In high school, I attended one of those national programs for politically minded overachievers, held at Georgetown University. When some ambassadors from the state of New Jersey found of out about my Oklahoma origins, they asked me such gems of questions as, “What’s it like living among the Indians?” I played along until I had a horrific realization: Not all of them were joking, and the ones who weren’t didn’t have a clue about how out of touch they were.
This type of mind-boggling regional ignorance isn’t just a funny story, though. I would argue it underlies the Red State/Blue State culture wars, which currently drive our government’s domestic policy.
At home in Tulsa, I hear the term “Eastern liberal” frequently used as a pejorative, like calling someone a communist in the McCarthy era. To compare a person to Ted Kennedy is to equate him (morally, not physically) to Jabba the Hut.
When I visit the rest of my family, in Hartford, Conn., I’m privy to observations like: “Can you get everything out there?” To which my mom replied, “Of course, we have Wal-Mart.”
I’ve found more often than not that even among the more educated individuals, the biases are as much the product of vague stereotypes and a sense of persecution by the “other side” as of any deep thinking.
At this point, it’s tempting to go Jon Stewart and start drawing tongue-in-cheek maps of “Jesusland.” But I have a more prosaic idea.
If this regional and cultural divide is indeed profound, as my experiences and various news media indicate, then the solution is communication. Many Californians and easterners who speak disparagingly of Texas have never been there. They base their evaluation of several million people on their distaste for President Bush. The reverse, of course, also occurs.
Of course, we can’t expect every American to travel to all the places and meet all the people that they blindly condemn, and then gather in a big circle, put on some folk music, and start passing the hash pipe.
No, as un-democratic as it sounds, the solution has to start from a more elite source: from the people who control the media, state capitols, advertising agencies. These are the people who spread regionalist stereotypes and fodder for them.
A lot of the people who will hold those positions when our generation comes into power sit next to you in class every day. Yeah, this is the “I am Northwestern: the Real Deal.”
NU produces a decent number of influential, successful alumni. One of those could be you down the road. So please, dig a little deeper than the taunts you used against the new kid from out of state in elementary school. Sure, Jon Stewart might have to find some new material, but public affairs might become a little less acrimonious, and the nation a little less divided.
Medill senior David Kucinskas can be reached at [email protected].
