# Is the South the worst region in America to live in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 25, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093 "2011-11-25T23:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/121 "2011-11-28T20:08:54Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I sat in a bar in North Conway, New Hampshire about 5 years ago and listened to a New Yorker across the bar rave for 15 minutes about “niggers”. I heard that particular word more often in that 15 minutes than I have in my entire life to that point, and I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. Everyone has their own experiences. That’s why I made sure to specifically qualify what I said as being only anecdotal and my own experience, and didn’t extrapolate it into any “great truth” or anything. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/122 "2011-11-28T20:21:14Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Tennessee is so full of right-wing nuts & screwballs that you can’t swing a cat without clobbering one in the face with a cat. Ah, so you’ve met my dad and his family, then? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/123 "2011-11-28T21:20:34Z")
> [@Dingbang](#): > > You tell people that their god is imaginary and a murderer, and they’re not friendly to you! Unless they’re members of the Church of Hannibal Lecter, maybe they’re just confused about how he could be both. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/124 "2011-11-28T21:22:20Z")
As someone pointed out earlier, it’s not a north/south thing. It’s a rural/urban thing. Cities are liberal. Suburbs and redneck areas are conservative. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/125 "2011-11-28T21:35:43Z")
> [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](#): > > This is anecdotal evidence granted, but I’ve lived in coastal North Carolina for 13 years and in southern Ohio for almost as long. I’ve found that North Carolina is by far the more open-minded and liberal of the two places. I have never been to a place as fundamentalist or as far-right-wing as southern Ohio. I’ve had the exact opposite experience. I lived in and around Cincinnati, and now I live in North Carolina. Yes, I’ve heard and seen great things in the RDU area, but most people I encounter in my local area are hardcore Christian Conservatives. I see signs like, “You’re either prolife or prodeath”; Jesus fish plastered everywhere; and it’s common to be asked which church you attend. If you admit you are atheist, you’ll be told (even by a child) that you are going to hell and receive witnessing. I’ve seen billboards about how we mustn’t ever forget 9/11 (over 10 years later) and antiObama messages. As a sorta hippie atheist liberal, I feel really out of place here, something I didn’t feel as strongly as when I lived in Southern Ohio or when I get to the visit the liberal triangle up near RDU. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/126 "2011-11-28T21:42:56Z")
I’ve lived in the South my whole life, and all but four years of that in South Carolina. The most racist, backwards place I’ve ever been is Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/127 "2011-11-28T21:43:34Z")
Missed this the first time through: > [@Troppus](#): > > Did someone actually accuse you of being overeducated? Use those exact words? My husband has had his (Southern) coworkers snicker and call him ‘college boy’ in a derogatory manner (he just has a bachelors and he’s the most unassuming person I’ve ever met). I’ve also had people make negative comments about my vocabulary. Not all Southern people are this way, and I suspect it has more to do with high conservatism than geographical region, but I’ve encountered more anti-intellectualism here in rural NC than I have in rural CA. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/128 "2011-11-28T21:58:44Z")
I think the anti-intellectualism is a religious thing, at its heart. A lot of really religious people don’t like intellectuals because they do things like use logic to disprove parts of their religion. I remember a visiting pastor at my mom’s church (back in the day when I was forced to attend) gave a sermon once and she kept talking about this one guy, sneering and calling him an “intellectual” like that was a synonym for “piece of shit” or something. That church very definitely taught anti-intellectualism. JMO, and I haven’t done any research or studies, so I may be totally wrong. Just based on my experience. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/129 "2011-11-28T23:19:44Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > To the OP’s question; I’ve lived in most areas of the country and IME the most intolerant and unwelcoming region _by far_ is the Pacific Northwest. The sheer quantity of sneering intolerance for someone “different” was overwhelming. > > It was the first time in 5 states and 3 countries I found my (southern) accent openly mocked and ridiculed at work; > > It was the only place I’d lived where strangers felt it their duty to criticize everything from my choice of cars to my biking clothes. My F250 pickup seemed to enrage a certain subset of the save-the-whales crowd, and I got treated to more than one sanctimonious lecture at the gas pumps while filling its tanks. (In fairness, the NRA and Bush stickers probably didn’t help. You’re not allowed to openly support conservative candidates there.); > > The city newspaper (at the time) featured a columnist who essentially trashed newcomers moving into the area, and he even bragged about his “KBO” club _in the paper_ (Keep the Bastards Out); > > And if you think Southern Baptists are pushy, try letting a