The Slice: ‘Everybody here’ is quite different

I routinely encounter people who live here but are not typical Spokane residents.

You know what I mean. They aren’t this, they aren’t that. They don’t do this. But, surprise of surprises, they love to do that.

In fact, I run into these folks with such regularity that I’m beginning to wonder. Perhaps it’s time to kick over one of the load-bearing pillars of our civic self-image.

Maybe not everyone in Spokane is pretty much alike.

Perhaps there is more diversity of thought and lifestyle here than the conventional wisdom allows.

Did I just hear a gasp?

I know. Presenting that notion as if it’s some breakthrough insight sounds ridiculous. After all, a moment’s consideration of this area’s population size makes it obvious: It’s not statistically possible that everyone here cares deeply about water recreation and lawn maintenance.

But if the way people talk reflects the way they think, many of us apparently embrace Spokane stereotypes with both arms.

It’s no mystery why this is so. For one thing, a lot of people here do share values, attitudes and interests. So it’s easy to infer that everyone does.

Moreover, coming to a coherent understanding of where we live is a lot less complicated if you don’t have to juggle too many variables.

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it leads to assumptions that can be flat-out wrong.

OK, there’s no crime in asserting that everyone here cares about GU basketball or yard sales. And it’s not a big deal if some among us want to pretend that we all like the exact same kind of weather. But it gets trickier when people say things like “No one here reads books.”

And you hear those kinds of sweeping statements every other day.

Apart from simply being inaccurate, certain “everybody here” claims are like laces in a cultural straitjacket. Thread enough of these generalizations through the fabric of our self-image and pretty soon reality is immobilized and struggling for air.

Of course, the most serious disservice done by Spokane stereotypes is their ability to make good people feel unwelcome or stigmatized with outsider status.

It would be convenient if we could blame all this on, say, moldy West Siders who think everyone in our area is a rube. But this vision of utter and complete homogeneity is a fraud we have perpetrated on ourselves.

Sure, most people here are this. Many of us are into that.

But a lot of people isn’t the same as everybody.

Maybe the typical Spokane resident has a lot of different faces.

Today’s Slice question: What is alternative about your lifestyle?