Reasons I hate Missouri

I've been in and out of the state of Missouri for most of my life. As a child I lived in northern California but every summer we took a road trip to Missouri to visit family. It was educational enough to make me never want to live here but alas, I live here now.

I first moved to Missouri around the age of 20. Remained a resident for about 10 years before returning to California with my then boyfriend who later became my husband. Divorcing him led to my return to Missouri about 6 years ago. I really want to return to the state of my birth and there are several reasons why, but I'll name 10.

1) This place is called the "Show-me State" and that tells you something of the limited views here. If you have to see everything to believe it that leaves a large path open for blatant ignorance.

2) Strangely enough, the insistence of being shown things doesn't apply to religion. People freely believe in the Bible without having to see proof of anything. While I am a believer in God, I do not take the Bible literally. These "show-me" people want to see to believe everything -except- God.

3) These same church-going believers are typically the biggest hypocrites you could ever meet. I personally know several people who will cut you off if you don't attend church regularly. People here seem to think attending church means they are automatically better. Sitting in a pew on Sundays means you can drink, do drugs, be just damned nasty to others and it is all wiped clean by sitting in an uncomfortable seat on Sunday and listen to a preacher telling you how you -should- behave.

4) Places of business are either closed or open at a ridiculously later hour on Sundays, presumably because everyone is in church worshiping.

5) People here seem completely clueless about the facts of the world, yet, they insist on voting. I have never seen so many worthless attack ads that are extremely effective. People here do not insist on a candidate touting his/her merits and instead vote for the person who spits the best venom.

6) Racism! OMG! I can still see segregation here and the attitude that a brown person is automatically inferior is very alive and well here...even among people who befriend people of other races. There is a very strong and putrid subtle racism here and it applies to ALL minority groups. I've heard horrible things said about Jews. An Asian friend has had people's children pull their eyes tight and say, "ching, chong, ching..." to him. I have personally had rednecks explain to me how slavery eventually benefitted blacks because how else would we have gotten here...presuming all black people want to live in America.

7) The knee-jerk practice to ignore, object to or avoid everything from either coast just because "We don't want to be like them..." However, at the same time every fashion trend or fad that comes through, people here latch on and hold tight. While people here want the fads, they ignore real knowledge like city planning and economic development plans.

8) The pseudo-religious piety of rejecting things just because it -appears- to be against the Bible...sex being the main thing. People here preach how wrong it is to have pre-marital sex but everyone here seems to have plenty of pre-marital sex. Granted, many people do this but Midwesterners seem to have made this an art.

9) Speaking of art, this pseudo-religious piety also determines what art exhibits come here. I take great offense with people who can't deal with the naked human form presented artistically. A friend recently had to unpost an ad for an art exhibit because it presented a naked man with a peacock feather covering his genitals. It was art, not porn.

10) As for porn...having lived in San Francisco where porn is called "adult entertainment," I was totally stunned to see places offering adult entertainment were sleazy. But that's how people here view adult entertainment...rather disappointing, really.

Basically, I hate Missouri more so because of the people and culture, rather than the location. The weather sucks too but I could deal with the weather if the people weren't so annoying.