A recent study on America's friendliest states has local Oklahoma social media abuzz with arguments.

The premise is that Oklahoma has been voted as one of the friendliest states (9th overall) in the nation... at least from the viewpoint of tourists, but in my newsfeed shows more than a few people calling shenanigans.

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Two points to consider:

  1. That's fair to say of the SWOK capital of Lawton.
  2. The rest of Oklahoma is overwhelmingly friendly when you're not on the highway.

Highway travel is still somewhat of a lawless enterprise where every Oklahoman drives with their ego to some extent... Like old farmers who live in the country and drive the same roads every day, they typically have this weird mindset of road ownership. It's quirky from the outside looking in.

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Lawton isn't the best place to base anything about Oklahoma overall because:

  1. A large portion of the population here isn't from Oklahoma.
  2. Let's just emphasize #1.

Since Lawton isn't representative of Oklahoma, it's understandable how some who live here could argue that the Sooner State isn't friendly. That's just life in L-Town.

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Most people are faster to whip out their camera before helping someone. The judgment of total strangers is off the charts both offline and in person. It's pretty common to hear loud arguments between strangers in all three Walmarts. The roads are run by the driving culture of fifty different states, and the local government isn't friendly to citizens or businesses either.

Is Oklahoma friendly overall?

Visitors seem to think so... but they also probably don't fully understand what "Bless your heart." means in Okie-lingo either.

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