Not one of us has been to every single corner and pocket of the world, so it stands to reason that we would not know every detail and secret of each city, culture, or belief this world has to offer.
But some people like to act like they know all there is to know about the world, pointed out the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITA) subReddit.
Redditor euphrattes was over it when one of her classmates repeatedly made comments about the city she grew up in.
When she decided to make the classmate in her place, the Original Poster (OP) wondered if she had taken things too far.
She asked the sub:
“AITA for telling my classmate that most people where I live would feel sorry for her?”
The OP was sick of answering questions about her hometown.
“The students at my (19 [Female]) school who are from places like the Bay Area and Chicago and NYC are obsessed with the fact that I’m from Nebraska, but in such an irritating way.”
“It’s basically like they’ve never interacted with someone from the Midwest outside of their little city bubbles, and they act like I’m some sort of freak or a zoo animal to examine.”
“It always starts with the same stupid questions. ‘Do you live on a farm?'”
“‘Have you ever left your hometown?'”
“‘Is there anything to do at all, or do all the kids get bored and turn to drugs?'”
“‘Are most people literate? Can they read well?'”
“And when they ask where I’m from and I say Nebraska, they assume for some reason that I dislike living there.”
“They say, ‘My condolences’ or ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘Oof, I could never.'”
But no one was worse than the student from Chicago.
“This one girl from Chicago was especially p**sing me off when we were eating in the dining hall.”
“She first started asking all these stupid, condescending questions.”
“Then, when I answered, she would giggle like I’m an imbecile and exchange smirks with her friends and cast smug glances at everyone else.”
“She also made grossed-out faces when I talked about things in Nebraska.”
The girl kept making comments.
“When we moved on to another topic, I made a comment that I didn’t know the name of something.”
“She giggled and was like, ‘I’m sure there’s a lot of things you don’t know, being from Nebraska.'”
“And then she started talking about how proud she is of being from Chicago in ‘the center of the world.'”
“And she said everyone from Nebraska is probably hoping to finally escape and come to somewhere like Chicago.”
The OP decided to retaliate.
“And I was like, ‘Actually, most people I know in Nebraska would feel sorry for someone who had to grow up in Chicago. It’s generally regarded as a wretched hive of crime and violence by people who don’t live there.'”
“And the girl was shocked and I could see she was raging inside.”
“So no one talked after that.”
“AITA?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some said the OP was right to speak up for herself and where she’s from.
“NTA it’s factually correct.”
“Side note: I know Nebraska is technically considered the Midwest but I cannot emphasize enough how much the rest of the Midwest thinks that’s stupid. It’s clearly central and should be labeled as such!”
“But to be clear it’s a great state. It just bothers me too when you run into people that have the “it’s just a fly over state” attitude when they’ve never been there! I truly feel your pain OP.” – ButteryBisquit
“NTA. Seems less like they care about the city aspect and more like they were just trying to bully and you shut them down.” – Shengia
“NTA. She was asking for a comment like that in my opinion. She does not seem like a good friend!” – EarthLurk
“NTA. She’s being rude as f**k and the faster someone calls her on it, the better. That’s why they say college broadens your horizons.” – capmanor1755
Others identified with the OP in receiving questions about where they live.
“I’m from Kuwait and they believed that we rode camels to school and lived in tents and had oil in our backyards. That was fun.” – fatsoq8
“My friend said something similar, except that it was she was too poor to own a horse, so she had to ride a cow to school instead. (We’re from TX, she was visiting NYC when asked if she rode horses to school)” – ertrinken
“I grew up in the foothills near Yosemite NP, surrounded by cattle ranches. After college, I moved to the Bay Area to work in biotech/medical research and I can’t tell you how many people after learning where I grew up asked me if my friends and I went ‘cow tipping’ for fun.”
“I didn’t even know what that meant and had to Google it.”
“After I figured out what it was, whenever I was asked if we did that, I just went with it and made up outlandish tales of our cow tipping exploits. I’m pretty sure they bought it hook, line, and sinker.” – wanderingwoman70
“I visited my grandparents in the States a few times as a kid. The kids in their neighborhood were adamant that we walked upside-down and rode kangaroos to school.”
“I did not disavow them of these beliefs.” – dreadedbugqueen
“I stayed in touch with my best friend after she moved from Texas to outside Sacramento and it was legit so bad that she started making s**t up, like how people rode their horses to school and would chase tumbleweeds for fun, and NOBODY QUESTIONED IT.” – ageekyninja
But a few pointed out the OP had bought into a stereotype herself.
“I’m from southern Illinois. From my experience, Chicagoans either hate the city or are insufferably proud of it with no in-between.” – raeflower
“Ain’t nothing wrong with Chicago regarding safety. I grew up in a semi-rural town in Indiana, where there was WAY more violence per capita than Chicago, where I lived for 13+ yrs.”
“Just cuz some hoity-toity b***h is talking s**t about Nebraska (a state I always try driving thru at night cuz it’s so boring), you don’t need to talk s**t about a wonderful city. ESH.” – SnowFox84
Though the subReddit could agree that what the other classmate did was wrong, they weren’t totally decided on how the OP handled the situation.
On the one hand, her classmate was way out of line. But on the other hand, answering a stereotype with a stereotype is not exactly a good look, either.