Regional arrogance

I want to talk to you about something that has been bothering me for close to two decades now. And it has reached a turning point with me thanks to something my friend said. Sociologists will tell us that there are two major types of areas human beings live in, broadly defined as Rural and Urban.

Rural communities are defined by large land holds with spares populations, usually dominated by farmland and their adjoined homesteads. Urban communities likewise are surrounded by commercial real estate, and very dense populations, where large homes sit on a single acre. This is all well and good. We have rural sections, and Urban sections of the united states.

What bothers me is this prevailing attitude where entire regions are defined as Rural, or as American English states “country” despite the fact that these regions have well developed urban areas in them. Now don’t get me wrong, Montgomery Alabama is nowhere near as large as New York City, But the city is certainly larger then say… Madera California. Yet by virtue of Montgomery being in Alabama, and Madera being in California, in the United States, one is country, and the other is not and it is not based on population.

I would like to thus call bullshit on the United States of America.

It seems to me that this attitude has it’s origins in the American Civil War, with the us vs. them mentality that the American south has with the rest of the world. The amusing part is that from Kansas on west, who almost had no part in that unfortunate conflict, the group seems to be stuck in the idea of being part of “the north” and thus not “country.” At the very least, regions like Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, arguably the least populous states in the union when compared to Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee, barely get recognition from “country folk” elsewhere.

I wish I could say that this behavior was limited to folks in the south, but there are urbanites who have a bit of regional snobbery to them as well. Famed Comedian Andrew Dice Clay once said “if you live between New York and L.A. you’re a fucking farmer!” I went to college with a girl from San Francisco, who was amazed when I took her to Kansas City that there were buildings “taller then five stories!” and multi BILLION dollar business located there. My entire college life I have surprised folks from towns smaller then my home who expect me; because I lived my entire life in the geographical center of the lower 48; to wear cowboy hats, talk with a southern drawl, and listen to nothing but Keith Urban and Garth Brooks.

The people of the United States need to wake up and ditch the damned regional stereo types. I am sorry but if you moved from Kansas City to Montgomery, that does not make you a country gal, and if you want some fresh air, taking a vacation to Kansas City from Las Vegas will only net you moderately less pollution.

Urban Areas are Urban Areas no matter the region, same with Rural, and I think it is high time we address ourselves and our regions as such.