Apology to Southerners ...

The BBQ Pit
1

I said some rather nasty stuff in this thread. Some of it I stand by. Some of it I’d like to retract. A lot of it was taken the wrong way.

The main thing I wouldn’t say if I had it to do all over again is this line : “I’m saying that the general level of intelligence is lower here than it is in other areas.”

I’ve thought long and hard about this and come to the conclusion that this was a stupid thing to say. Not because it pissed everyone off, but because it’s not true. Stupid people are everywhere. And I probably haven’t talked to enough people here to make an accurate judgement anyway. I’m ultra-shy and pretty much just go by what I overhear. Much of that is racist talk. Very, very open racism. I’d never heard that before. It shocked me. I rightly concluded that these people were idiots. The Northern people that I had grown up with just didn’t talk like that. What didn’t occur to me was that the Northern people are stupid too - just in different ways. I guess the culture defines the specific brand of stupidity. Here it’s blatant racism.

My posts in that thread also didn’t tell the other side of the story - the things I like about living here in Louisiana. First on the list is food. These people have quite a passion for it. Gumbo, jambalaya, rice dressing, Cajun sausage, and on and on. I love it all. As my mother-in-law said : “People up North eat to live. We live to eat.” I’m getting fatter just thinking about it.

The people here are the friendliest I’ve ever met (and I love t. In the other thread, I presented this as a bad thing. To most people it’s not. To me it is. Whenever someone talks to me (especially a stranger), I panic. I freak the fuck out. I hate myself for it, but that’s just how I am. Sometimes I project that hatred onto the people who are talking to me. That is wrong of me. They’re good people. I’m the one with the problem.

I’m truly sorry, you guys (or y’all :)) Please accept my most humble apologies for the stupid shit I said in that thread.

God, I’m an ass sometimes…

2

Ignore that. I’m not sure how it got in there.

3

Shoot, whyd’ya go ‘n apologize like dat fer? Hell, I was jes gittin’ ready to makin’ you squeal like a pig, boy! (You shore do gawt a purdy mouth, tho’.)

4

Um, Cabbage, that would be FIXIN’ to make you squeal like a pig. :wink:

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You post all that shit and then you apologize. Somehow it has a false ring to it.

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All geographical location has idiots.
What I find as a stupidity trait in someone may be completely normal for them.
Southerners are a bit more prejudice.
Northerners assume southerners are all living in trailers being abducted by UFO’s with multiple cars on block in the yard.
The Russian Orthodox church.
Grrr I am not going to even start on that.

In good faith will accept you apology.

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Yep with all that technology the aliens have …you know the first thing they want to do, upon arriving on earth, is to swoop down and on Oklahoma and get up one of our asses with a flashlight.

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Hey neutron star,

Good call. Apologising after such a heated debate takes courage. I commend you. Perhaps some of the people you insulted will have the courtesy to accept your apology.

BTW- My wife just helped her brother-in-law get a parking ticket “fixed”. Some of her nurse coworkers are married to cops. This was in dahntahn Piksburk, n’at.

peace

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Neutron: Your apology is a graceful step. If that thread got you thinking about the complexity of the issue, you’re on your way to understanding. I do understand your feelings. I dealt with them at 12 when I moved down here. I heard a lot of the same things from my parents, who are Californians.

From my experience, the South is the true melting pot of racial divisions that are the tenor of this whole country. But saying you’re not a racist and living in an integrated society are not the same thing. A big factor down here is poverty. It’s much more difficult to make a living in Mississsippi and Louisiana. When the boom as seen by everyone with a TV set ain’t in your neck of the woods, people get right testy. And human psychology being what it is, folks dissipate tension by dumping on the most convenient factor.

In your neck of the woods, seek out Richard’s Dance Hall. It’s a zydeco club, in Lawtell, LA. The music will hearten you, and to my mind, Music, Food, & Lovin’, are where the barriers break down in society. The folks dancin’ there will soothe your soul. I hope you’ll discover what I have down here…that the complexity has not begun to be illustrated in the mainstream culture that would have prepared you for such a move. But you have the chance now to truly integrate the main dilemma of our culture.

And do remember that a lot of the folks who spout racist stuff are caught in their upbringing. We tend to have underlying loop of what our parents taught us. Tomorrow, try to look for the ways that Southern culture defies your stereotypes. I think you’ll be surprized.

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Yeah, why would someone apoligize after posting shit? Geez, he should just go away and never come back.

pat

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I have never lived in a trailer. I ain’t trash! :wink:

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Before a certain someone shows up and tells you how All Virginians feel about your apoligy. Let me say I read the thread with interest and took no offence, (well, maybe a little). I didn’t post cause every time I thought of something to say, someone beat me to it, gotta be quick around here.

