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'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

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Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#61

Post by phobosanomaly »

falcolas wrote: post #6
2trill2spill wrote: post #2

> Now, well into the 21st century, researchers led by the University of Cambridge have detected remnants of the pioneer personality in US populations of once inhospitable mountainous territory, particularly in the Midwest. As a person who was born and raised in the Midwest[1], just where are these mountainous regions they speak of in the Midwest? There's the black hills[2] and that's pretty much it. I wonder what def…

As someone who lives in this "Intermountain West", I've never heard of the "Intermountain West" term before your post. It seems like a term that someone came up with, but it's never caught on. I've typically heard of us referred to as the Western US (as opposed to the West Coast).

I could see it as East of the Sierras in California continuing across the midwest. The economic and cultural differences crossing from the western coastal strip in California to east of the Sierras are mind-boggling.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#62

Post by anigbrowl »

crocodiletears wrote: post #23
2trill2spill wrote: post #2

> Now, well into the 21st century, researchers led by the University of Cambridge have detected remnants of the pioneer personality in US populations of once inhospitable mountainous territory, particularly in the Midwest. As a person who was born and raised in the Midwest[1], just where are these mountainous regions they speak of in the Midwest? There's the black hills[2] and that's pretty much it. I wonder what def…

Pretty sure 'midwest' has taken over as a more polite version of 'flyover country' in the minds of many in our more uhh elite institutions. I'm sure we're not worth distinguishing. Outside of the cities, we're all just barbarian backwaters.

Besides the fact that the University of Cambridge is in England, the whole story is about distinguishing a personality difference among those who live at higher elevations. Furthermore, the assessment it makes is largely positive.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#63

Post by dang »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Can you please not take HN threads into ideological or nationalistic (or regional) flamewar? We already had to ask you this once recently.

Even if you're right, this is the worst way to bring it up, unless you want everyone to get even more rigid in their pre-existing views and even angrier about them. What good does that do?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#64

Post by jacobush »

jki275 wrote: post #46
bluntfang wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The early settlers of North American were in some sense selected by personality. It must have taken a certain sort of risk-taking personality to give up everything and climb aboard a crowded rickety passenger ship for a month-long journey to a vast and mostly uninhabited land. Many early settlers were criminals. I wonder if that personality selection shines through. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_transportation…

Keep in mind also that "criminal" meant something a bit different in colonial times than it does today.

Yeah, like “poor”. Oh, wait...

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#65

Post by remarkEon »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #40
RobRivera wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its more fun rolling as a barb anyways.

Yeah the problem with that is all the rich people seem to have plenty of time on their hands to tell you how to live your life.

Yeah but the best part of being a mountain barbarian or a midwesterner is you get to ignore them while you live rent free in their heads.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#66

Post by pnathan »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #51

In many parts of the United States when you call 911, you're lucky if anyone shows up within an hour. It's a couple hours to get to a Wal-Mart or a store. It's difficult to get anyone to drive 40 minutes outside the nearest town and navigate unmarked dirt roads to do basic plumbing or home repairs. As a result, people have to learn to repair things, make things, use a gun, do first aid, lay shingles, hang drywall, po…

> In many parts of the United States when you call 911, you're lucky if anyone shows up within an hour. It's a couple hours to get to a Wal-Mart or a store. It's difficult to get anyone to drive 40 minutes outside the nearest town and navigate unmarked dirt roads to do basic plumbing or home repairs.

That's pretty far out; I think that's pretty extreme. At least in Idaho/WA IMO (different geography and settlement pattern, prolly). But your point is still valid for the bulk of rural US - you just gotta know how to deal, because the cavalry is a ways out and expensive.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#67

Post by AnimalMuppet »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #37
chmod600 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm skepical of putting a scientific veneer over such analysis. If that's the point you'd like to make, go ahead and make it, but leave science out of it.

I'm not sure what you mean. Why shouldn't the methods of science be used to tackle these kinds of questions?

They should. But often, you instead get "fake science": a badly-designed study that is followed by inadequate statistical analysis that just happens to confirm the investigator's pre-existing biases. That approach shouldn't be used to investigate anything. Nor should the conclusions be regarded as scientific.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#68

Post by phobosanomaly »

sandworm101 wrote: post #45
briga wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving across the country ain't what it used to be--now pretty much anyone with money for an airplane ticket can do it with little to no risk. Calgary is a very cosmopolitan and modern city today, but I imagine it was pretty wild pre-1900. Alberta is still in its early stages of development, so you can definitely still find pockets of the Western mentality left

>> Alberta is still in its early stages of development WTF? Early stages? The highways have been paved. The electrical lines have been run. Modern military bases. Highspeed internet. Cellphone coverage. Universal healthcare. Universities. Alberta is well past the "early stages" of development.

I guess you could look at it in a relative sense. Compared to Beijing, it could be argued that Los Angeles is in the early stages of development.

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#69

Post by dkarl »

briga wrote: post #8

The early settlers of North American were in some sense selected by personality. It must have taken a certain sort of risk-taking personality to give up everything and climb aboard a crowded rickety passenger ship for a month-long journey to a vast and mostly uninhabited land. The people who arrived in America and decided to take it one step further by moving away from the crowded cities of the east into the vast and…

It's very frustrating that it's a blanket attitude that doesn't respond to context. There are vanishingly few people in the United States for whom a fixed frontier mindset makes sense, yet many people cling to frontier logic even when they live and spend the vast majority of their time in cities and towns that have modern amenities and professional police, fire, and EMS services. If people aren't flexible enough to adapt their thinking to whatever situation they're in, then we would be so much better off with a fixed, uniform urban mindset than a frontier one. But I think many people's idea of an alternative "urban mindset" is a caricature of effete helplessness, like the Eloi in the Time Machine (or worse and more racist images.)

Re: 'Wild West' mentality lingers in modern populations of US mountain regions

#70

Post by HarryHirsch »

briga wrote: post #8

The early settlers of North American were in some sense selected by personality. It must have taken a certain sort of risk-taking personality to give up everything and climb aboard a crowded rickety passenger ship for a month-long journey to a vast and mostly uninhabited land. The people who arrived in America and decided to take it one step further by moving away from the crowded cities of the east into the vast and…

the vast and dangerous interior of the continent

Sounds romantic but is it the truth? I understand that immigration was spearheaded by entrepreneurs who published guides to the new land and advertised in the homeland. You can see some of the spirit in foreign graduate students - they follow recommendations and usually have a very good idea what they are getting themselves into.

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