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News & ArtsFriday, November 20, 2009
At Large The Alaskan Stereotype
Posted by Jonathan Golob on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:51 PM
After only a few weeks in Alaska, I'm convinced of one fact: If Sarah Palin is a racist, it wasn't from her childhood in Wasilla. (What am I doing in Alaska? This.) By most measures, the Anchorage area is more ethnically diverse and integrated than most places I've been in the lower 48. That's not to say Alaskans have not exhibited prejudice; rather, aside from a seething anti-native sentiment, people seem focused on aspects other than race when stereotyping others.
How you're dressed counts for a lot. (Bringing a pea-coat up here, in retrospect, was a poor decision; never have I had an article of clothing inspire such ire.) Anything beyond the practical draws attention, all negative. A thick coating of aggressive humility is requisite. Looking the part of a down-to-earth, humble working man or woman counts for quite a bit, it seems—perhaps even more than acting that part. A piece of the Palin puzzle fell into place when I finally recognized this pattern. To her hometown supporters, I suspect, there was no more damning criticism of Sarah than her costly clothing shopping sprees. It's telling her book and public appearances all strongly deny even the most obvious and demonstrated facts of her campaign-financed wardrobe revamping.
The Alaskans have also proven quite prickly about minor offers of help, basic interactions like holding open a door or offering directions. Being self-reliant, projecting the image of not needing anyone or anything to get about your life, seems to matter deeply. Nowhere else has the phrase “Can I help you find something?” been loaded with such malice. This seems like a place filled with outsiders, individuals who didn't fit in well elsewhere. The general attitude is blurred between a desire for acceptance and interpersonal connection and a sour-grapes fuck-off-I-don't-need-you-anyways. Todd's membership in the AIP clicks for me a bit more now.
1
Jeez, a real wool peacoat is a very nice mid-weight winter garment. The double layer in the front keeps the wind from freezing you and popping the big collar keeps the back and the sides of you neck warmer. Sure, you can do better with synthetics, but I've seen people wear much stupider things.
3
When I visited Alaska, my thoughts were that it was like a more extreme version of Maine. Maine has beautiful scenery and people that are quirky, independent, practical, and suspicious of outsiders. Alaska is similar to that, only about ten times more intense.
4
hmmm, a parka is better than a pea coat in the 907. alaska has a lot 'end of the road' types, all very...unigue. what gets me is you have so many people who hate 'outside' yet were either born outside or their family has very thin roots in the state.
5
Up until your last post on this I was thinking that you had been sentenced to be a doctor in Alaska for 7 years or something, like in Northern Exposure. Just because you made it seem like you were being banished and would not be heard from again, or if you were you'd come back totally changed, wearing a bear skin and speaking in grunts. But six weeks... well, yeah, six weeks is pretty harsh. Hang in there.
6
Did you spend any real amount of time in Wasilla beyond a quick sightseeing visit? Because the racial diversity of Anchorage and Wasilla are like day and night.
(And speaking of clothing, some of those folks could put People of WalMart to shame.)
(And speaking of clothing, some of those folks could put People of WalMart to shame.)
7
Having been born & raised in Anchorage I can say that lots of people transplant to Alaska escape their past lives -- and to @4's point they can then exhibit a distaste of the "lower 48" which is really a repudiation of their past selves. People also over-identify with their "Alaskaness" as a way of becoming "something" as they didn't really dig who they were down south.
That all said, true Alaskans (which is really my way of saying the good people: both natives, locals and transplants) are very friendly and accepting folks. I still visit my family every year and I'm always blown away at how nice and down to earth people are in Alaska. The extreme weather (both winter & summer) creates a great sense of community for most.
One thing to note: Sarah Palin is not from Alaska. She's from Idaho (I believe her family moved at age 3) and I can tell you from growing up there that certain people have a chip on their shoulder about not being "real Alaskans" and I've always seen Sarah as an Idahoan who over-emphasizes her Alaska street cred to make up for her transplant status and her general insecurities with respect to the Lower 48 and being seen as an intellectual fraud. Alaskans don't really dig her much anymore - that's a myth she'd like perpetuated. My family and friends soured on her long ago.
