AM Hucks: Ignorance Tarnishes N. Idaho Image

In the “North Idaho Can’t Catch A Break” department, the region has received a glancing blow in the Aug. 28 edition of the New Yorker. Seems the major media can’t let go of their theory that North Idaho remains a haven for racists, despite the deaths of the Aryan Nations and racist Richard Butler, respectively. This time, writer Richard Ford does the dissing in “How Was It To Be Dead?” The story line involves a woman who marries another man after her shell-shocked Vietnam War vet hubby disappears for years – only to discover her late ex alive during a family reunion decades later. By then, she is estranged from her two children living in “northern Idaho” who believe she acted hastily “for having their dad declared a croaker – prematurely.” A line later, the writer draws a bead on North Idaho: “Both kids are neck high in charismatic Mormon doings (likewise whites-only) out in Spirit Lake, where for all I know they practice cannibalism.” A coupla lines in a 12-page article. No big deal, right? Yet, it feeds the notion that the Mainstream Media still view us North Idahoans as the spiritual descendants of the Old South. We, of course, poke fun at Athol and even Spirit Lake, and until recently had the strangest local politics this side of Louisiana. Mebbe I shouldn’t say that. I don’t know much about Louisiana other than the accusations leveled by political partisans from both sides after Hurricane Katrina. Seems we all stereotype other places. Wonder how writer Ford found out about Spirit Lake’s cannibals, though.