Seattleite find out you’re not a faithful member of the Church of the Environment. Our office’s enviro-scold would routinely become apoplectic when discovering I was using precious fossil fuel to haul the jetskis and boat over the mountains for yet another weekend at Banks Lake. Apparently one is supposed to use only a sailboat, and haul it with a bicycle, I suppose. > > While we did meet and befriend some wonderful people, the PNW is the only region I was glad to leave because of the hostile natives. When I turned in my notice to leave, one coworker informed me that there was “No speed limit on I-5 south if you have TX plates and are pulling a U-Haul”. :rolleyes: > > In all our moves, we’ve never encountered this level of animosity. > … So no, the south isn’t the worst. A lot of people who live in the Seattle area drive pick-ups and ride jet skis. There are also a lot of conservative Republicans living there. I don’t know why your former co-workers wanted to give just you a hard time for it. In any case, your post seemed rather antagonistic and defensive. If you exhibited an attitude like that when you were living in the Puget Sound area, I can see why you have some problems mixing with the natives. As for the “KBO” club, you do realize that was tongue-in-cheek and aimed mainly at people from California (especially LA)? In any case, that columnist (Emmett Watson) died ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/130 "2011-11-29T03:47:23Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I think the anti-intellectualism is a religious thing, at its heart. A lot of really religious people don’t like intellectuals because they do things like use logic to disprove parts of their religion. That’s certainly a part of it. Watch the religious channel sometime and you won’t have to keep it on very long before you hear about “liberal professors” (from people who honestly seem to think all college professors are whale-worshiping tree huggers). Fox News (especially Beck and Hannity and others who haven’t completed college) routinely trashes higher ed as well. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/131 "2011-11-29T06:05:16Z")
I live in a small town in the sticks of eastern Kentucky (which is unquestionably the South–perhaps an argument for another thread). I grew up in another such town, and spent a lot of time in between in medium-sized Southern cities. I see examples of every negative rural/Southern stereotype you can name on a daily basis. I won’t pretend that anti-intellectualism, hyper-religiosity, homophobia, and racism aren’t more prevalent here than elsewhere, or that they don’t bother me. At the same time, I’m a hippie agnostic sex-positive hard-drinking liberal intellectual, and I’ve managed to build a pretty damn good life here, complete with a solid career and an interesting and diverse social circle. In fact, I would say that my circle is far more diverse than it would be if I didn’t live in the middle of nowhere, since IME people in more populated areas tend to form into fairly like-minded groups while here weirdos of all stripes pretty much have to hang together. It helps a lot that I just don’t talk about religion. If people ask me what I believe I’ll tell them, but it honestly just doesn’t come up that often. I can’t even remember the last time someone invited me to church–it happened a couple of times when I first moved here, but not since. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/132 "2011-11-29T06:21:54Z")
I spent 9 years living in the Atlanta area and I loved it. I don’t know that I’d care to live most other places in Georgia, though. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/133 "2011-11-29T07:41:42Z")
I’ve lived in Florida since 83. I never again want to live in a place where I’m likely to encounter ice except in my freezer. I hope this winter isn’t as cold as last winter. It killed off a lot of Manatees. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/134 "2011-11-29T11:36:58Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > In any case, your post seemed rather antagonistic and defensive. If you exhibited an attitude like that when you were living in the Puget Sound area, I can see why you have some problems mixing with the natives. I actually considered your point \*\*NDP \*\*(you know the saying, if you can’t find the asshole in the room…), but my last sentence points out the anomaly. We’ve never encountered this anywhere else, and we’ve moved around a lot. We met and befriended some amazing people in the PNW, just like everywhere else we’ve lived. Also, there are busybodies in every town in the world, but it seemed pervasive in the Northwest. It was like being permanently at church camp, with counselors commenting and scolding your every move. > [@NDP](#): > > As for the “KBO” club, you do realize that was tongue-in-cheek and aimed mainly at people from California (especially LA)? In any case, that columnist (Emmett Watson) died ten years ago. Yes I get that it was satire, but taken with all the other “you ain’t welcome here” bias, it began to wear a little thin. Due to the economy, Texas is experiencing our own large migration from California nowadays. Yet we poor benighted southerners seem able to accept this without erecting “Don’t Californicate Texas” billboards on I-20, and none of our local columnists have formed offensively-named clubs to trash the newcomers. I stand by my statement: The PNW is the most hostile and unwelcoming region I’ve ever encountered. