See, it’s not that his article was inaccurate and insulting.  It’s that we North Dakotans were too dumb to understand the scribblings of this learned, urban dwelling intellectual.

Charles Bowden gave the keynote speech Monday at the a summer geography institute at Bismarck State College, and spoke to reporters.

Bowden’s article, which ran in National Geographic Magazine in January, drew editorials and strong criticism from North Dakota officials. A letter from Gov. John Hoeven said the story was “way off the mark.”

“I think most people thought, ‘the state is never mentioned in a national magazine and when it is, you picked this to talk about,’” Bowden said.

“The comic thing for me is, I really like this place,” he said. . . .

Bowden also took on critics of the article.

“I don’t know about your governor, I haven’t met him,” Bowden told KFYR TV. “But I guarantee you I can hand it to a 10-year-old in Arkansas, and they’d read it, and they’d perfectly understand it. If people in North Dakota can’t reach the level of a 10-year-old in Arkansas, I don’t know what to say.”

I guess Bowden isn’t interested in an intellectual discussion of his article about North Dakota with people who actually live in North Dakota.  Instead he’d just like to tell us how it is, and if we don’t agree with him then we’re stupid.

By the way, love the Arkansas comment.  As if 10-year-olds in Arkansas were dumber than ten-year-olds in other parts of the country.  No elitism there at all.