I've mentioned a time or 262,098,238 that I grew up in North Dakota. I lived in the "big city" of Minot, which is about 100 miles from Canada, and much further from Minnesota. And yet, I am wildly familiar with the concept of "Minnesota Nice."
If you've been fortunate enough to avoid Minnesota Nice, let me just tell you about it. The best example I have is a Minnesota Traffic Jam - it's a direct result of Minnesota Nice. It happens when multiple cars arrive at a 4-way stop at the same time. Everybody sits at that intersection for-freakin-ever because, "Oh! You go first!" "No, you go first!" "Please, go first!"
Minnesotans can argue about who should go first for HOURS.
The kicker is that if someone breaks the code and does go ahead and go, everybody else will judge the hell out of them. They'll smile while they do it, but in their head they're thinking, "You selfish SOB." Minnesota Nice dictates that you be as polite as possible when others are watching and failure to be polite is cause for persecution.
Minnesota Nice is all about the passive-aggressiveness. You gotta look good, but not for the right reasons.
The concept of Minnesota Nice has been on my mind lately because OMG, IT'S NOT A MINNESOTA THING. Over the past year, I've come to learn that all these people who I thought were nice are actually just putting on airs. They want to appear to be nice, but it's all for show. "I found your garbage can lid! I left it in your driveway!" is followed by hosting a party with tons of unmasked people from all over town.
What's that? Hosting a party isn't a terrible thing to do in a pandemic? YES, IT IS. It's been clear from Day One that we're all safer if we all keep our distance. Wearing masks says you care about your community. Shutting down gatherings means you're willing to put what your community needs ahead of what you want. You'll sacrifice and mean it.
Alas, there's all these people who have and continue to put what they want above all. They keep on smiling and holding the door for you in public like a good little Minnesotan, but they would absolutely kick you in the face if it meant that they could continue to live life exactly the way they want to live it. They post all over Facebook about all of the sacrifices they've made during the pandemic, but they're posting it while sitting in the middle of a crowded restaurant. They're supporting the economy, dontchaknow!
So much Minnesota Nice.