We're complicated

By JoAnne Young

 

I recently perused an article in a national publication written by a young Nebraska journalist about voter opinions in “flyover country.” It was going fine until I reached the paragraphs that slipped into typecasting and pigeonholing of the people in our state. 

 

You’ve heard how Nebraska is frequently described as a “culture of politeness,” “Nebraska nice,” a “red state.” 

 

Our governor has called Nebraska a “prolife state.”

 

State senators often describe the people of Nebraska as having one mind about whatever topic they are trying to sell. 

 

And then there’s the stereotyping that goes beyond borders … to descriptions of young people or older people, conservatives or liberals. Name a group, there’s a label, a drawer to stick them in and shove shut. 

 

But really, we’re not of one mind. Even identical twins have differences.

 

We’re complicated. 

 

We don’t have “a shared aversion to petty” and “unproductive conflict.” Plenty of us are not above pettiness and unproductive conflict.

 

Even a University of Nebraska-Lincoln article this year was swimming in stereotypes. 

 

The author wrote: “What makes (Nebraskans) stay, generation after generation, in what some call ‘flyover country?’” What makes them stay through long, cold winters and long, hot summers, often hearing someone say, ‘It could be worse.’”

 

Yeah, what does make them stay? Because I have two adult children who left after college, to California and Colorado, and may never return. I know other young people who have fled the area to more accepting states, maybe never to return. 

 

But here’s the thing. It’s hard for politicians to talk about, and for reporters to write about, our complicated natures; it’s easier to believe that talking to a few translates to the many. It’s less easy to put the more common five different opinions into one narrative or story, and certainly into a headline. 

 

That’s why we get “Nebraska nice” as a state brand, instead of “Nebraska nice, grumpy, smart, rude, uneducated, brilliant, progressive, conservative, compassionate, self-centered, well-traveled, homebodies, vanilla, colorful, funny, sarcastic … .”

 

On any given day, we can be a few, none, or all of those descriptors. 

 

We’re messy. Our opinions are contradictory at times. We can be predictable and surprising.

 

Many of us surround ourselves with those of like minds. But not all of us. And sometimes, even those of us who do, are willing to step out of that zone and get uncomfortable for a few minutes each day or each week, or at least each month. 

 

What I am hoping for, if we can stop thinking of ourselves as a singular subject, is a pride in diversity. Not just red or blue, but the non-primary purple, green and orange. 

 

I love that my Apple watch calls the display information you can choose from “complications.” They are those widgets that add information to the watch face beyond the time, complicating both the watch and the watch making. And making improvements. 

 

So, may we be complicated. 

 

And may we all in this state grow to love our diversity and embrace our differences. 

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