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You are a very interesting person . You were the one bragging about your income and I simply pointed out that it really wasn't something you should be bragging about. If your cousin is only making in the low $40's for her job with the CIA, not all that hard to figure out-even us dumb Minnesotans, she is living at poverty level for the DC area, but what the heck, you think it is great.
Yes, we never travel out of the state you know. Not that my son wasn't just in China and that I haven't spent weeks in Europe but heck, I have never left my backyard but that's ok, you can make your assumptions based on your limited experience with people around the state.
You are a very interesting person . You were the one bragging about your income and I simply pointed out that it really wasn't something you should be bragging about. If your cousin is only making in the low $40's for her job with the CIA, not all that hard to figure out-even us dumb Minnesotans, she is living at poverty level for the DC area, but what the heck, you think it is great.
Yes, we never travel out of the state you know. Not that my son wasn't just in China and that I haven't spent weeks in Europe but heck, I have never left my backyard but that's ok, you can make your assumptions based on your limited experience with people around the state.
It's not the CIA. You may spend weeks in Europe (Minnesotans love to say, "I'm going out the country for four weeks." Try saying "I'm going abroad for four weeks." It sounds better), but have you ever really lived anywhere else except your beloved Minnesota? Have you ever considered living anywhere else in this country, or have you said, "oh, we'd like to move away from the cold weather, but we're afraid we may not like it somewhere else." I've heard that a lot, too. People from here can't even consider life somewhere else.
I was not bragging about my income. I was stating my income since that writer thought I was being a wealthy pretentious snot.
Perhaps you got lucky enough to marry some overpaid doctor or greedy lawyer. There are plenty of those housewives in the Lakes area married to them. But that is a different topic and a new thread. I may consider it. Call the the Desperate Housewives of Lake of the Isles.
It's not the CIA. You may spend weeks in Europe (Minnesotans love to say, "I'm going out the country for four weeks." Try saying "I'm going abroad for four weeks." It sounds better), but have you ever really lived anywhere else except your beloved Minnesota? Have you ever considered living anywhere else in this country, or have you said, "oh, we'd like to move away from the cold weather, but we're afraid we may not like it somewhere else." I've heard that a lot, too. People from here can't even consider life somewhere else.
I was not bragging about my income. I was stating my income since that writer thought I was being a wealthy pretentious snot.
Perhaps you got lucky enough to marry some overpaid doctor or greedy lawyer. There are plenty of those housewives in the Lakes area married to them. But that is a different topic and a new thread. I may consider it. Call the the Desperate Housewives of Lake of the Isles.
But you have such a "nice welcoming personality". Actually, not that it really matters but yes, I have lived in other areas of the country and I have traveled to almost every state in the lower 48. You sound like a bitter, bitter person that for some reason thinks that anyone that makes more money then you is evil. Give me a break. We were all where you are now at one point but hard work and EDUCATION has brought us up in the world.
But you have such a "nice welcoming personality". Actually, not that it really matters but yes, I have lived in other areas of the country and I have traveled to almost every state in the lower 48. You sound like a bitter, bitter person that for some reason thinks that anyone that makes more money then you is evil. Give me a break. We were all where you are now at one point but hard work and EDUCATION has brought us up in the world.
I have a college degree, and am working on a masters. I am bitter because of the culture in Minnesota. The way people acted during certain events - say when my mother died and not one person bothered to call (and they said they were my friends then). Like the ones who invited me to holiday parties, after the party was done. Like the ones who constantly shun us Easterners and say were "abrasive and confrontational" when they haven't even given us a chance. They hear our accents, and turn away. And, people who make more money than me are evil? Those are your words, not mine. Some people do nice things with their money. Obviously you spend yours at tee time. Warren Buffet has loads of money. I respect him very much. He doesn't have to live in some huge house like you probably do. He lives in a regular house, right next door to the folks making far less. I don't resent that he pays for his grandchildrens' educations. I admire him the way he does it - it's for tuition and living expenses. If they want to spend a semester in Europe, then they are on their own. I bet your son - the China traveller - went there for what - trekking in the Gobi Desert. With money from you and daddy? There are plenty of wealthy people, and even just people in this country who do fairly well. If they are not pretentious about their money (like people on golf courses usually are - the country club set) then I respect them very much. You certainly make a lot of generalizations without having experienced some things (I have around here - the culture) and certainly make generalizations about people specifically you don't even know. And, do you really think all these commentators are wrong? Do you really think we are all making this up, this cultural crap? Do you really think it is a figment of our imaginations? I don't believe all these people - all of whom I do not know personally, therefore aren't clouded by my ideas - are making this up for the enjoyment of it. May thunder and lightening strike on your next golf outing.
