Study says Westerners think they're terrific
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- We're richer, happier, smarter, taller and
better-looking out West.
It doesn't even matter if it isn't really true. We think it is, according to a
survey done for Sunset, which bills itself as ''The Magazine of Western
Living.''
From Big Sky Country to the Best Coast, we Westerners have such
great self-esteem we think we're better than the rest of the country in
virtually every category: kindness, intelligence, ambition, physical
condition, looks, height, finances and romance, says the poll by New
York-based Roper Starch Worldwide Inc.
Pffftt, says former New York Mayor Ed Koch.
''They're very good when facing mountain lions, but getting through a
day in the big city overwhelms most of them,'' Koch said Friday. ''They
can't use a map to navigate around the city -- I'm always helping them.
We think of them as an endangered species.''
The survey disagrees. It says Westerners exercise more -- 36 percent
say they walk a mile or more regularly, compared to 34 percent for the
U.S. as a whole. Fifty-one percent say they have happy marriages,
compared to 47 percent elsewhere. More own a car. More have been
to college.
Westerners have the nation's highest average household income, and
more money to blow on things we want than folks unfortunate enough
to live where they make a big deal out of leaves turning colors every
year.
We even watch less television, according to the survey, which was
based on interviews with some 3,200 adults and has a margin of error
of plus or minus 3 percent.
The news that Westerners think they're something special is no surprise
to John Fearon, who runs a Phoenix cigar stand.
''I think I'm all that,'' he said, taking his first draw on a fresh stogie.
People in other parts of the country don't go outside as often as
Westerners, he added. ''It's colder. You sit inside all day and eat.''
Barbee Dayton, a Washington retiree who spends winters in Phoenix,
said she doesn't know any Westerners who think too highly of
themselves. That sounds more like New Yorkers, she said.
''I think we're better-looking,'' interrupted her husband, Jim.
''I think that Westerners are just more health-conscious,'' said Lindsay
Holmgren, a Phoenix consultant. ''It's chic to be health-conscious in the
West.''
''I think it's just lifestyle,'' said Bill Jager of Denver. ''In this town it's
lifestyle and along with that goes everything that feeds your ego --
beauty, brains, brawn.''
California state Sen. John Vasconcellos, a San Jose Democrat, took a
lot of heat when his legislation in 1986 created the California Task
Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility.
Even Doonesbury poked fun at him.
But Vasconcellos had the last laugh. The report produced after a
three-year study was widely reported in academic circles.
The results of the Sunset survey cheered him.
''If that's true, I'm pretty delighted,'' he said. ''Maybe it's because more
Californians have been involved in therapy and self-exploration,
exploring their emotionality, sexuality, their personal development.
''California is a vast laboratory for human exploration, development,
embodiment, therapy, a new religious consciousness.''
Even Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle agrees.
''We all covet the tall, blond, straight-white-teeth look of people who
come from the Bay area or San Diego,'' he added. ''What would you
rather do on a Sunday morning, walk out of the house and shovel eight
feet of snow off the stoop in 6 degree temperatures or come out and
decide if you want to go golfing or drive to Sausalito for a Ramos fizz?''
So why do you still live where you do, Mr. Barnicle?
''I'm trying to save enough money to move to San Francisco,'' he said.
In Santa Monica, Amy Luster, was buying food Friday for a dinner
party: halibut, rice, asparagus. Lest that all sound too healthy, she adds:
''We are going to put some mayonnaise on the fish.''
Luster, 32, agreed with much of the poll's take on Western self-image.
''I think that we do obsess about the healthy lifestyle to an extreme,
sort of at the expense perhaps of thinking globally even. We don't
consider the whole of the U.S. and the whole of the world,'' said
Luster, a psychotherapist intern.
Denyse Hale and Marne Sarria sat outside The Grove cafe in San
Francisco Friday, drinking lattes and eating bagels and fresh fruit.
Hale, 26, took special pleasure in the sunshine after a week of sporadic
rain and dark skies.
''It's a beautiful place as a state,'' Ms. Hale said. ''There's hiking,
biking, windsurfing.
''California is a lot more liberal (than eastern states). Anything tends to
go here. I like it. To move out of California would be a godforsaken
thing to do,'' said Ms. Hale, a native.
Ms. Sarria, 27, also a native, agreed the West is beautiful, but warned
against preconceived notions of body-conscious California people in
other parts of the country might have.
''The image of California is that it's this huge beach, and everyone is
tan and has a perfect body,'' said Ms. Sarria.
''There's a lot more to California than just Baywatch.''
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