From "Iowa nice" to New England blunt, how do we define "nice" in America?

Have you ever heard someone say that East Coasters are kind but not nice, and West Coasters are nice but not kind? This hour, we’re figuring out what “niceness” is, why it's so important to us, and how can it sometimes mask not-so-nice things.

GUESTS: 

• Carrie Tirado Bramen: Professor at the University at Buffalo and author of the book “American Niceness: A Cultural History”
• Amit Kumar: Assistant Professor of Marketing and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin
• Jordan Green: Self-proclaimed “kind West Coaster”
• Mia Mercado: Humor writer and author from the Midwest who wrote “She's Nice Though: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good”

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Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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