I keep hearing from people that “Utahns are so nice.” That “The people here are so kind.” These individuals are, of course, just passing through. Meanwhile, objective outside observers recognize that Utahns are the rudest people in the U.S. and the worst drivers. As someone having lived here for seventeen years now, I can assure you, these descriptions are in fact true.
As a child visiting family in Utah I vividly recall being disgusted by the locals refusing to stop and pull over for emergency vehicles on response and parking on the wrong side of the street. At eight years old I knew that these people were driving on the wrong side of the street so they could park on the wrong side of the street. Perpetuating the mind set of “Of course I had to do this wrong thing because I was already doing this other wrong thing.” I will never understand how possessing a “church based morality” allows these ‘people’ to spit in the face of the law and basic decency.
The problem here is a low standard of ‘polite’. Polite is not simply not saying mean things. More than that the bigger problem is the grave disregard for the safety of people around them. How is it polite for these people to park next to fire hydrants and in fire lanes, thus inhibiting response by professionals in times of emergency? How is it polite to drive the wrong way in one way lanes of traffic? How is it polite to sit at green lights with dozens of other cars all around you? I know I’ve spent a lot of time on the podcast talking about Utah drivers but that’s only because of how serious this problem is. This people shows such complete and utter disrespect for the responsibility of owning 7,000 pound weapon of mass destruction. It’s no surprise that they have so little respect for the laws they rely upon for their own safety. Refusing to acknowledge that those same laws protect the communities that they expend so much energy attacking. Claiming the perceived attacks on their “religious freedom” as sufficient cause for denying civil liberties to citizens that they call ‘icky’.
It is well past time that these ‘people’ start investing in their children’s schools instead of their grandparents’ churches. The purpose of schools is to educate but when “adults” in this state can’t manage to act appropriately when a light changes speaks directly to the inefficacy of “teaching to the test” which is at best, the only thing that Utah “parents” are demanding their schools teach their children. And that would be almost understandable if these decisions were not based upon the projected interpretation of their church’s gospel. Education in this state seems to be held to the same low standard as their politeness which is touted as being ‘ok’ enough as opposed to the allegedly higher standard of living Christian churches claim to garner under their steeples.
Many will think I’m projecting my own prejudices by writing this. Maybe I am. I learned at a young age that opinions are frivilous, fluid, and arbitrary. When I say something, anything, it is based upon empirical data, objective observation, and personal experience. I have written these things because I have witnessed these things. Utahns are not polite by any measure of polite. They are indeed dangerous and have no reason to be let loose in public.
