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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

What is the 'Midwest Mentality' anyway?

By Jessica Reynolds

Have you recently had a run-in with a crabby neighbor? Cursed at some imbecile driver who cut you off? Bumped into a careless fool on the sidewalk too captivated by his phone to notice you approaching?

If so, join the club. Jeff Ruby's piece in the September issue of Chicago Magazine is all about short-tempered Chicagoans and the daily encounters that tick us off. 

Why so angry, Chicago?

We can kid ourselves that we’re the same courteous Midwesterners who wait our turn and hold the door open for each other, but something has changed. Oh, we’ll still hold the door open. But too many among us now expect a thank-you, and if we don’t get one, we might slam the door in your face. We’re angry at corporations, politicians, God, the CTA, you name it, but we have no access to them, so we take it out on each other.

I recently asked dozens of acquaintances: Have you experienced random moments of urban rage? Story after story emerged involving senseless hair-trigger attacks. Middle fingers. Spitting. Dark threats. The most personal insults you can imagine. Many of my responders were victims; others were perpetrators. One friend reported that he had so insulted a man in the car beside him by speeding past that the man caught up and hurled a chicken at my friend’s windshield. A whole, feathered, dead chicken. How angry do you have to be to throw a chicken at someone?


But aren't Midwesterners known for their patience and politeness? What gives? Ruby's article caused me to revisit a concept I've never quite understood -- the idea of the "Midwest Mentality." Since first hearing it five years ago, I have yet to pin down exactly this term means. Kind? Genuine? Family-oriented? Fan of Big 10 football?

What does having a Midwestern Mentality entail? 



Mr. Zorn:
I usually enjoy your writing but was very upset at your editorial today. You are so far from understanding Christianity and salvation.
Read the Bible, especially the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). You CANNOT earn your way into Heaven. None of us are perfect. The only way to get to Heaven is by believing that Jesus Christ, God’s son came to earth to live a perfect example, die on the cross for our sins, then resurrect from the dead. IT is nothing we do, Jesus did it all. Thus we live a life trying to be like Jesus in thanks for what He has done for us. We can’t earn our salvation. It is God’s gift. All we can do is reject it.
I use the example that we are like a White Board and every time we sin a black mark goes on our board. Pretty soon our boards would be covered with black marks. But when we believe in Jesus as our savior He stands at our board and erases every black mark so we look pure white. It was not our works, but Jesus’. Thus when we get to Heaven’s gate we appear perfectly “white”. But again, it was not our doing, but Jesus who throws are sin as far as the east is from the west.
I will pray for you and your understanding.
Connie Strand

I think "Midwestern Mentality" is basically just a definition in the negative: Not as abrasive as New Yorkers, not as "laid back" (read: vacuous) as L.A.

Jessica - Family- (as opposed to self-) oriented, polite, patient, kind. If you ever spend time in LA or NYC you can see a difference.

A Midwesterner on the street in NYC asks a person next to her: "Do you know the time?" The response: "What, do I look like a watch?"

Same person, after a week on the job, is asked by a co-worker: "Where are you from?" "Michigan." Inquirer: "Oh, I knew you must be from the Midwest, because you're so nice."

JESSICA REPLY: I have never been to L.A. but have spent a fair amount of time in NYC, as a unworldly tourist from Arkansas, and whenever we needed directions or assistance of some sort (often), people jumped to our rescue. New York moves at a faster pace than Chicago, but people are willing to stop and help, at least in my experiences.

LA not laid back at all in terms of basic civility. Very cutthroat on the roads and in public places. I used to notice there that when I got out of my car close to the same time as someone else in, say, a bank parking lot, that person would hurry up to be the first through the door to beat me to the next place in line. This type of even was an almost daily occurrence. Ask yourself how often it happens in Chicago now. Quite a bit. We're becoming more like LA every day.

I believe this is caused by too many people, too much traffic that goes nowhere slowly & worst of all, our totally corrupt, ineffective, incompetent & venal politicians.
I believe we could easily live better if they were only corrupt, but add in ineffective, incompetent & venal & you now have a really serious problem.

The midwest mentality is one of a slower life, a family life, a religious life, a neighborly life and a polite life. With that said, Chicago of 2013 should just ship itself to the east coast or California.

It's just another over-used, over-generalized catch phrase with no meaning...

Kind of like "Bear weather"

"What does having a Midwestern Mentality entail?"

The twin values of Modesty and Privacy play a quiet but significant role.

-- MrJM

"How angry do you have to be to throw a chicken at someone?"

How angry do you have to be to happen to have a whole, feathered, dead chicken available to throw at someone who trespassed against you at a moments notice.

"The twin values of Modesty and Privacy play a quiet but significant role."

I agree. I would add that when I came to Chicago, I found people far more reserved, in general. When friends came to visit from Metro NYC, to a person they interpreted that reserve as coldness and unfriendliness. Friends could be blunt: WTF is wrong with people out here? This came up especially with regard to male NYfriends being chatty with Chicago women.

My take? Look at the ethnic and religious demographics of NYC and Long Island. Extremely non-Wasp. When I was a kid, I knew very few Protestants, except black Prostestants. White protestants were socially puzzling to me. They seemed so reserved, so crepily wholesome in an I-married-an-ax-murderer way because their reserve was a little scary. It was like: "what are they thinking? Why are they being so quiet? Speak up; you're creepin' me out, Mister!"

