The colder the weather gets, the more we tend to be nice. Its just natural when you’re living in a state/province where breaking down on the side of the road in winter can mean death.
And I’m only half kidding. I do honestly believe that a shared experience of harsh winters creates empathy. Same reason Nordic countries are nice to each other mostly as well.
That actually tracks
Look at the “mean” spots: summers get over 110-120 in a lot of those places
Seem and are mean is the SW, where we keep death valley
You KNOW people are bigger assholes when it’s hot. We ALL do
I think there is some truth to this.
When I lived in an apartment, many times I would shovel my neighbor’s parking spot if it looked like they were working late during a snow storm. There’s nothing worse than coming home after a long day to three feet of snow you have to shovel immediately.
Or helping someone whose car is stuck in snow and can’t drive away. We’ve all helped at least one person by giving them a push.
Pretty much
Im a european, been to san francisco once, nicest fucking people ive ever met.
I’ve done road trips to both Michigan and New York state. Other than some asshole driving in Michigan everyone I interacted with was very friendly.
As a Canadian, you can extend the top two up to us and it would still mostly fit.
I’m on the “acts mean, is nice” side in Ontario, and you all can get fucked 🖕
Let me help you with carrying your groceries, fuck face.
The bible belt / coal belt is not nice.
C’mon, the coal belt is the definition of acts mean, is nice.
Bible belt is peak ‘southern hospitality’ though, sweet words covering a spit in the face.
The coal belt is filled with abandoned elderly, selfish assholes in lifted trucks, religious extremists, and white supremacists.
“Well how you doin’, Honey!?”
in her mind
Who the fuck is this goddamn oreo ass tramp walking into my fucking store with her fuckin low cut, 5 year old torn up-ass Vans on and her fuckin tattery-ass-lookin-ass bitch-ass fleece hoodie?
“That’ll be $6.34, Sug!”
“You have a nice day, now!”
The coal belt is filled with abandoned elderly, selfish assholes, religious extremists, and white supremacists.
Well, yes, there is that too. I’d say you’re more likely to find run-of-the-mill insensitive (and uninterested in improving) racists than out-and-out white supremacists though.
I feel like it needs to be qualified that the bottom half is mainly a white problem.
KC north and KC south really are different.
Kencucky?
Kansas City.
As a young Tulsan on my first tech support job, it took me ages to figure out that Yanks aren’t as mean as rattlesnakes, they just talk that way.
Alaska: Fuck off and leave us alone.
Hawaii: Get the fuck here and hang with us.
(Plz, we need money to ship things across half the pacific)
Near as I can tell since moving back, being “Iowa nice” means “be white and republican and talk down to everyone else” so no, more like acts nice, is mean for us.
Ain’t no fucking way Indiana is in the “Nice” category
I saw more Confederate battle flags around Indianapolis than I did in Atlanta. Fuck Indianapolis.
I’m amazed by how consistently bad the reviews for Indiana are. Even the food is somehow worse than the rest of the Midwest, apparently.
I’ll say this, when I move, I’ll miss getting a little cheese cup for my breadsticks. I’ll miss you Pizza King, but I won’t miss my shitty neighbors and oppressive infrastructure.
Oh, yes, it is.
We went there during Thanksgiving, and my wife looked around for a place that was open on Thanksgiving and had a good special dinner offering. The city subreddit said this one diner was amazing, and it happened to be a few blocks from our hotel.
It was bland and came out lukewarm. It was, at best, OK. We went back there for breakfast, because sometimes those kind of diners are only good for breakfast, but that was also, at best, OK. I have no idea why the city subreddit was raving about it.
Bruh, I moved out here two years ago, and holy shit! These are the most miserable, hateful, rude, nasty, violent, stupid, lazy, and just all-around shitty people I have encountered in my life. Really, damn near everywhere I go in this state, I observe this behavior. I’m originally from Michigan, but I’ve been all over the US and really have not been anywhere like this.
It’s called the middle finger of the south for a reason
Or Utah
I get that this is basically a politcal compass meme overlayed on a map (and also that this is in cartography anarchy), but here’s how I’d actually divide things up based on basically 0 practical experience:
Acts nice, is nice: West Coast (WA, OR, CA, HI) (WA might have to move down to the next category if they’re feeling surly)
Acts mean, is nice: Northeast (ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, PA, NJ, MD, DE)
Acts nice, is mean: Southeast (AR, LA, KY, TN, MS, AL, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL), Midwest (ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, OH), and Alaska
Acts mean, is mean: The rest (ID, MT, WY, NV, UT, CO, AZ, NM, OK, TX)
“Acts nice, is mean” still makes up a large part of the country, but “Acts mean, is mean” has been trending up for about a decade now.
I think CA is act nice is mean. I lived there for 5 years and realized everyone was p. Passive aggressive.
I’ve colored it in as you described, at least I’m in one of the nice states
Gonna save this for when I decide to visit.
I forgot to color in the hawaii square, one sec (now fixed, apologies hawaii)
Alaska belongs more in the “acts mean, is nice” category. But it’s less “mean” and more “apathetic and disinterested.”
I get the perception Cali can be prickly too, although I’ve never been there. Maybe orange for them too? And come to think of it, inland Oregon is very Idaho.
There’s assholes born everywhere, I guess.
And of course that only aims to divide things up into big blocks similar to the original image. If I wanted to get more granular I’d probably put UT in “Acts nice, is mean” for example.
My experience having lived across the US has been closer to https://youtu.be/u3qJlWQNNxA?si=EU_dgGLT-vWgmNXy - I haven’t met a kind (“actually nice”) person in Northern California who grew up there.
Edit to add: err, except my wife of course.
Who ever made this has never been to Minnesota. Or Iowa for that matter.
The Midwest in general. I feel we’re getting lumped in with New England.