As a transplant to Seattle I'll also point out that born 'n bred Seattleites have always accepted me as a Seattleite because I love the city and I've made my home here. Sarah should loosen up about her Idaho roots and just be a normal Alaskan like the vast majority of transplants up in the Great State.
That all said, true Alaskans (which is really my way of saying the good people: both natives, locals and transplants) are very friendly and accepting folks. I still visit my family every year and I'm always blown away at how nice and down to earth people are in Alaska. The extreme weather (both winter & summer) creates a great sense of community for most.
One thing to note: Sarah Palin is not from Alaska. She's from Idaho (I believe her family moved at age 3) and I can tell you from growing up there that certain people have a chip on their shoulder about not being "real Alaskans" and I've always seen Sarah as an Idahoan who over-emphasizes her Alaska street cred to make up for her transplant status and her general insecurities with respect to the Lower 48 and being seen as an intellectual fraud. Alaskans don't really dig her much anymore - that's a myth she'd like perpetuated. My family and friends soured on her long ago.
As a transplant to Seattle I'll also point out that born 'n bred Seattleites have always accepted me as a Seattleite because I love the city and I've made my home here. Sarah should loosen up about her Idaho roots and just be a normal Alaskan like the vast majority of transplants up in the Great State.
8
Hmm. I don't think Alaskans are "prickly." I think we're all fairly nice. But then again I'm from Southeast and Southeast is waay different (and way better) than Anchorage. Go to a small town and the people will be very nice. The newspaper in my town publishes, fairly often, gushing letters to the editor by people who have visited and loved the hospitality.
9
Ah, the Alaskan libertarian/independent attitude never fails to amuse me. They're the geopolitical equivalent of a trust-fund kid who is really into Marx. They're so very independent they take in more Federal dollars per capita than any other state. Alaska *pays* them just to live there using socialized oil revenue. But, no sir, they don't need any goddamned government!
10
if you've spent anytime anywhere you realize that everyone is the same everywhere. dicks 'n cunts on bad days, sweet lil puppies 'n kittens on their good ones.
11
#7
She moved there when she was three and you mention her Idaho roots ....
How silly and stupid can you get.
If it was not for all being alcholoic, people in Alaska could not function.
Drunks rule the day. Which grows stale after a few months.
Who cares about Alaska? Not I nor most sane Americans.
Shit hole state except the scenery.
She moved there when she was three and you mention her Idaho roots ....
How silly and stupid can you get.
If it was not for all being alcholoic, people in Alaska could not function.
Drunks rule the day. Which grows stale after a few months.
Who cares about Alaska? Not I nor most sane Americans.
Shit hole state except the scenery.
13
I'm relatively new to Anchorage (from Seattle) and I have to say, I don't know where you even came up with half the crap in your post. How long have you even been here? Most of that post sounded completely made up to me.
14
"aside from a seething anti-native sentiment, people seem focused on aspects other than race when stereotyping others."
I don't mean to nitpick, but this line is a contradiction. Why does "seething anti-native sentiment" not count as racism?
I don't mean to nitpick, but this line is a contradiction. Why does "seething anti-native sentiment" not count as racism?
15
"Seething anti-Native sentiment" is racism, pure and simple. Just because they don't seem to hate the same races as people in the lower 48 (and believe it, that seething anti-Native sentiment is common wherever there is any Native population nearby), doesn't make it not racist to hate one group based on their race.
16
Are we really comparing Seattle to the entire state of Alaska? Because I'm pretty sure Washington can cough up a few "Wasillas" of it's own: Marysville, Burlington, Centralia, Airway Heights, not to mention all the herpes sores of towns around Seattle. Alaska cannot be summed up by some vagina-looker whose spent minimal time in and around Anchorage. If anything, you rainy day fuckers are to blame for the Anchorage experience because that's the first place you go to suck the tit of "adventure."
