Massachusetts
3
There must be a distinction made between eastern Mass and western Mass. Eastern Mass (Boston, South Shore, Worcester, Metrowest, North Shore) is a pretty miserable place. Western MA (Pioneer Valley and pretty much anything west of Interstate I-91) is a completely different animal, though I would exclude the Springfield metro area from that category. The people in western MA, though not exactly gregarious, tend to be somewhat less rude.
I have a theory as to why the native-born population here is so unbelievably rude: it's at least tangentially related to inbreeding and bad weather. First, the weather: for about 7 months of the year, the weather here is absolutely horrible. It's cold, cloudy, often raining, snowing or icing from October to May. And dark. No sun. It's very depressing, particularly if you haven't the money or time to go skiing or to visit a pretty rural area during winter (ski chalet in Vermont, for example). If you live in an urban or suburban place with limited access to nature, this kind of weather has a tendency to push one indoors for six months. Think about it: six months sitting inside...not exercising...not seeing the sun enough.
This creates a certain low-level depression for many people, and I think it may contribute to a certain inwardness of personality. The people here are weird and unfriendly. Hell, spend a week in North Carolina or Texas (any time of year) and you'll notice the difference immediately.
Theory two: inbreeding. This is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, and I don't put too much stock in it, however....
The peasant/blue collar people of New England came from the poorest of the poorest sections of England and Ireland. They came here in the 1800s and worked in factories, as did subsequent generations. They procreated amongst themselves and they gradually acquired political and financial influence. The smartest ones took over the police and fire forces, and the really smart ones entered politics (Kennedy). However, the rest of them (the dumb ones, of which there were MANY) have always had a huge chip on their shoulders, because of an inherent inferiority complex. Blue collar people here (Southshore, Northshore, Somerville, places like Woburn, etc.) really really have anger issues. They are by-and-large not very nice people, because they're scared to death by their own sense of inferiority. They learned it from their parents and their grandparents.
And, the transplants who come here from other parts of the country (people in their 20s, probably seeking some kind of fantasy life: sitting in an old house in Cambridge, reading David Sedaris and listening to NPR, whilst drinking free-trade coffee) don't live in the real Massachusetts, the place inhabited by the blue collar people. It takes many years to really understand why this place sucks so much.
The highly-educated, glib, politically-progressive types who gravitate to Boston/Cambridge from boring-assed midwestern suburbs don't know any better. They've come from religious, homophobic, semi-rural nowhere places, so Boston probably seems light-years better, and it probably is. However, once you spend a few years here (or TEN!), even those people start to realize just how lame this place is, and just how unbelievably fucking rude and selfish the native-born population tends to be.
Boston sucks, the surrounding suburbs suck even more, and this endless cycle of suckiness will continue for as long as there is a USA. I'm just happy that I'm not stuck here forever.
Though not many things can beat a hike through the southwestern-Mass section of the Appalachian Trail on a warm, sunny mid-October day. But, the price one must pay for that one exquisite day is far too much, particularly if you want to remain happy...and "not weird".