Not at all like Italians, Irish, Jews and Puerto Ricans of my youth, who would tell you what was on their mind without having to ask. The NY ethnics comprise the stew that became the New York culture of the 20th century, with Italians, Irish and Jews especially dominating the non-hispanic white culture. When I go back, and am around family, it can be a bit overwhelming because it's loud, exhuberant, people interupt and no one is offended--behavior that is just, straightfoward, enthusiastic and involved out there is rude here. But I must admit, I've grown more comfortable with the quieter, take-turns-talking, Midwest social ways. I've come to feel more of here than there.

I'm always reading comments in the paper from visitors commenting about the friendliness of the people, etc. I'm sure that angry incidents happen here, but also everywhere else. In a city this big, with people from the whole metropolitan area coming in to work, there are bound to be some bad apples.

Once I was in San Francisco doing the tourist thing, and people kept coming up to ME to ask for directions! One couple said "Can you help us find ...... (I forget that, it was long ago)? We're from Chicago, and don't know where we're going. I said that I was from there too but got out my trusty transit map & helped them anyway. Maybe in this case I was thinking that I could be lost too, but I also get asked sometimes here, and also try to help.

Just to give you a numerical appreciation for what I was saying about the 20th century ethnic dominance of New York culture, look at the present day demographics of Long Island. A large part of the Long Island population came from the city during the period from the 50's to the 80's. These are the people who made NY culture. Check out how small the Protestant population is, and I bet a substantial percentage of that number of Protestants is black. Wikipedia:

"Catholics are the largest religious group on Long Island, with non-affiliated in second place. Catholics make up 52% of the population of Nassau and Suffolk, versus 22% for the country as a whole, with Jews at 16% and 7% respectively versus 1.7% nationwide.[30] Even more surprising is the small percentage of Protestants, 7% and 8% respectively, for Nassau and Suffolk Counties."

And the high percentage of Jews and Catholics (ethnics) still understates their earlier influence on NY culture because the percentages are reduced somewhat by Asian immigration since the 80s.

My sense is that all these things are anecdotal stereotypes based on very little, and that people are pretty similar in their friendliness wherever you go -- that is, there's a range that defies generalization. I lived in New York for two years, and I didn't notice any great difference between there and here in the way that people behaved on the street or in every-day encounters. I don't sense that we're becoming worse or more impatient. Yes, we hold the door open, and, yes, we expect a polite acknowledgement of that. Has it ever been otherwise? I've never heard of anyone slamming the door if they didn't get the expected "thank you." Any proof that that's common? And haven't people been yelling at other drivers since the dawn of driving? Maybe spicier language is more common now, but, hey, just don't do anything wrong and you probably won't get yelled at! (The only time I can recall being yelled at by another driver is when I made a bad boo-boo, almost hitting a cyclist, and another driver decided to take on the cause of the cyclist as his own, and yelled out a few choice words in my direction.)

Having been to California several times, I've noticed several differences.
1. Almost everyone working in large store is far nicer & more helpful than here. They're genuinely friendly.
2. They're far more common sensible drivers than here.
For example: Drivers in Chicago think nothing of pulling up to a stop sign & then try to figure out which way to go. They can sit there for a few minutes blocking traffic.
Drivers in California will run that idiot over for pulling such a bonehead stunt. If you're lost, pull over & get out of the way!
3. Their government people are way more honest than our totally corrupt scum. I leave Pat Quinn out of the totally corrupt category, as he's far too stupid to be a crook, so he's honest by default.
But, several years ago, when I was in LA, I was on Sunset Blvd. & there were crews putting up "No Parking" signs for street construction.
When I watched the local news there, I found out that a one mile section of Sunset was being ground off starting at 10PM that night & the repaving would be finished by Noon tomorrow!
14 hours the street was a mess & that was during the night.
Here, they'll spend four days grinding off a layer, spend two more weeks adjusting the manholes & then wait two more weeks to lay down the new asphalt!

@ JakeH,


It's not the drivers, it's the cyclists that are the problem. On multiple occasions it's been my turn at a 4-way stop (in my car). I proceed into the intersection, only to almost hit a cyclist who's in the process of zipping across the intersection and completely blowing the stop sign. I slam on the brakes and honk, and they give ME the finger. Worst of all, they're too far away by the time I can reach the chicken in my glove compartment.

@ Garry,

And don't forget all the ticket/towing revenue they get here by starting construction at 8 a.m. and putting the no parking signs up at 2 a.m.

You've gotta keep the chicken tucked under the driver's seat!

-- MrJM

The "Midwest Mentality" can be seen most clearly in Illinois, where cities like Peoria, Champaign, and Rockford; suburbs like Harvey, Berwyn, and Naperville; and Chicago neighborhoods like Englewood, Lincoln Park, and Mt. Greenwood are all virtually indistinguishable from one another.

@ MrJM,

No room. That's where I keep the turkey.

@ Edge,

Indeed. And also towns like Tolono, Effingham, East St. Louis and Cairo.

Edge was that saracsm? Lincoln Park is indistinguishable from Englewood?

Barry, yes, get that sarcadar checked!


They throw rubber chickens at Son of Svengoolie every week on "The U".

"Son of Svengoolie" - that explains a lot

You'd be cranky too, if your car were full of chicken feathers.

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