Regarding the peacoat, is this not the same as an out-o-towner popping open an umbrella in Seattle?
Regarding the peacoat, is this not the same as an out-o-towner popping open an umbrella in Seattle?
17
i like how often anti-native racism gets coded as rural vs non-rural; like getting rid of rural preference for subsistence fishing. anchorage cracks me up cos you have a whole bunch of transplants complaining of outside telling them what to do, as they tell the rest of the state what to do (as they pretend to be from the bush). bush alaska though is extremely beautiful and has lots of community, cos there is pretty much nothing else, unless you count the native store.
19
hey Dr. Golob, you could test some of their meth or at least their northern lights, and get back to us... you know, for science.
20
I lived in Alaska for ten years. I graduated high school there. I married there. I divorced there. I never considered myself an Alaskan....I am a military brat...I just ended up there. Alaska is a beautiful state and a great place to visit. It is also an extremely difficult place to live. The cost of living is high for a place with relatively low wages. Yes...I know the men who work on the slope make good money...and oil fat cats make bank. But the rest of us? That PFD check everyone gets all upset about generally goes to pay the bills for most people....to make up the difference of high food and heating costs. Women are not particularly welcome. I did not personally know a single female who had not been abused in some way at some point in her life in Alaska. I knew plenty of women who were raped and never bothered to report it cuz the cops told them it was there fault for being in a particular neighborhood. Drugs are rampant....cops are corrupt. Support services are slim. The people are a mix...just as they are everywhere else in the world...but the culture of male dominance pervades every aspect of life. If you want to make good money you have to do traditionally male jobs...fishing....oil field work. Labor. The divorce courts are some of the most "father-friendly" in the country. Which means that even convicted felons with a history of domestic abuse has a good chance of getting partial of total custody of the kids. Alaska is far from a comical stereotype of redneck "family values" espoused by Palin. It is a a picture of the GOP dream state with a dark dark underbelly that is most definitely not funny.
21
I grew up in Fairbanks, and every summer when I go home I find myself overdressed everywhere. The Fred Meyer's is like, the saddest place on earth. Sweatpants for miles. And um, people don't really exercise much there. Or walk even. Anywhere.
22
orlena is completely correct about pretty much everything she said. it's a shitty state. that's why i haven't gone back in about six years, and it was two years before that. i haven't gone back for those reasons, and i haven't gone back because it saddens me to see all the people i knew and loved caught in the same cycle, doing the same shit. it's just depressing.
24
People see what they want to see. Johnathan wants to see bitter cold people in a bitterly cold place, and so he will. He wants to see the cheechakos and the sourdoughs, seperate the natives and the ones born and raised, and so he will.
If he so chose to see hard working people who regularly get together to support one another in hard times and good, despite party lines or ethnicity, he could see that too.
Tomorrow there is going to be a candlelight vigil at 9th and L st downtown anchorage for Hate Crimes Victim at 3:00pm. He could see that as well.
If he so chose to see hard working people who regularly get together to support one another in hard times and good, despite party lines or ethnicity, he could see that too.
Tomorrow there is going to be a candlelight vigil at 9th and L st downtown anchorage for Hate Crimes Victim at 3:00pm. He could see that as well.
25
Never been to Anchorage, but I can't help but thinking that Johnathan is projecting just a bit. I could write the same thing about Seattle in the winter. No one cares about the Pea Coat dude, they are just wondering why you are probably staring everyone down.
26
#24
Thanks - you did the flip side nicely.
I have an ex in Anchorage, and angel of a guy. So there is an angel there as well - and I suspect he will be at your vigil.
Signed: Longing for an Angel - long nights are here
Thanks - you did the flip side nicely.
I have an ex in Anchorage, and angel of a guy. So there is an angel there as well - and I suspect he will be at your vigil.
Signed: Longing for an Angel - long nights are here
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