Oklahoma: kindest people in the nation?

OP, there are far better places to escape the insanity of NYC/California, but Oklahoma? I mean, come on now.

I have not been up to Tulsa since the 90s. Back then, it was not a happy place as it got sucked under with N. Texas during the S&L crisis and energy bust of the 80s. I understand that it has come a long way thanks to the fracing boom and is now shiny and new all over.

I have always found people in OK to be a bit more rough under the collar compared to people in S. Tex and the deep south. But compared to the East Coast, yeah. People are totally laid back and easy going. But I would never want to live there. Crazy conservative and very boring.

LetsRun.com wrote:

OK... wrote:

Underfunded public schools must resort to four-day weeks

Check

One of the 10 states with the highest hunger rates

Check

Highest incarceration rate in the US

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Leads the country in rates of special education students being expelled from schools

Check

I guess they're good at smiling at visitors, but that doesn't make them nice.

Classic liberal response.

On a serious note,wht's wrong with 4-days of schools. I just read in the last month that schools in CO are doing it on purpose to attract better teachers. I mean I went to one of the most expensive and presitigous universities in the world and I was in class for a total of 12 hours a day. After my 1st two years, I vowed to never have class on Friday again.

You went to a top school because you were born rich to parents who had power. Judging by your grammar of your posts (assuming this is rojo), you do not seem even 25th percentile grammar level of all LRC posters. If you grew up to nobody parents in Oklahoma you’d need all the help you could get.

OK... wrote:

I guess they're good at smiling at visitors, but that doesn't make them nice.

Exactly.

It always gives me the creeps when Southerns insist that they are friendly.

They are only friendly on the surface and actions are quite different.

I can't believe it took 1.5 pages before this beauty was posted. You're slipping, Lets Run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lGs-tXWpR4

I grew up in Ok and had a very productive running career, here's my quick info:

Oklahomas like football (not really an outlier in America)

Oklahomans like food (yeah, totally normal)

Activities: the weather is often harsh, weeds out the weak from running/biking etc

Oklahomans are generally friendly and helpful, you get excellent customer service as compared to the East coast.

Things are affordable, unlike the west coast

The Thunder is the main show in the state.

It's a place like most others, make of it what you will.

I decided to leave for various reasons, but others really like it.

Just observing wrote:

LetsRun.com wrote:

Classic liberal response.

On a serious note,wht's wrong with 4-days of schools. I just read in the last month that schools in CO are doing it on purpose to attract better teachers. I mean I went to one of the most expensive and presitigous universities in the world and I was in class for a total of 12 hours a day. After my 1st two years, I vowed to never have class on Friday again.

You went to a top school because you were born rich to parents who had power. Judging by your grammar of your posts (assuming this is rojo), you do not seem even 25th percentile grammar level of all LRC posters. If you grew up to nobody parents in Oklahoma you’d need all the help you could get.

Did you even read your post? You're the last person that should be calling someone out on grammar.

I've traveled quite a bit to college football venues, and Tennessee fans were easily the most gracious and hospitable to guests of all the places that I've been.

I don't know if that includes rivals, but for a west coast visitor it was pretty remarkable how we were invited into every tailgater we walked past. Mississippi State was pretty good, too.

There is no argument to be made ... People in the center of the country are friendlier than those on either "extreme" ends of the country.

I've only had one experience with Oklahomans, and it wasn't a positive one. It was a big softball tournament and one of the teams there was from Oklahoma. The parents were out of their minds. One giant guy actually tried to run on the field and fight our coach and had to be restrained by a policeman that was luckily there.

Another story that I heard from a friend that went to Texas. His 70-year-old mom was walking around Austin with her Longhorns t-shirt on, and some kid yelled "Fvck you Longhorns b!tch!" She was shocked and looked to see who yelled it at her, and he smiled and had an "OU" "grill" in his mouth.

I'd imagine these are outliers, and maybe the people in Oklahoma are generally courteous. But, I wouldn't consider them the kindest in the nation, just based on my experiences.

Kindest people?

Try being a person of color and visit the commune located east north east of Oklahoma City... you know, the one with rebel flags and n-words located at the entry.

Agree with the OP. I've traveled everywhere in the South. When you get closer and pass through Oklahoma the people are noticeably and increasingly kind, polite, and personable. Politics has no bearing whatsoever on being good, down-to-earth people.

Unless your an Osage Native American...

critic 100 wrote:

Kindest people?

Try being a person of color and visit the commune located east north east of Oklahoma City... you know, the one with rebel flags and n-words located at the entry.

So this commune represents the entire state of Oklahoma? C'mon, man.

fsdfasdfsfs wrote:

I hear Oklahoma City is the bomb!

Go f### yourself a-hole.

Don't think it's right that you would dismiss some extremely valid (and very sad) facts about the have-nots in OK - I disagree that these examples should be used to generalize and criticize an entire state, but it's worse that you would show yourself to be no better than the small-minded people on here who aren't at the level to be able to discuss things, worse still that you advertise this with the name of the site, that's an even bigger disgrace.

In what way is it a valid comparison between your university life and schools in CO trying to get "better" teachers (for wealthier districts - research this and see for yourself) and schools for poorer underprivileged kids (of all races) cutting back because they cannot afford to provide what these kids need?

But I suppose that the distorted rates of imprisonment in for-profit prisons, Confederate "culture and heritage" supporters (for the reading-impaired, I'm referring to the bigots, the real deplorables - who knows how many of them there are in your country) and people like Pruitt really are just examples of liberal ranting. Of course, all this is really what makes America great, right? Defending the national identity, getting the working class whites jobs again - that's one benefit of for profit prisons, right? Along with tax cuts fir businesses that are getting rich of taxpayers money. Perfect!

LetsRun.com wrote:

Classic liberal response.

On a serious note,wht's wrong with 4-days of schools. I just read in the last month that schools in CO are doing it on purpose to attract better teachers. I mean I went to one of the most expensive and presitigous universities in the world and I was in class for a total of 12 hours a day. After my 1st two years, I vowed to never have class on Friday again.

We had classes six days a week when I was in college.

I grew up in Oklahoma and have lived in 3 other states - mid west and west - been living in Colorado for 31 years now. I can say without exception that the people of Oklahoma are generally very nice, polite and kind. Good folks. You can always find fault with any population, but In my experience, they top the list.

As for climate and opportunity, there are better places, but the subject matter is the people.

ish wrote:

Try being a person of color or a non heterosexual in Oklahoma and you'll find out real fast how kind people are there. Answer: not very.

Five of us from my running club were in Tulsa for an extended weekend that included the Tulsa Run - a 15K race that doubled as a USATF master’s national championship - and we had a terrific time.

I am openly transgender and wasn’t bothered once. There was a church sign that stated that ”God is gender fluid,” and there were rainbow flags on Pride street.

We also did a longish recovery run on the river park trail and it was truly lovely. I am well aware that the near-perfect weather we encountered does not exist in the summer or winter, but I am far more open minded about Oklahoma than I was before our visit.