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The Nation's Pulse
Washed Up
It wasn’t just Democrats who took a bath this week.
As a Midwesterner who takes a minimum of two showers a day, I was not so much offended, as puzzled, by Katie Couric’s remarks regarding her recent tour of the “great unwashed middle of the country.”
I am aware that not everyone in the Midwest has the compulsive bathing habits I have. My lovely hippie fiancée, who has the annoying habit of conserving water, only washes once per day and finds my second or third shower “obsessive.” True, but I happen to enjoy the feel of hot water pelting my middle-aged body, and see no reason to deprive myself of this one petty extravagance.
More to the point, it has been my experience that personal hygiene is far more lax on the coasts, than the Midwest. This explains my fiancée’s Seattle and Portland friends’ preference for the rank bouquet of sweat, sandalwood, and patchouli to good old soap and water.
Here in the Midwest you would be hard pressed to find many people who go about their day reeking of BO. Sure, every once in a while you might come across a Mennonite farmer in the IGA (as I did the other day) who smells kind of ripe, as I did the other day, but it’s a rarity and even our homeless winos are strict about performing their daily ablutions in the restrooms of our cities’ once grand public libraries.
Heritage plays a role in this. Much of the Midwest was settled by Germanic peoples — Bavarian Catholics (the so-called “scrubby Dutch,” a corruption of the German word Deutsche) and Prussian and Norwegian Lutherans to whom cleanliness was not only a virtue, but a moral obligation. You will not find a people more obsessed with purity — in all its forms — than the Germans. Back in the early 1990s, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, I would sometimes slip over the border to east Germany. I recall feeling instantly and overwhelmingly oppressed — not by the remnants of communism or fascism — but by the extreme cleanliness and order of the place. The feeling was so palpable that I would experience a sudden rush of relief upon returning to “dirty Poland.” While the Midwest’s old Germanic character has been diluted significantly over the years, I still occasionally hear tourists remark how surprisingly clean St. Louis is.
SEVERAL COMMENTATORS have picked up on Katie’s caustic remarks as more proof that the coastal elites look down (sometimes literally) on those of us whose misfortune it is to live in the “fly-over states.” That’s some balancing act: disparaging unwashed, gun-toting, Bible-clinging Midwesterners, while allegedly devoting one’s every waking hour to concerns about the plight of the working man and the inner-city and rural poor, many of whom happen to reside — you guessed it — in Middle America.
And what of the countless liberals who live in Midwestern cities and university towns? What must Katie’s fellow travelers in Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin think of being lumped in with the Great Unwashed of Middle America? She was taken out of context, they doubtless say. Besides when the CBS anchor refers to the Great Unwashed of Middle America she clearly means filthy, middle class, suburban Republicans.
I doubt Katie meant to insult a large portion of her viewers. More likely, she probably just thinks in clichés. Usually when we hear the CBS anchor speak, she is reading someone else’s words, someone who can actually construct sentences with some measure of competency. Left to her own devices, Katie is probably unable to come up with a single coherent sentence, and doubtless reaches for whatever old chestnuts pop into her head.
Soon after the piece was published, Katie tried to excuse her remarks by Tweeting Dictionary.com’s definition of Great Unwashed: “of the general public, populace or masses. Referring to overlooked people who r politically in the middle!” Was the Oxford English Dictionary too costly for the $15 million journo? Oh, I see, the OED calls the phrase “derogatory,” and refers to “the mass or multitude of ordinary people” (emphasis mine).
Only slightly less disturbing is the realization that America’s number one newscaster has no idea where the Midwest is. Her tour to “divine the mood” of those in the “middle of the country” took her to Boston, Philadelphia, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Chicago. Basically, you had one coastal elite asking other east coasters what kind of mood Middle Americans are in. I can tell you this much, we were in a lot better mood before the CBS Evening News anchor called us stinky.
But we Midwesterners are a forgiving folk. We don’t hold a grudge, especially toward a bona fide A-list celebrity. That said, Katie is welcome to come “divine my mood” any time. Just as long as she calls ahead. I’ll need time to put on a clean pair of socks.
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (23) | Leave a comment
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MoeBlotz| 11.4.10 @ 6:40AM
Whether I need it or not,here in New Jersey I shower once a month whether I need it or not.
Tim*| 11.4.10 @ 7:11AM
"That’s why Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms."
Actually, We The Great Unwashed smell better than The Ruling Elite ,who powder over their stink .
Melvin| 11.4.10 @ 7:35AM
But, Appleby, Ms. Perky doesn't even consider us as Americans. We're just the faceless ones who mow her yard, wash her car, apply her war paint, run her errands, and kow tow to her every beck and call.
fetoau| 11.6.10 @ 10:34PM
All anyone needs to know about Ms. Perky's intellect is her live broadcast response to 9-11.