I have a college degree, and am working on a masters. I am bitter because of the culture in Minnesota. The way people acted during certain events - say when my mother died and not one person bothered to call (and they said they were my friends then). Like the ones who invited me to holiday parties, after the party was done. Like the ones who constantly shun us Easterners and say were "abrasive and confrontational" when they haven't even given us a chance. They hear our accents, and turn away. And, people who make more money than me are evil? Those are your words, not mine. Some people do nice things with their money. Obviously you spend yours at tee time. Warren Buffet has loads of money. I respect him very much. He doesn't have to live in some huge house like you probably do. He lives in a regular house, right next door to the folks making far less. I don't resent that he pays for his grandchildrens' educations. I admire him the way he does it - it's for tuition and living expenses. If they want to spend a semester in Europe, then they are on their own. I bet your son - the China traveller - went there for what - trekking in the Gobi Desert. With money from you and daddy? There are plenty of wealthy people, and even just people in this country who do fairly well. If they are not pretentious about their money (like people on golf courses usually are - the country club set) then I respect them very much. You certainly make a lot of generalizations without having experienced some things (I have around here - the culture) and certainly make generalizations about people specifically you don't even know. And, do you really think all these commentators are wrong? Do you really think we are all making this up, this cultural crap? Do you really think it is a figment of our imaginations? I don't believe all these people - all of whom I do not know personally, therefore aren't clouded by my ideas - are making this up for the enjoyment of it. May thunder and lightening strike on your next golf outing.
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps it is YOU and not the people from Minnesota causing your problems? I don't see anything remotely close to your experience here. What I see are warm, friendly people reaching out to those in need. We had a man from our community NOT from MN die in the bridge tragedy. The community has been extremely supportive of his family--again NOT from MN originally. As for making generalizations, what in the heck do you think every post you have written on these boards have been about. You lump all MN's into one category because you had a bad experience--again, not taking any of the blame yourself. If you are anything like you are here in real life, no wonder you have no friends.
You are also making assumptions about people and how they spend their money. You assume everyone that is better off then you is in debt and can't afford their lifestyle, sorry, that just isn't true. Yes, there are some people like that but for the most part it just isn't the case. I would venture a guess that you have more debt in relation to your income then we do. Also, don't you dare make assumptions about our generosity. You have NO idea what we do and quite frankly, it is none of your business. How much of YOUR income do you donate??
Again, not that it is any of your business but our son paid for 1/2 of his trip to China and the 1/2 we paid for was his birthday and Christmas present last year.
I think you would be much better off examining YOUR attitude toward other people and realize that it is a two way street.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Brantacanadensis' personality - she is REFRESHINGLY direct and isn't afraid of confrontation. Her experiences with Minnesotans are the same ones myself and others have experienced - Minnesota Ice is alive and well.
Last edited by betsi100; 11-24-2007 at 09:20 AM..
Reason: spelling
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps it is YOU and not the people from Minnesota causing your problems? I don't see anything remotely close to your experience here. What I see are warm, friendly people reaching out to those in need. We had a man from our community NOT from MN die in the bridge tragedy. The community has been extremely supportive of his family--again NOT from MN originally. As for making generalizations, what in the heck do you think every post you have written on these boards have been about. You lump all MN's into one category because you had a bad experience--again, not taking any of the blame yourself. If you are anything like you are here in real life, no wonder you have no friends.
You are also making assumptions about people and how they spend their money. You assume everyone that is better off then you is in debt and can't afford their lifestyle, sorry, that just isn't true. Yes, there are some people like that but for the most part it just isn't the case. I would venture a guess that you have more debt in relation to your income then we do. Also, don't you dare make assumptions about our generosity. You have NO idea what we do and quite frankly, it is none of your business. How much of YOUR income do you donate??
Again, not that it is any of your business but our son paid for 1/2 of his trip to China and the 1/2 we paid for was his birthday and Christmas present last year.
I think you would be much better off examining YOUR attitude toward other people and realize that it is a two way street.
