Another thing that I've noticed is that, if you are a white guy like I am, people just
assume that you're both Christian and Conservative. Random people, like customers in your check-out lane, will just start talking to you about about politics, and they'll say some fairly extreme things fully expecting you to agree with them and not even considering the possibility that you wouldn't. It's happened to me multiple times but it still feels a little surreal. In Vegas and Oregon people didn't just assume I was anything, Democrat or Republican, I guess because there's more diversity in larger cities. But there seems to be this weird assumption here that if you're white you're on "our side," and that liberalism is just something for brown people. The differences in political opinions between Oregon and the Midwest was something I knew about, of course, but I was still taken aback by how direct it all was. Like, there is literally no doubt in peoples' minds that I'll disagree with whatever they have to say, no matter how incendiary. It actually really bothered me for a while, like I was worried I was somehow giving off racisty vibes, but I eventually realized it was just election season in the Midwest. (My favorite was the lady who loudly declared that she was so incensed by socialized medicine, it almost made her want to move to Canada! And I was like, ohmigod, these people actually exist.)
In a similar vein, it's common to walk into a Taco Bell or Burger King and then notice that they're playing Christian praise & worship music (Sirius XM The Message is a particular favorite). And it's not like I turn into Atheist Hulk or melt like a witch or anything, but it just feels like something that would be unusual elsewhere that nobody bats an eye at here. It's not that everyone with an Burger King franchise in Oregon is a heathen or something, there's just more of an awareness of diversity and being neutral that isn't present here. Here everyone just assumes that you're Christian, unless you "look like a Muslim," and questions like "What church do you go to?" are common, because of course everyone goes to church. And customers in Nevada or Oregon never got offended when I wished them "happy holidays," but here people straight-up correct you. "NO. Merry CHRISTmas." It's just
odd, like wishing everybody their own happy holiday is somehow biased, you have to specifically reaffirm the chosen faith of the majority to be "fair." (That it's rather impolite to tell others the "proper" way to wish you well never seems to occur to people; I always think "actually, now I don't hope you have a happy holiday, so I guess you've succeeded?")
Hmm, I didn't mean for this to be so political (and I didn't even get to the gay stuff!). Oh well. Merry Fucking Christmas, everyone.
