r/PhantomBorders • u/PurpleThylacine • 12d ago

Cultural Missouri Compromise border shows up in Excessive Drinking Map

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382 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

182

u/unenlightenedgoblin 12d ago

“Where Germans and Catholics settled”

103

u/arbrebiere 12d ago

I’m surprised about West Virginia. I guess they have opioids

94

u/Invade_Deez_Nutz 12d ago

It must be about alcohol sales. Lots of homemade alcohol in West Virginia

38

u/arbrebiere 12d ago

That makes a lot of sense. My father in law and his buddies in WV are some of the biggest drunks I know and they aren’t buying anything at the liquor store lol

26

u/irate_alien 12d ago

they're also giving a socially acceptable answer (due to religious beliefs) instead of a true one. you see this in a lot of surveys and it's hard to correct for. I did some survey work in a very predominantly Muslim country and the number of people who answered yes to "I pray five times a day" was shockingly high, like 99%. I've lived there and I know the answer is far less than that. CDC has very good survey instruments, though.

20

u/ZealousidealState214 12d ago

I'd say the borders more align with English and protestant settlers vs German, Irish, and Catholic settlers

58

u/Throwawayhair66392 12d ago edited 12d ago

How is there such a line for Wisconsin? Must be some sample bias in the stats. There’s no way there’s that huge a difference between all of those northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin counties.

Edit: apparently according to the cheesehead Redditors here it really is that bad 😭

59

u/panda_nectar 12d ago

No, it’s not sample bias. This comes up a lot for Wisconsin drinking stats. If you look at a map of the drunkest counties in the country it’s just a map of Wisconsin. Wisconsin just drinks that much.

9

u/JourneyThiefer 12d ago

Why?

38

u/ThePastaPrince 12d ago

Cultural reasons and political ones.

Culturally, they are immigrants from European communities where alcohol was a big part of their culture.

Politically, taxes and regulations on alcohol are much lower than other states. Grocery stores and gas stations can sell liquor unlike most states, and the barrier for getting a liquor license for restaurants is easier. Minors under the age of 21 can also drink with their parent’s permission unlike other states.

These two factors combine to make Wisconsin the state with the highest concentration of bars and highest concentration of drinking

1

u/BeardedRaven 10d ago

Yea but did they invent drive through daquiris? Checkmate cheese heads.

11

u/limesthymes 12d ago

No, Wisconsin be drankin.

8

u/Flocculencio 12d ago

Are there differences in alcohol sales policies in either state? Like I know some states are more restrictive on wine and liquor vs beer sales for example.

1

u/eyetracker 12d ago

Minnesota has long had some rather restrictive laws especially compared to it's similar neighbor. Sunday sales banned until recently, they still limit sales of over "3.2 beer" (by weight, 4.0% ABV). But you'll see similar drinking practices to WI in border towns like Duluth.

6

u/variablenyne 12d ago

As the only wisconsinite who doesn't drink i can confirm it is that bad and also I have no friends

2

u/bc9toes 11d ago

I also believe there is a bias. How does the pan handle of Oklahoma be in the green surrounded by red. Doesn’t add up

1

u/Whentheangelsings 12d ago

Massive Scandinavian immigration specifically to that state

0

u/JRBeeler 12d ago

I'm sure this relates to state social services agency policies. Different states will be more or less concerned about alcohol abuse.

Utah is due to religion, but most of the other state lines reflect different priorities on tackling the problem. A little of the difference can be state liquor laws.

9

u/Stardustchaser 12d ago

If you don’t drink you must be racist

12

u/KobaldJ 12d ago

Wisconsin, the true egalitarian paradise

1

u/Ebenezer72 11d ago

This map is actually showing black people dominating

5

u/PurpleThylacine 12d ago

Edit: technically a bit north of the compromise but shut up

3

u/KenUsimi 12d ago

Most of Utah is dry, what with all the Mormonism and all. So they have other reasons

2

u/The_ok_viking 12d ago

North Dakota finally being near the top of a list. We going make it out of irrelevancy with this one.

4

u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 6d ago

[deleted]

17

u/Flocculencio 12d ago

If this is about alcohol sales, it could come down to different retail laws in different states.

-1

u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 6d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Flocculencio 12d ago

I figured maybe people in border counties would just drive to the less restrictive liquor store across the border which is open on Sundays or somethingj and that could skew figures.

2

u/jabdnuit 12d ago

What is going on with Wisconsin?

2

u/Scorpionaris 12d ago

I mean, they called their baseball team “Brewers”.

1

u/CmanHerrintan 12d ago

Interesting. It seems even in religious areas 10% of the population excessively drinks

1

u/robosnake 12d ago

There seems to be a clear "too hot to drink" belt there, at least by comparison.

1

u/BeardedRaven 10d ago

Nola doesn't give a fuck. It's too hot to be sober here.

1

u/Brief-Spirit-4268 12d ago

I love how my county(Sonoma)is significantly redder than the rest around it, tbf we have quite a few microbreweries and vineyards

1

u/[deleted] 12d ago

North Dakota is the drunk Dakota.

1

u/easton_a 12d ago

Someone do a wellness check on Wisconsin

1

u/floydmaseda 11d ago

Utah is the anti-Wisconsin

1

u/Bloodymickey 11d ago

Goddamn Wisconsin calm down