It occurs to me, Rapaire, that we may have a bit of miscommunication of the sort that Jerry described. It looks like you see your post as being a poke at Midwesterners. But to someone who doesn't come from the Midwest, it looks like a poke, by Midwesterners, at people who aren't from the Midwest.

And that's what I mean by double standards. If you're from the Midwest and you think it's funny to poke fun at people who aren't in whatever way you find amusing, it's a bit of a double standard if you think it's mean spirited when people who aren't from the Midwest poke fun of Midwesterners in whatever way they find amusing. I think others in this thread have tried to make the same point.