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/135 "2011-11-29T21:54:42Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Fox News (especially Beck and Hannity and others who haven’t completed college) routinely trashes higher ed as well. You assume that higher ed doesn’t deserve to be trashed. When higher ed tells us the likes of William Ayers, Ward Churchill, Angela Davis, and Howard Ziinn are learned, principled scholars fit to teach our young, higher ed deserves to be held in low regard. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/136 "2011-11-29T22:05:16Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Just a guess but did you live in Austin? Nope, Houston in the 70s ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/137 "2011-11-30T03:21:25Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > You assume that higher ed doesn’t deserve to be trashed. When higher ed tells us the likes of William Ayers, Ward Churchill, Angela Davis, and Howard Ziinn are learned, principled scholars fit to teach our young, higher ed deserves to be held in low regard. Four professors out of more than 1 million? In that case, Jack Kevorkian, Conrad Murray, Michael Swango, Sandeep Kapoor, Phil Astin, and James Graves must more than undermine any credibility of U.S. healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/138 "2011-11-30T09:22:30Z")
Half a century ago Tennessee was mostly Democrats. The exception was in East Tennessee. We had Al Gore, Sr. as our Senator in the Fifties and Al Gore, Jr. as our Congressman and then our Senator for a period of about twenty-five years – leading up to his run for the presidency. The governor who just completed two terms in January and was very popular was a Democrat. And certainly Nashville supported Obama in the election. We are not as conservative as some might think. If anyone feels overwhelmed by the pressure to choose a football team, brace yourself. Life is going to have greater challenges. (But even the women at my club have SEC fever. And I don’t blame them one bit.) People who are dismissive of Alabama forget that it has some of the prettiest, whitest beaches in the country. The state also has one city that is home to a high concentration of Ph.D.s – Huntsville. I love the bumperstickers that say: “Yes, actually, I AM a rocket scientist.” It is an extraordinary place. Someone would feel very silly stereotyping the residents of my neighborhood before coming here. This neighborhood is called “The Little United Nations.” I’ve been liberal and content for sixty-eight years in Tennessee. I have known since I was a child that it was a privilege to grow up in the South. (Just riding on the cotton wagon to the gin, for example.) And I was almost grown before I learned that others would not always know that. I think Camden, Maine would have been pleasant too. But here in Nashville there has been more opportunity to enjoy diversity. I grew up in a town of 2,000 and I moved to the city for my education. **Sampiro** , your posts always make a thread worth reading! ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/139 "2011-11-30T19:01:14Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > People who are dismissive of Alabama forget that it has some of the prettiest, whitest beaches in the country. The state also has one city that is home to a high concentration of Ph.D.s – Huntsville. I love the bumperstickers that say: “Yes, actually, I AM a rocket scientist.” It is an extraordinary place. But when you go there, just remember not to mention that Werner von Braun was a N\*\*i. They do not like that.🙂 > [@](#): > > But here in Nashville there has been more opportunity to enjoy diversity. I grew up in a town of 2,000 and I moved to the city for my education. Nashville is a nice place to grow up, but you still have to shovel snow in the winter sometimes. A summer home in East Tennessee wouldn’t be bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093/140 "2011-11-30T20:11:55Z")
> [@ProbablyProcrastinating](#): > > Natural disasters: [Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster - Map - NYTimes.com](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01safe.html) > Crime rates: [File:US Violent Crime 2004.svg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Violent_Crime_2004.svg) (granted, my fear of Florida comes into play here, but still) > Infant mortality: [State Health Facts | KFF](http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemapdetail.jsp?typ=3&ind=48&cat=2&sub=13&sortc=4&o=a) > Incarceration rates: [File:US States by Incarceration Rate.svg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_States_by_Incarceration_Rate.svg) > > The food may be a matter of taste, but then… > > [http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html](http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html) Those are some scary cites. It does appear, all anecdotes taken for what they are worth, that the Old South is indeed the worst place to live in the States, followed by the Midwest. I’m from the Midwest, originally, and lived most of my life in Michigan. I spent a couple years in Texas and it had its good points. I did not notice any more friendliness from strangers than I did in Michigan, though. My anecdote about living in the South comes from a friend of mine, who worked on the stock car circuit and thus saw a lot of different places. He later owned a bar, and met even more locals through his business. He claimed that being a Yankee in the South was like being something entirely different. Even if you were their favorite Yankee, you were still a Yankee. I hope I don’t offend when I what he said exactly, and note that it was some years ago when he said it: “It was like being their favorite retard.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-south-the-worst-region-in-america-to-live-in/604093.md?page=8)