What Are People's Misconceptions of the Midwest? (associations, transit)
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Which cities did you live on the Coasts and in the Midwest? What were your experiences? I wasn't saying everybody on the Coasts thinks or acts that way, I was trying to saying a certain group of people has those attitudes. I went on a little rant in my post. I also said that people on the Midwest are willing to go more outside of their comfort zone because there are more people from the Midwest moving to or visiting other places as oppose to people on the Coasts. Also, I went by what I observed a few years ago when the RNC announced the chose Cleveland for 2016 Convention on how a lot of the Coasts and Beltway media made snarky remarks about Cleveland.
I've lived in LA County; Frederick, MD; and Newark, Delaware on the coasts; Champaign, IL in the midwest. I'm not interested in posting my bio on CD. They all had a general ignorance of anything outside of their own bubble.
As far as Cleveland, well, it's kind of the butt of jokes (undeservedly IMO) in the western PA/eastern Ohio area as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Treasurevalley92
It's very true. It seems like the larger the city you are from the worse your sense of geography is.
You will also see people post stuff about how they are scared or totally uninterested in exploring anything outside their bubble comfort zone.
I find it funny they will make fun of overwhelmed tourists in NYC but they can't handle visiting other, different places. I saw it all the time when I rented cars out of DFW.
Meanwhile you have folks like my mother who grew up on a farm in Iowa, and while she doesn't have any real interest in living in NYC or LA has visited before and could tell you the general location of things.
Then you have Mr coastal elite who cant tell you the location of Iowa exactly and will confuse it with Idaho and Indiana and just point to Nebraska on a map and make the excuse that "It isn't important" for his embarrassing ignorance.
My dude doesn't have the best writing style and I wouldn't describe midwesterners as "calculated" but up til the part about the stares, he's not too far off. At least when it comes to white/whitewashed midwesterners.
THANK YOU.
Atleast you agree with a majority of what I stated to a degree
Minneapolis has always been a bit different from other midwestern cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, etc, because of its relative lack of the type of heavy industry that was present in those cities. The Twin Cities started as a grain processor center for southern Minnesota and the Dakotas, thus its reason for being was somewhat different. Also, Minneapolis-St. Paul, while having a reasonable dose of Catholicism, also has a considerable Lutheran influence, especially among its Scandinavian and German descendants ( although quite a few of the German-Americans are Catholic, too).
The Twin Cities are still very midwestern, but they seem slightly different when compared to their more industrial neighbors to the east...
I think the eastern (Great Lakes) and western (Plains) Midwest are pretty different. Minneapolis is the largest metro in the Plains Midwest, where heavy industry never took as much root and the economy is more driven by agriculture.
That the Plains and Great Lakes are two separate regions.
Do you not feel like they're different regions?
I realized they're both in the Census Bureau's definition of Midwest (to an extent), but Ohio has more in common with western PA and NY than it does with Nebraska or Kansas, which have more in common with Oklahoma or Colorado than they do Ohio. Because there are tons of commonalities among the Great Lakes states and Plains states even if they aren't designated as Midwest.
The Northeast has two sub-regions too . New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Whether some want to add a couple others as Mid-Atlantic too more south.
There is no reason the Midwest can't have two sub-regions too.
I know that the census bureau puts the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas in the midwest, but frankly I think they belong with Oklahoma and classified as a "plains state." Eastern Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado are also plains areas.
The Midwest is Big 10 country. The plains states are Big 12 country. Then there is Missouri that can't make up its mind.
I know that the census bureau puts the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas in the midwest, but frankly I think they belong with Oklahoma and classified as a "plains state." Eastern Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado are also plains areas.
The Midwest is Big 10 country. The plains states are Big 12 country. Then there is Missouri that can't make up its mind.
Iowa is a transition from midwest to plains. The positioning of the respective universities (going Big 10/Big 12) within the state even reflects it.
A lot of Minnesota is Plains as well.
Missouri should still be in the Big 12. A lot of Missouri fans will admit as much.
The EPA has the Plains defined like this. I think it's pretty accurate. I live in that northeast corner of Iowa, very close to the line between Plains and eastern Woodlands, and you can very easily observe the transition while driving across that line.
Coastal perceptions define the regions regardless of the true associations or geographic realities. People actually living in the Midwest might have different ideas. The “misconceptions” might depend on one’s perceptions. I have a hard time considering Ohio or West Virginia as Midwest states because of where I grew up. They seem too Eastern. The Dakotas and southward to Oklahoma seem more plains/western.
Iowa is a transition from midwest to plains. The positioning of the respective universities (going Big 10/Big 12) within the state even reflects it.
A lot of Minnesota is Plains as well.
Missouri should still be in the Big 12. A lot of Missouri fans will admit as much.
The EPA has the Plains defined like this. I think it's pretty accurate. I live in that northeast corner of Iowa, very close to the line between Plains and eastern Woodlands, and you can very easily observe the transition while driving across that line.
Agreed with you. I associate drier weather with the plains which is why I consider Iowa still midwestern.
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