“WHAT EVERY US STATE IS THE WORST AT” by Thrillist…
When I stumbled across this article this morning, I was excited, who doesn’t love a good list? I open and start reading…
Arkansas: Fewest advanced degrees per capita…
California: Most polluted cities…
Georgia: Least integrity…
It got depressing fast…
Hawaii: Highest homelessness rate…
Louisiana: Highest murder rate…
Mississippi: Shortest life expectancy…
As I scrolled closer and closer to Utah, my imagination starts running wild… what HORRIBLE Utah fact awaits me?
Highest Anti-depressant use? Hightest teen pregnancy rate? Lowest paid teachers?
What awful thing would tarnish people’s opinion of our beautiful state????
North Carolina: Worst state for education…
Oregon: Most prescription painkiller abuse…
South Carolina: Most violent crime…
Oh no, here it comes…
South Dakota: Lowest-paid teachers… (small sigh of relief)
Tennessee: Most dangerous…
Texas: Fewest high school graduates per capita…
. . .
Utah: Nerdiest state…
WAIT WHAT?!? I had to re-read that… surely that’s not right…
Utah: Nerdiest state
A study calculated the nerdiest state based on public Facebook likes. So maybe it’s more correct to say that Utah is the most openly nerdy state. Either way, it’s hard to argue against a state that sells only three-two beer and has last call at 1am being nerdy.
Uhhh… that’s not a horrible social statistic… the sesame street song immediately came to mind:
“One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong!”My first instinct is to be offended… Being nerdy IS NOT a bad thing! Surely you’re not putting nerdiness in the same category as crime rates, poor education, and pollution!
But then I thought about it a little more… and I decided that, while they are most definitely saying that it’s a BAD thing to be nerdy… what they AREN’T saying is more important.
The long and short of it is that they couldn’t find anything worse than nerdiness about our state.
While Utah isn’t perfect, (we were recently ranked the worst state to be woman in I don’t know how they missed that) we have to take this as a compliment. The worst they could say about us is we’re nerds. I think that means we’re doing okay.
Nerd Pride.
Get the full list here.
