# Newsflash: The Deep South Still Backward, Ignorant, Racist **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191 "2008-11-11T15:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/141 "2008-11-12T19:11:11Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > OK, but remember we’re all different up North too, that is all I ask. Don’t worry. I know the difference. I ain’t mad atcha. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/142 "2008-11-12T19:13:43Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Well, you are aware of the fact that a nigra jew killed my daddy, right? No, Luke. I AM your father. Like someone else wasn’t going to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/143 "2008-11-12T21:23:30Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > No, Luke. I AM your father. So _that’s_ where my twin sister name L’Annakisha’s name comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/144 "2008-11-12T21:25:42Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The polls show that the younger generation of whites are not voting with the older generations of whites. Sampiro appears to be correct in his defense that things are getting better and it is not just Northerner migrating south. As a Yellow Dog Democrat I’d still like to see conclusive evidence that “voting Democratic” and “things getting better” are synonymous. > [@](#): > > Though you know if you, Ogre and others could stop with the taking offense and so taking potshots back at Northerners it would help those of us Northerners trying to argue against the idea of the Op. So if I opened a thread trashing New Jerseyans as crass, loud, obnoxious, vulgar, half-literate dumbasses and layabouts, you would take no offense and feel no inclination to say “no we aren’t”? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/145 "2008-11-12T21:31:31Z")
- We talk real funny down here We drink too much and we laugh too loud We’re too dumb to make it in no Northern town\* [Ya’ll know the rest.](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/randy-newman/rednecks.html) [Rednecks video with audio.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W8WmkHPpZ4) (Potentially objective lyrics for the irony impaired.) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/146 "2008-11-12T21:33:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > As a Yellow Dog Democrat I’d still like to see conclusive evidence that “voting Democratic” and “things getting better” are synonymous. > > So if I opened a thread trashing New Jerseyans as crass, loud, obnoxious, vulgar, half-literate dumbasses and layabouts, you would take no offense and feel no inclination to say “no we aren’t”? Well I would say we aren’t, but I would not reply to the idiot\* that posted such generalization by saying his region is _fill in the blank_. That is what I meant. I would probably go on in boring detail defending NJ and pointing out what I perceive our states real foibles are at the same time. - Please be absolutely sure I am not calling you an idiot. I am answering a what if only. I am trying not to give offense. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/147 "2008-11-12T21:54:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Well I would say we aren’t, but I would not reply to the idiot\* that posted such generalization by saying his region is _fill in the blank_. That is what I meant. I would probably go on in boring detail defending NJ and pointing out what I perceive our states real foibles are at the same time. You can honestly state that if the person trashing New Jersey, for the UMPTEENTH TIME, came from Alabama or Arkansas or Mississippi (which, incidentally, you rarely see “Northerners are inferior” pit threads- it’s not because Southern Dopers just take for granted northern superiority), you wouldn’t make note of the irony? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/148 "2008-11-12T21:57:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > You can honestly state that if the person trashing New Jersey came from Alabama or Arkansas or Mississippi (which, incidentally, you rarely see “Northerners are inferior” pit threads), you wouldn’t make note of the irony? Please believe me, no. I would go after the poster, not his state. Am I that odd? BTW: seeing your edit, you realize that even Cecil regularly makes jokes at the expense of New Jersey. There are probably as many jokes about NJ as the South and even my user name is a Joke about New Jersey that I embraced instead. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/149 "2008-11-12T22:02:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Please believe me, no. I would go after the poster, not his state. Am I that odd? > > BTW: seeing your edit, you realize that even Cecil regularly makes jokes at the expense of New Jersey. There are probably as many jokes about NJ as the South and even my user name is a Joke about New Jersey that I embraced instead. > > Jim Even I make jokes about New Jersey, and I am of positively seraphimic virtue. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/150 "2008-11-12T22:08:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > do people know that Reform Judaism was founded in the South, I wonder Nitpick: Reform Judaism originated in [Germany](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Reform_movement_(Judaism)). Reform Judaism first gained hold in the US in [Charleston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_movement_in_Judaism). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/151 "2008-11-12T23:12:11Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > Nitpick: Reform Judaism originated in [Germany](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Reform_movement_(Judaism)). Reform Judaism first gained hold in the US in [Charleston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_movement_in_Judaism). I stand chorrected. ---
**Author:** ![Ivorybill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ivorybill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivorybill)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/152 "2008-12-05T22:35:34Z")
I know I’m way late to the party, as usual, but lost amidst all the pomp and snarkumstance is that in the NYT map that the OP cites to launch his diatribe shows that a whole hella number of counties in the South voted more Democratic in this election than they did in 2004. Link [here](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/05/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_RECAP.html). Go to the map. Go to slide #3. Arkansas, much of Oklahoma (not really Suthern, IMHO), much of Louisiana, and much of Tennessee are redder than in 2004. Nearly all of Virginia, NC, SC, a fair amount of Georgia, sizable parts of Alabama and Mississippi, much of Florida (not really Southern either, IMHO) are bluer than in 2004. Significant parts of seven of the 13 southern states voted more Democratic than Republican. Eight if you count Texas. Other than racism, you could plausibly argue that people in the red zones are also gun owners and worried that Mr. Obama would be tough on the Second Amendment. You could also argue that people in the red zones are more rural and religious and didn’t much care for Mr. Obama’s quip that they desperately cling to religion. Nah. It’s much more fun to poke at old scabs, think the worst about your neighbors, laugh at the poor ignernt rednecks, and villify a region based on some selective statistics. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/153 "2008-12-06T05:06:35Z")
> [@Ivorybill](#): > > Other than racism, you could plausibly argue that people in the red zones are also gun owners and worried that Mr. Obama would be tough on the Second Amendment. You could also argue that people in the red zones are more rural and religious and didn’t much care for Mr. Obama’s quip that they desperately cling to religion. > > Nah. It’s much more fun to poke at old scabs, think the worst about your neighbors, laugh at the poor ignernt rednecks, and villify a region based on some selective statistics. So they responded to the assertion that they desperately cling to God and their guns by… clinging desperately to God and their guns? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/154 "2008-12-06T06:37:33Z")
I’d be interested to see how the numbers in the South broke down among younger voters. I noticed in my hometown paper that my old (rural north Georgia) high school held a mock election and Obama won going away. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191/155 "2008-12-06T08:25:23Z")
My children’s school, located just outside Jackson, MS, had a mock election as well: the kids voted overwhelmingly for Obama, while the teachers voted with a slight majority for McCain. As a Obama supporter, I find that pretty darn cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newsflash-the-deep-south-still-backward-ignorant-racist/472191.md?page=7)