I donate about 10% per year. One of whom is the Southern Poverty Law Center. Yepppp (favorite way to say Yes around here, which is Minnesotan, even in the professional work place. Another favorite is "take it with" as if you don't know where it is going. I guess that's why you guys take the cake for possessing the highest intelligence in all of America.) I most likely have more debt in relation to my income than you and your husband, and probably even that of your spoiled kids, because I put myself through college and graduate school. No doubt your children didn't have to work to do that. Many of us do. And, yes, Minnesotans get deeply offended when someone makes a comment about their money, their livelihood - it's their ingrained sense of privacy. You don't like talking about those things - Minnesotans - because it's descended from the good OLE Norwegians, those cheap people, who certainly don't want people to know how much money they have because it wouldn't look right to their neighbors. (I know about that. I saw a PBS special about Norwegians in Norway becoming rich due to their oil reserves, and now a lottery. Oh, the potato farmer family who won big time at the lottery, but didn't want to let anyone know since it wouldn't look nice to their neighbors. Everyone knows Buffet is rich, but he doesn't have to pretend and not talk about how he got that way, which certainly was not at the expense of poorly paid employees, laid off employees, and medical patients who could not get medical care since the holier than thou doctors wouldn't accept them. Furthermore, isn't that part of the reason why all those Norwegians have their own little settlement in America, called North Oaks, because they can't stand being around anyone except themselves). And, maybe your are ashamed how you got so rich - married to an overpaid doctor (and many are), married to a lawyer (I can tolerate that more than an overpaid doctor), or perhaps you're married to someone who made all his money at the expense of poorly paid employees within the company - or walked away with stock options and a golden parachute when everyone else lost their pensions. And, where would you be without the man? I doubt you could afford the mortgage and lifestyle on your own. Many women can't, especially the desperate housewives variety.
There's a lot of people who have a higher debt to income ratio for ONE REASON ALONE - student loan debt. Not because we take trips, not because we blow our money like many needlessly rich folks and their kids do, but because we put ourselves through school.
As for the China trip - nice birthday and Christmas present. Even Warren Buffet wouldn't do that.
There are many people like you in Minnesota, despite Minnesota wanting to believe that its people are not pretentious and not money oriented (like many Minnesotans think that of people from the East Coast). Or maybe you're just trying to catch up to that of the rest of the nation on the coasts.
I have nothing more to say to you. Obviously, I have a lot more support from other posters, and many of them certainly are in agreement with what I have to say. The fact remains that many Minnesotans live with their heads in the sand (which could explain in part their "whiteness"), are standoffish, insular minded people, and who never seem to be able to want to live somewhere else. You complain about people who park in front of your homes, ON PUBLIC STREETS, yet you have your own driveways, as if you have this sense of ownership about everything. You will do anything in your power to keep some facilities for those in poverty out of your white suburbs - think of Mary Jo Copeland's failure at putting a facility in a suburb. You love to brag about your so-called great schools, and maybe you support them so much since Minnesotans don't like to spend money on many things they feel should be free. You like those of us from other places as long as we suck up to your culture. You cannot tolerate differences in opinion. As for your insistence that Upper Midwest people are the most intelligent out of all the nation - I think that one really has bothered me the most. Sure, there are some here, but considering its Gun and Hunt redneck culture, I disagree with holding the majority. Certainly places like San Francisco, DC, NY, Boston, even Austin, TX, have its share of highly educated, intelligent persons working at places like excellent universities, the UN, think tanks in DC, and many other concerns, in addition to all the PhD persons working in industry, and Minnesota doesn't have that much to boast about. But, obviously you are a Minnesotan through and through. I'm sure you even have the Fargo accent to boot. (It is my understanding from a Minnesotan that when that movie came out, oh so many of you complained about its offense to your culture. But, it's certainly all right for you guys to comment about everyone else and how they live in other parts of the country?) Minnesotans can say whatever they want about anyone else and where they're from, but no one can ever comment about Minnesotans, is what many of us have learned living here. You criticize New Yorkers, people from Louisiana, California, Texas, and many places in between, including the family oriented Midwest, from outside your beloved boundaries. You are arrogant, standoffish people, no matter your ethnicity. As long as you were born and raised here, you act in that manner. Good riddance.
Last edited by Brantacanadensis; 11-24-2007 at 11:56 AM..
Reason: word choice.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Brantacanadensis' personality - she is REFRESHINGLY direct and isn't afraid of confrontation. Her experiences with Minnesotans are the same ones myself and others have experienced - Minnesota Ice is alive and well.
Thanks. Just like a gander sounding off at the lake.
Not that it really makes any difference but my DH and I both put ourselves through college, private colleges at that, paid for either through student loans or scholarships. Neither of us got a penny from our parents for college. Again, making rash assumptions about someone just because they aren't poor college students.
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. You were the one bragging about your income and I simply pointed out that it really wasn't something you should be bragging about. If your cousin is only making in the low $40's for her job with the CIA, not all that hard to figure out-even us dumb Minnesotans, she is living at poverty level for the DC area, but what the heck, you think it is great. 
