Utah: Life Behind the "Zion Curtain"

In the first few years of my life, I was a California boy. Culture was different in many aspects of life. Most notably, stores were open on Sunday's, stores also stayed open later, there was a heck of alot of traffic to deal with and so on. In some respects, I felt like the people I knew were "real". I don't know really how to describe this, except to say that no one had to put up some sort of facade to fit in.

This is where I can catch a lot of flak, my opinions and so forth. I need to be clear that I'm not bashing every single Utahn there ever was. But I just see those people here and there, on the rodes and in stores who seem to have a sense of entitlement. It feels to me like certain people really feel like they are better than the other guy. You can really feel it, and even see it on the roads. In 2006, late in that year, I was driving down a major road, trying to get to a job. It was late in the day, but as a satellite dish installer, that doesn't tend to matter. Traffic was horrible because of a concert that was to take place just up the road. Some woman in her husband's pickup with an 8 in lift and new Eddlebrock pipes, rode up onto the sidewalk, and drove past the traffic.This is just one extreme example of the common attitude of "I'm the entitled Utahn". I can continually see people forcing their way into another lane on a merge, jerk-like, not even caring that it would cause an accident unless it were for the person who was forced into courtesy. I never see such driving habits on the roads of California. Everyone there seems to know the rules, and while they are extreme drivers(driving there is like racing) people tend to work together on the roads. It's an attitude that carries over to other parts of life.

These aren't the only things happening. There are multiple manifestations of an over reaching problem. The "I'm better than you" thing. I can't really say it's because some are Mormon(I'm Mormon myself), or if it's because people feel like they are rich, or because every Utahn has a chip on their shoulder. I don't know, but I think that it comes out to a combination of the three.

Don't get me wrong, Utah, I love the state and plan on living here for a long time to come, but we all really need to work on this attitude problem.

What really set me off on this topic was the recent news article that appeared in the Deseret News paper. The article presents some of the bills that rep. Carl Wimmer is having drafted for the upcoming session to open in January. The thing with all of this is not necessarily the bills themselves, but the purpose for which they will be presented. The first is the one I really have a problem with. After being involved in a minor fender-bender, Rep. Wimmer decided that the guy who caused the accident should really have to pay double to triple the fine rate just because it was rush hour. And so now he's taking a personal vendetta against all who make the same mistake. Why don't we all get the opportunity to make laws because they are personally motivated. Again, don't misunderstand me, I believe that any representative can and should feel some personal motivation to pass a bill that he sponsors, but I mean, come on! Just because it happened to him means it should be changed? No sense in the reasoning.

So now you all know life behind the Zion Curtain. These certain things that motivate Utah life and politics. We as a whole really need to change.