Yeah, the weather in the south is pretty nasty, unless you like it hot and humid. Of course you get that further north as well…and nasty cold, damp winters. Honestly, the worst places I’ve lived in the US were east coast northern cities (DC, Baltimore, Boston!!, NYC and parts of New Jersy, Philly…etc). I have friends always trying to get me to move back east with the promise of higher paid jobs, but basically they couldn’t pay me enough to move to any of the above (or Chicago, though not on the coast there). Not only is the weather beastly, but the people…well, let’s just say that the whole area is a huge pressure cooker and the people’s attitudes reflect that IMHO.
I’m not a big fan of California for much the same reason, or and mega-built up areas, north, south east or west. I’ve lived in the south (granted not in the rural south…but I’m guessing that rural is the same everywhere), and as others have indicated, no one ever made me have to go to church (:p), pick a football team (I don’t even watch football, with the exception of the Superbowl, and that only as an excuse to smoke and drink with friends) or anything else claimed in the OP.
I have no complaints about the people. I know plenty of great people from the South.
Most of them have at least one relative who lives without electricity or who is a member of a formally racist group, but they themselves are great people. It’s not their fault they live in what is essentially a developing country.
I was born in Atlanta in the 1960’s, and I have yet to meet anyone in the South living without electricity or that died during childbirth.
I have never been a victim of anything other than petty crime, and I do not know of any former or current members of any racist groups.
Food is a matter of opinion, and natural disasters seem to happen almost anywhere in the world.
Are people on this forum getting their information about the South from “Gone With the Wind” or “the Dukes of Hazzard” ???
Not necessarily. A lot of “human development index” type facts don’t necessarily correlate with “happiness.” I’ve read studies saying Nigerians are the happiest, most satisfied people on earth. Their country would rank very lowly on any “human development index” study, they have tons of serious social and political problems (not to mention the country is divided between two major religious groups that very much do not get along.)
There’s small town South, and then there’s big city South. I’m a yellow dog democrat atheist who hates sports. I’m pretty happy living in the Fort Worth area. Now, I’ve run into my share of people who ask me about my church, or who assume that I’m gonna vote for Rick Perry, or who think that “How 'bout them 'Boys?” is the ideal way to start a conversation with me. I’ve lived and visited other areas of the US, and I’m happiest here. I kind of like having a large Hispanic portion of the population.
I’ve also lived in another country, but that’s not really relevant here.
I’ve spent most of my life in SoCal, but spent my summers with family in the south. I’ve noticed that there’s a mix of good and bad everywhere, just different flavors and means of expression.
It helps to have a positive outlook, to think the best of people and forgive small ignorances when possible. When a man opens the door for me and calls me ‘little lady’ I don’t see it as patronizing.
He’s just a considerate person opening a door and to him ‘little lady’ is a respectable endearment. It’s better than a door slammed in my face and a muttered ‘bitch.’ I’ve encountered the latter only outside the south, btw.
Media images last a loooong time in my experience. I’m also from the South. But stereotypes work both ways. I’ve known people who seemed genuinely frightened at the idea of a trip to NYC. In their mind, New York (or Chicago or wherever) is like Charles Bronson in ‘Death Wish’. In reality, New York even at its lowest it the late 70’s was a cool place barring certain areas. But the popular image still exists 30 years later. So, yes, I gather lots of people’s mental image of the South is ‘Mississippi Burning’, ‘Dukes of Hazzard’, tornados and hurricanes.
While we’re talking 'bout them bigotted, small-minded, toe-the-line-or-else conservative folk down South, let’s not forget them biggoted , small-minded, toe-the-line-or-else liberal folk up
North.
I recently spent way too much time with some people who have lived all their lives isolated on a small island called Manhatten. (In fact, some of them have almost never set foot off the island). They were seriously, totally, small-midned and bigotted.
If you were a Republican, or if you didn’t attend the right church (i.e. theater group, led by transgendered lesbians), or if you dared to have an actual, biological child of your own, they didn’t want anything to do with you.
(oh yeah…remember… every single one of the 12 million people in NY are all equally bigotted. I know 'cause I talked to 'eml. See—My 12 million anectdotes beat your cite
That’s why most Southern States vote Republican in major Governor or Presidential elections in the past 50+ years.
You can add the lowest percentage of education, or many other standard metrics of social progress. Texas, for example, rates at the bottom of at least a dozen social progress scale metrics.
If Texas seceded from the US, the US would improve its social progress standing by at least 50% when compared to other developed nations.
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Some of us like it that way. I like living in my current hometown (Culpeper, VA., pop ~ 15,000) precisely because of those aspects of southern life and the culture that results from them.
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Culpeper is famous to my group of friends as the northernmost city you can get decent sweet iced tea.
No doubt, the south goes republican. But those maps that paint the country red and blue by state give a skewed impression I think. We have a winner take all system even if the vote is 54/46. If a red state is is 54/46 in favor of republican and a blue is 54/46 democrat, the silly red/blue maps make it appear their is a much greater political divide than in reality.
They do, you’re right, but they don’t overturn the majority vote of the South for Republicans.
Even if a simple majority election vote count would be established, which is impossible to happen only because of Republican interests, the South would still vote Republican at a substantial majority.
By far, the worst place is the Pacific Northwest. I mean it, it’s terrible. It rains all the time, there are no jobs, the people are all mean, and it just sucks. Avoid.
I’ve lived in Eastern Arkansas/West Tennesee all my life. Yes, there are sane people here, and a good number of them. However, I still think the OP isn’t off base in saying that we have the highest concentration of intolerance and backward thinking down here.
A higher concentration doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire pool is filled with piss, but one is far more likely to swim through a warm patch around here.
My family was most certainly judged on church attendance (both denomination and frequency) when I was young. When I became an atheist in my late teens, I generally had to be ready to say I was non-denominational and change the subject when the topic came up.
There was no end to the racism and bigotry around here either. Hell, Memphis practically divides itself like oil and water. We are currently embroiled in an issue with the Memphis school system that has my fellow honkies worried that their snowy white schools are going to be tainted because the city and county districts are merging. Sure, you can talk about the extra students straining resources and what have you, but it’s pretty clear that people are more willing to fight the merge or create their own schools than they are to find ways to stretch resources or raise more money for the public ones.
The older folks are more likely to have stronger viewpoints in these matters, but they also most assuredly did their damndest to make sure that those values also stuck with their kids. My wife and I are members of the handfull of our graduating high school class who didn’t at one point think that black folks were going to start a race war. Some of the people we graduated with still can’t shake hands with a black person without visible hesitance and a fake smile. I can only hope that this type of idiocy will be diluted in the future, but it’s going to take time.
I’ve lived in the PNW and the South, and see the contrasts. In the PNW, people are much more reserved, which doesn’t trouble me; but they can be passive aggressive, and they treat people who earn less than themselves as if they have a communical disease. Southerners are more easy-going with each other and tolerant of human foibles, but they do have an overrated opinion of their culture.
The greates place on earth, with the best people, though, is Chicago.
