If you did a big dig on us “as people” up here, us natives, you’d see that we just have this long history of not liking new people. I read some history over in Vermont one time where they were talking about the differences between NH and VT and the writer told the story about the railroad coming up here and how this was really the beginning of what would become
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our tourist industry. Because NH has historically been more business minded, we got onto this. Vermont did not because they didn’t like people! They didn’t want all these people in their state and they sure didn’t want to host and entertain them. Or bust into their precious land to accommodate their needs. I thought this was all funny because I know this to be true. They are very, very “Protectionist” over there and this has really been the beginnings of them evolving into the off the wall extremists now about the environment that they are.. this mentality started way back then, with their own environment. They became More Protectionist as they felt more threatened- as the years have gone by. And then, this was seized upon and exploited, and look at where they are now.
Maine is even worse. If you haven’t been in Maine for 4 generations, don’t dare call yourself a Mainer. Jack lived there for a while and even he said this is the way it is and he left and moved over here. You will never be in the Mainer club over there if you weren’t born there- at the least.
Read the history about the Raid at Fort William and Mary and all these battles.. the Indian Streamers up North that seceded for a while. We had like zero patience here for baloney. We have historically always been a bunch of cold weather curmudgeons that worked hard and played harder. The longer you’ve been here, the more of this ya got in ya. This right here is our own vetting system, which does work pretty well, if you are like me and you practice this as you should. We don’t have a problem with certain people of certain colors, it’s just ALL people that are not from this region, if they don’t pass the sniff test.
Okay, so I knew all this stuff, being from here.
Well Howie Carr is a New Englander, born and raised in Maine, educated and worked down in Mass.
So tonight he kinda got into this a bit, which I recognized this mentality right off the bat.
He was telling a story about Ben Bernanke’s run for Governor in Mass. Howie says:
“Ya know, I knew this guy didn’t know Massachusetts at all, even though he had lived here, he settled here because he went to Harvard, but I knew he didn’t know the state or the people and I think this is wrong.. So I said to him “Ben, what is the western most county in Massachusetts and he couldn’t even answer me. Well Berkshire county is a pretty big deal here in Massachusetts, there is a whole lot of life here in Mass. on the other side of that river and he had no idea…”
He then went on to take on Elizabeth Warren that botched up how they say the names of many towns there and her carpetbagging history here. He was clearly annoyed about the whole thing.
This is a very fierce loyalty to our own people and this is what it looks like.
I’m telling you all of this because I have gotten into tangles with people because they don’t get all of this. This mentality is very much a part of who we are here, we who are deeply rooted people here. If you’re not from here, I don’t think that they even get this.. but this is a very real thing and we don’t take kindly to people telling us to not be this way. It’s really a primal protective mechanism.. and when you look at the place now, it’s clear to see why the hair on our backs gets raised whenever we meet people that don’t know how to talk like we do..
Look at the damage that “New People” have done to us up here. I just thought this was interesting that even Howie has this in him.
And don’t misunderstand, I know you [that would be me -Skip] and Steve are wonderful, and there are many good people here. BUT there are also many that are not and have done us no favors at all.
I just think that this stuff is something that has got to be understood because this is our culture.. and it’s really been largely diluted away. And sadly, people like me are shamed all the time for just being the way that all the old relatives are, the way they raised us. I’m not giving up my roots.
There is really very little interest in understanding all of this today because of course, we are a real thorn in their side. It’s pretty sad to watch.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I just enjoyed Howie’s story and I know you, Skip, took Gracie Gato to task and it was along these lines…which I appreciated.
