Living among them can do that to a person.
I didn't feel bad at all living among Iowans; culturally, they're not that much different than Minnesotans really - just less urbanized, less affluent, and have a bit more sense of regional identity but that is fairly typical of people from small states. I'd much rather live among them than the inhabitants of some other places I've lived or spent time (e.g., some southern parts of the USA).