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I like the idea for this thread, US goons seem prone to making GBS threads their pants in confusion about regional differences in a lot of threads where it comes up, so I'm super interested to see all those things in a context where it's actually the topic of discussion and not a crazy derail. I'm living in Montana (fourth largest state in the US by landmass, vaguely similar in size to Germany if I remember right, but we barely have a million people across the whole state). I'm in a college town that trends toward liberalism, but the state as a whole is conservative. Definitely some conflict, but for the most part it's a matter of city dwellers vs. rural folk, although our largest city is only just above 100,000 people so the line can get blurred once you get to smaller places. There's definitely some political tension, but for the most part we're insulated from major political conflict because conservatives stay out in the countryside where nobody bothers them and the outdoorsy places everyone else visits aren't near those areas. Also, unless you're on somebody's land way out in the middle of nowhere, everyone's pretty polite. If you're not driving in a town, it's standard to wave at someone when you pass them coming the other way on the road. I travel a lot for work and don't really see that in too many other places. I went to a grocery store in Georgia a couple months ago and everyone was ignoring everyone else completely. It was weird to me, but I'm sure they thought the smiling bearded hipster who said "excuse me" when squeezing by was weird. Food here is all over the place--we have some chains, but also a lot of diners. The town I'm in has a bunch of little artisanal-type places, too (curry, street tacos, a tamale truck) that they can really only get away with here because it's a college town. Most places just have cheap, divey diners. Oh, and lots of bars and microbreweries all across the state. Lots of drinking. I currently work as a camera operator in reality TV (mostly house shows for HGTV), so I travel a ton for work. I'm actually writing this post from a delayed plane in Salt Lake City. I'm not much of a reality TV guy, though, so I'm definitely looking for ways out. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of film & TV work in Montana other than reality stuff, so I'm probably going to have to move to California at some point. Montana doesn't have too many racial or religious minorities (Native Americans are the only real big group, and once you get out of the college towns people trend toward Christian pretty heavily). The minorities we do have get poo poo on a lot, though, unfortunately  I work with a guy who's Jewish and is married to a woman of color, and the night of the election someone spray painted some awful stuff on their windows. Fortunately, outside of the fringe white supremacy groups in the sketchy, isolated parts of the state, people are usually nice if a little insensitive due to ignorance. Like I said, we don't have too many people of color outside of the college towns, so people tend not to understand what the big deal with racism is because they don't see it themselves. It seems like a generational thing, though, so younger people tend to be more sensitive to it (unless they grew up in one of the white supremacist areas).I travel a ton for work and have spent at least a week in about 2/3 of the states in the US. It's mostly small differences, nothing I can't adapt to within a day. Certainly no major culture shocks that I can think of. Montana has sort of a friendly rivalry with North Dakota that's most just jokes about how dumb and flat their state is, and how the dumb, flat eastern part of our state should be given to them as West Dakota. Nothing serious, though. Personally, I dislike most of the South--the "bless your heart"-type poo poo seems so transparently fake to me that it's just irritating, and it's been pretty prevalent every time I go. Like, if you want to say "gently caress you," just say it, you know? Pretending to be polite just makes you a bigger rear end in a top hat. I loving hate Florida with a passion (guess where I'm headed right now?), mostly because it's hot and sweaty and I'm not at all conditioned to it, being from a dry, frigid state. Visitors should check out Glacier National Park. The mountains and lakes are beautiful. Or, if it counts even though it's mostly in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park. The beauty of nature in those places is unsurpassed by anywhere else in the country I've been. Plane's finally taking off, so I'll leave it at that. Hopefully something here is insightful for you!
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Jan 29, 2017 18:42
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang posted:Do you know what people from the south think about people from the north? It's usually "Nice! What brings you all the way out here?" and they aren't "pretending" to be polite. They are polite. That fact that Captain Violence believes they are pretending says more about him than it does about southerners. I hate that someone started that joke that "bless your heart" means gently caress you. It doesn't, not even a little bit. It was a JOKE. it's stems from the 'If you can't say something nice Don't say it at all' thing most people were taught in the south. They are just trying to be nice. "bless your heart" is closer to "oh dear...no." Just to clarify, since I think I came off as more harsh on the South than I meant to be and made you a bit defensive, but I just used the "bless your heart" thing as a stereotypical example. Southern hospitality is as genuine as I've ever had, and I've met some great people in the south--one person even taught me how to trapeze in her back yard! The point I was trying (and apparently failing) to make is that when you cross that line from welcome to unwelcome, it's different in Georgia than in Montana. I wasn't trying to imply everyone being polite in the south is disingenuous, but when they are rude it's distinctly different than anywhere else I've experienced. I personally prefer (likely because it's what I'm used to) saying nothing at all than saying something nice when you clearly don't mean it. The one time I got on someone's nerves in Georgia, the words were as polite as ever, but with a menacing/condescending tone that I didn't particularly like. I'd have rather had the "gently caress off." It's super interesting to hear all these different perspectives, though. I had no idea the "bless your heart" bit was a touchy subject. It's probably about equivalent to how Montanans get when people ask us if we all ride horses to school as kids!
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Jan 30, 2017 05:03
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