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Very courageous, neutron star. Apology accepted. Remind me to buy you a plate of barbecue next time you’re in Georgia!

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neutron star…

You never offended me to start with…you had simply made an observation and one that you probably had every right to come to that particular conclusion. You didn’t offend me…the other Southerners that deny the blatant racisim here in the south are out and fucking out liars!!! They are here in this forum where no one gets to see them during their day to day lives. All that is known is what they decide to reveal. But for me, because I know them, because I was born one of them I know a lie when I see it. When they tell you that their damned worship of that flag is nothing more than Southern pride and not a symbol of racisim they are blowing smoke up your ass! They are lying to you. And if they really believe it then they are lying to themselves. You are absolutely right…you can’t get 3 white people down here together for more than an hour without hearing at least one of them make a black racial slur. I would imagine in some places it’s even worse than it is here in my home state of Virginia.

You are right ignorance is everywhere. Some of it right here at the straight dope. Don’t apologize you observed correctly. I’m not saying that all southerners are racist but a very large portion of them are, and they hang onto it like dog loves his bone.

It isn’t correct I suppose to make generalizations about anyone. But then these ideas come from somewhere, I guess that’s why they call them stereotypes.

Needs2know

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Damn! I hate scalawags worse than carpetbaggers! :wink:

Do us a favor, needs2know, and spare us the self-loathing-southerner’s take. Take your fucking hair shirt somewhere else.

Yes, there are racists in the South,; I think all of the southern posters in the other thread acknowledged this fact. We also pointed out that there are racists everywhere, and that racism in the South is on the decline (with readily observable generational differences in the occurrance of the phenomenon). Who put a fucking bug up you ass?

The fact is neutron star’s early posts (for which he has graciously apologized- hint, hint) contain a number of factual inaccuracies and over-broad generalizations. For example, neutron star passed along as fact a couple of urban legends about legislation in Mississippi and Alabama. You would do well to go back and read the posts before spouting off.

And speaking of over-generalizations, your post is full of them. Do not presume to speak the minds of all southerners. Maybe you hang out with a bunch of racists. If so, choose your associates more carefully. Do not, however, extrapolate their views to everyone else south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Fucking self-righteous twit!

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Take your hair shirt and stick it where the hot Georgia sun don’t shine…

Needs

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I don’t own a hair shirt, don’t need one. But you can take yours and stick it where the hot Georgia sun don’t shine buddy! I don’t have anything to apologize for when it comes to my heritage, I’m honest about who I am, what I believe in, and where it is I’m coming from.

Needs

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I’d love to, but the bug up your ass is gonna have to move over first!

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I apoligize to all for bringing this to the top again, but I just got around to reading it and I have to speak.

Needs2know, How dare you presume to speak for all Virginians. I apoligized to you in the “Confederate Flag” thread but I hereby formally withdraw that apoligy.

According to you, I am an “out and out fucking liar” blowing smoke up the ass of anyone who will listen because I dare to say I’m not racist. FYI, I have been in groups of three and more without making “racial slurs” on many occasions. Probably because most of us have a life, may I suggest you get one too.

What is it with you and the flag, did your mama roll one up and whip you with it when you were a kid?

Get a grip woman. Why do you feel you have to get up on the soap box and apoligize for the south and at the same time tell us we have nothing to apoligize for. Look up hypocrite in the dictionary.

You may have been born among us, but you sure as fuck don’t represent us as a whole.

I’ve traveled pretty much the whole country in my life and I’ve found that people are people. The one thing I will grudgingly give you is that none of us can deny being racist to a certain point. White, black or asian, we all feel uncomfortable if we are the only one different at the party. That doesn’t mean we hate the other folks.

You say that the flag is what makes our northern neighbors look upon us as a bunch of inbred rednecks. I disagree, I think it’s narrow minded asses like you who can’t see beyond the street they were born on.

I’d like to see things from your point of view, but unfortunately, I just can’t seem to get my head that far up my ass.

As a seventh generation American and Virginian, I would appreciate it if in the future you would say “I” instead of “we”.

Thank you soooo much for indulging me and feel free to kiss my ass on your way out.

20

This subject is old and I’m sick of it. I don’t care who doesn’t like my views or takes offense at my stand on this, I’ve faced off people in person over this same issue. Like I care what a bunch of faceless fools on the internet think. Insist if you must that your defense of these ridiculous southern tradions don’t make the rest of the country think we’re a pack of inbred idiots. I don’t really have time to worry about any of you. The fools I live with here in the south or the rest of the country that pretty much has the right idea about a lot of us. I refuse to address this again, there’s no need.

Needs2know