrogance, about their state than those who never left. I used to hate Wisconsin until I lived elsewhere and realized how great of a place this state really is.
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Originally Posted by tallydude02
For example, midwestern transplants to southwest PA /tri-state region say they are better drivers than the natives (I have seen plenty of aggressive/just plain horrible midwestern drivers). They kind of have a geeky/nerdy vibe and want to be right about everything (Calm down, just a generalization!). They like to boast about their strong work ethic too. (From my own observations, I don't see much a difference.)
Pittsburgh is known for its strong work ethic just like the Upper Midwest, but once you travel outside of the Rust Belt you'll see a drastic difference in work ethic. I lived in Colorado for almost 5 years, I saw this difference with my own eyes. I had a few jobs while I lived out there, but I always advanced and got promoted at a much faster rate than my fellow employees (many of whom had been there much longer than I had).
The Rustbelt is just depressing from lack of jobs, high unemployment rates. I don't hate it, but I have a real compassion for anyone who lives there.
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MidWest (and South): Social Conservatism, simple as that.
In more cosmopolitan areas, people have a live-and-let-live attitude. When you have 10 or 20 or 30 million people squeezed into a small geographic area, everyone has to learn to get along or at least ignore people's differences. In less densely populated parts of the MidWest people don't like "different" and different is defined as "anything or anyone not like me and the people I know." (The world is full of billions of people, and most of them are not like you or I) I know many pro-business, fiscal conservative, Republicans here in the North East. The tone of political discourse has become so nasty they have to pinch their nose to support their own party... and the MidWestern and Southern members of the Republican party call them "RINO's" for not being Social Conservatives, and tell them to get out of the party, that they don't want them (and then they wonder why their party's membership is dwindling down to irrelevance).
There are many things to dislike about big metropolitan areas-- noise, traffic, high cost of living, less space, etc.
Speaking for myself, I don't hate the MidWest or the South. Having been born and raised in the deep South, Dixieland South, I've spent time on both coasts, lived in Miami for a while, and all my living relatives are in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Colorado, I don't hate the South or the MidWest, but I could never ever live there. People are far too small minded. Too much bigotry. Having strong opinions is fine, but this cultural politics where they all define themselves by which demographic they hate... Life is too short. I'll stay here in New York.
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Have you ever even been to the Midwest? It's a big region and for you to paint it with such broad strokes is very ignorant and "small minded" of you. If the Midwest is supposedly so socially conservative, then why does Iowa have gay marriage and Michigan have medical marijuana, but New York state doesn't allow either? I should also mention that on August 3, 2009, Wisconsin will begin granting same-sex civil-unions. Also, the Upper Midwest is solidly Democratic, so all that stuff you're saying about Republicans, bigotry, and social conservatism really only applies to the Lower Midwest states as far as I'm concerned.
Have you ever even been to the Midwest? It's a big region and for you to paint it with such broad strokes is very ignorant and "small minded" of you. If the Midwest is supposedly so socially conservative, then why does Iowa have gay marriage and Michigan have medical marijuana, but New York state doesn't allow either? I should also mention that on August 3, 2009, Wisconsin will begin granting same-sex civil-unions. Also, the Upper Midwest is solidly Democratic, so all that stuff you're saying about Republicans, bigotry, and social conservatism really only applies to the Lower Midwest states as far as I'm concerned.
this is true... upper midwest has minny, milwaukee, madison, chicago, cleveland, detroit, etc... not exactly conservative places. definitely more liberal than their southern counterparts..Iowa/minnesota/wisconsin/illinois/ohio/michigan are all blue states and a much different vibe than say nebraska/kansas/missouri/dakotas...
Actually, for the most part, the Midwest is pretty much a moderatle liberal area nowadays, which a belt of extremist conservatism along the Ohio river that extends about 100 miles to the north (which includes my region) and excludes poorer regions in those areas. The rest is pretty much 50/50 or definitely liberal, although conservatism does live in northern Indiana and Michigan farmland.
I'm hardly the first in this thread to make the point.
I qualified my statement by saying MidWest/South, and further explicitly separated it from the "rustbelt" as the original post that started this thread did (the "rustbelt" which I'm Not speaking of, is identified below mostly as the East-North-Central). So I'm speaking of the non-rust belt portions of the MidWest.
And yes, metropolitan areas are always more socially progressive than rural areas. If you're in an urban area anywhere in the country, chances are almost certain that your county is blue, even if you state went red.
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The fact is, blue or red state is defined more by what percentage of the state population is rural vs urban than anything else. The more Northern and Eastern of the MidWestern states, the ones that fall into the "rustbelt" have larger urban populations and are blue, those outside the "rustbelt" are less urban and are red.
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Furthermore, I don't "hate" the MidWest and made that clear. I don't even hate the South. But the person who started the thread asked the question, "Why do so many people hate the Midwest?" (it's the name of the thread, for cryin' out loud). I understand why many people who live in the coastal states do. I did my best to give an answer. If you look at the Southern states out across the West-North-Central portion of the MidWest and out to the Mountain states, those make up the hot-bed of social conservatism that has high-jacked the Republican party for the last couple decades. grapico says look at the map. Well, there it is, and there is the regional map beneath it.
Ask a broad stroked question, get a broad stroked answer.
this is true... upper midwest has minny, milwaukee, madison, chicago, cleveland, detroit, etc... not exactly conservative places. definitely more liberal than their southern counterparts..Iowa/minnesota/wisconsin/illinois/ohio/michigan are all blue states and a much different vibe than say nebraska/kansas/missouri/dakotas...
The only thing I will disagree on here is Indiana and Ohio being blue states. Up until this last election, Indiana had been had a red state for over three decades. Ohio is just as much of a swing state as Missouri is. Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri were all very close calls during the last election. The states of the Lower Midwest (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio) tend to be more liberal to moderately liberal in their major cities, conservative in the rural areas. It seems like in the southernmost parts of these states, major cities tend to be conservative since the South is close by (Cincinnati, Evansville, (Springfield/Branson) etc.) Indianapolis actually falls near the bottom of (most liberal cities lists)...the list can be found be googling...I used it as an example about a year ago in another thread...it is the official list. What I'll agree with is the Upper Midwest being more liberal than the Lower Midwest. In general though, it seems like in the eastern half of the U.S., the further south in latitude you get, the more conservative it gets outside of the cities.
Not to start an entirely other controversy, but I don't consider the Dakotas, Nebraska, or Kansas to be Midwestern. And even if they are, you'll still see that many areas of the Midwest are solidly blue, and very few areas solidly red. In any case, the map above shows that the Midwest as a whole is not socially conservative. Some parts are, many parts aren't.
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