D| 11.4.10 @ 7:18AM
Yeah, and this from a woman who thought the entire country was interested in her colonoscopy.
T H Huxley| 11.5.10 @ 6:38PM
Good point. I don't need to to see that. Years ago, I stopped watching the crap on the networks that they called news. But here's what I don't understand. You right wingers are always saying that you don't care about anything Katie Couric thinks or says. Yet every time she says something you don't like, you throw fits and tantrums.
Occam's Tool| 3.5.11 @ 1:38PM
Her colon is her cleanest, most unsullied part. I'm sure Tim* will agree.
Denver Todd| 11.4.10 @ 7:25AM
The new low-water/low-power washing machines soon to be on the market will give knew meaning to the term 'unwashed'.
J Kelley| 11.4.10 @ 7:26AM
The Perky Katie often speaks of excesive pay for heads of business. 15 million for a third place news reader seems a bit much for me. In the 50's and 60's the three net work news were the only TV news.Republicans in those days had to overcome at least 5% in (free adds) news coverage for Democrats. For me the New Media is a great thing. Could not see this coming to pass 45 or 50 years ago. Never ever do I tune in the Network news, except to see what spin they put on certain issues.
rongordo | 11.4.10 @ 7:36AM
I went ahead and hijacked it as a compliment that we're not brainwashed.
Melvin| 11.4.10 @ 7:53AM
It appears that Portland and Seattle are stuck in some sort of time warp where time stands still.
The perennial age of Aquarius and Woodstock are fully entrenched in these socialist environs.
I have the honor of being born and raised in what is now the Portland Metro area and for the life of me, I cannot imagine in how I escaped the reefer madness. Reefer was for the masses, and acid, and heroin was for the cultured unwashed elite.
The odd part about Katie Couric's opinion about the unwashed masses is that she and those who view the masses as mere annoyances were at least during the 60's unwashed literally themselves. Walking into the local IGA or MayFair grocery stores when I was a kid and seeing those grubby filthy barefooted hippies strolling through the aisles and people I can tell you males, females it didn't matter, they smelled like, "Ass."
Many of these hippies came up from California in old VW vans and old yellow school buses that belched smoke and it was not uncommon to see these vehicles busted alongside the road.
These vile creatures has no sense of the respect for the rule of law or the property rights of others because when they felt like it they would pull a group of these VW vans and buses into a farm field and squat there.
The property owner would have to spend thousands in legal fees to get them evicted and when these hippies did leave they left the area littered with piles of trash and busted vehicles, much the same way the Liberals leave Washington D.C. after one of their rallies today.
So I guess it could be say that Ms. Couric didn't wash her nasty backside until she became cultured because smelling like, "Ass" was so EuroBoho chic.
james| 11.4.10 @ 8:30AM
screw that skank Katie Couric. her teeth are too small.
Petronius| 11.4.10 @ 10:09AM
And just what is prissy little KC's market share here in St L. and metro east?
Al Adab| 11.4.10 @ 5:53PM
I'm amazed that anyone, let alone another commentator, still listens to either COuric or CBS. Will wonders never cease.
Good to see the server working finally.
Al Adab| 11.4.10 @ 5:54PM
I'm amazed that anyone, let alone another commentator, still listens to either COuric or CBS. Will wonders never cease.
Good to see the server working finally.
Occam's Tool| 3.5.11 @ 1:37PM
I second Tim*'s comment. Every single flinking word.
daniela | 11.5.10 @ 4:22AM
Nice work. You keep working on this blog please.
LarryK| 11.5.10 @ 12:47PM
As a descendant of South StL “Scrubby Dutch” now living in Madison WI, allow me to point out that what really needs a good scrubbing is Katie Couric’s filthy mind. That goes double for the three dozen people that continue to watch her and cheered this inane comment. Scrape the barnacles of prejudice off the desiccated gray matter in your cranium, then you can begin to understand the good folks here in the “Middle West.”
PS Chris, this comment is a little late, but life is too short to drink Stag Beer, unless you’re at Twangfest.
LarryK| 11.5.10 @ 12:47PM
As a descendant of South StL “Scrubby Dutch” now living in Madison WI, allow me to point out that what really needs a good scrubbing is Katie Couric’s filthy mind. That goes double for the three dozen people that continue to watch her and cheered this inane comment. Scrape the barnacles of prejudice off the desiccated gray matter in your cranium, then you can begin to understand the good folks here in the “Middle West.”
PS Chris, this comment is a little late, but life is too short to drink Stag Beer, unless you’re at Twangfest.
Nolanimrod | 11.7.10 @ 7:28AM
How surprisingly clean St. Louis is?
I never knew there was another one.
jet airways flight status | 7.17.11 @ 11:20PM
yae, i have been there once and it is a nice place!