Attitudes Toward the South

[AdminAssistant]

I didn't want to de-rail the other thread.

As a good Southern gal (I'm from Arkansas)...why do so many people hate and/or make fun the South?

1) Language. Yes, we have accents, drawls, and tend to talk slower than our Northern or Midwestern counterparts. It's the culture. I don't know where all you East Coast people are in such a hurry to get to but JEEZ take a breath once in a while, will 'ya? It's a slower way of life, especially in rural, farm communities. A lot of people don't work 9-5 jobs; work is determined by the season and the weather. And yes, many people, especially older people, will try to start a little conversation or make a joke. It's called being friendly. Older Southern people are storytellers by nature and by tradition. It's just the way it is, so slow down and drink some sweet tea and enjoy it.

2) Food. Yes, a lot of Southerners are overweight. It's because there is a long tradition here of yummy fried food, but now more and more people are working indoor, sedentary jobs. That, combined with lower income levels and lower education levels....tends to lead to fatter people. But, trust me, if you ever tasted my momma's fried chicked with milk gravy, greens, boiled potatoes, and homemade biscuits....you would understand. Why sweet tea? It gets hot here in the summer. The idea of sipping a hot beverage out of a little cup would be ridiculous on a 100 F day. However, a cooled, sweetened beverage cools down the body and gives you energy to finish out the day.

3) Religion. I won't single out a denomination and I do not consider the Southern Baptist church any worse than some of the crap the Catholic Church has pulled through the centuries, mmkay? Many times, it's the grand organization that does all the stupid crap, like saying that gay people should be exiled to Hawaii and that everybody but them is going to hell. One on one, many of these people are wonderful, loving people. My Mom is active in our local church again, and they have done wonders for her through her surgery - visiting so she won't get lonely, bringing by dinner for her and Dad, and yes, prayers. Prayers comfort many people, and I know it makes her feel better to know that a group of people are thinking about her. And again, it's just so ingrained in the culture, that you can't really avoid Vacation Bible School, church choir, stuff like that. In my town, church was pretty much the only source for non-school related activites.

4) Racism. There are racist fuckheads everywhere. Some live in the South, some live in Kansas, some live in Pennsylvania, some live in Russia...you get where I'm going with this? Don't make the South the scapegoat for a worldwide problem.

Okay, those are the biggies, and I may add to this later. But I'm just tired of all of the assumptions that Southern = hateful, racist, stupid, ultra-conservative Christian bigot. It doesn't, and if you need proof, look at me. Look at Mysty (hi fellow Arkansan!). Look at any other board member from the land of the former Confederacy. I shouldn't have to change my accent or reject my pride in my home and my upbringing in order to 'fit in' with the ideals of another.

[anriana]

As a good Southern gal (I'm from Arkansas)...why do so many people hate and/or make fun the South?

You pretty much answered this - it's different culture.

1) I only like being friendly with my friends.

2)As a vegetarian, I hate Southern food. All the dessert is made out of jello, all the salad has marshmallows, and all the vegetables have meat added to them.

3) We've had this debate on several other threads. I think allying yourself with an organization means you should be judged by the actions/decrees of that organization. There are plenty of nice SBC people. Just because they aren't hateful towards everyone doesn't mean they aren't hateful bigots.


I don't hate the Southern Baptist Church because it's Southern. I hate it because it is ridiculously sexist and anti-queer, I hate it because of the fifteen years I spent being subjected to its bullshit, and I hate it because it has its stupid headquarters in my city. And the Catholic Church is active in the South - I'm not sure how pointing out the existence of a second faith that has pulled (and still pulls) tons of ridiculous heteronormative crap helps your argument that Southern religion is okay.

I shouldn't have to change my accent or reject my pride in my home and my upbringing in order to 'fit in' with the ideals of another.

That's what fitting in is.

[Kalli]

There are racist fuckheads everywhere. Some live in the South, some live in Kansas, some live in Pennsylvania, some live in Russia...you get where I'm going with this?

The same thing can be applied to your complaint that people have an attitude toward the south.

Some people have an attitude toward New Yorkers, Californians, Canadians, Brits, Frenchies, Arabs... You get where I'm going with this?

I don't mean to belittle your feeling that Southerners are picked on, they are in a lot of ways, but my point is that basically there's always going to be someone putting shit on your group (be that your religion, hometown, hair colour or favourite x-man), and really whether or not it can be justified will always be subjective.

As I said, I'm not saying you don't have a legitimate complaint, I'm just trying to make sure you understand that someone's always going to have something to say against you for some reason, and not to worry about it too much.

[BroomJockey]

I shouldn't have to change my accent or reject my pride in my home and my upbringing in order to 'fit in' with the ideals of another.

No, but at the same time, you're going to have to realize that if you identify with a group, you take on the baggage of that group. History, conceptions, the whole kit'n'kaboodle. What'll REALLY get your crank shafted is this realization: When people picture the "stereotypical American," they often picture the drawling, NASCAR lovin' good ol' boy from Tennessee.

And Kalli raises a good point. Different areas get picked on for different things. Your area is for "ignorant racist hicks." That's your bad luck. California is "hippy veggie munching new-agers." New York is for "murdercide mugging central" formerly, though lately it's more the "arrogant yuppie stock-broker type."

You really wanna hear me rant? I could get started on the stupid shit I hear people say about Canada. And it's not the igloo stuff that gets me going. It's things like "aboot" and "Canada: America's Hat." I do. Not. Fucking. Say. Aboot. If you listen *really* closely, some parts of Ontario come close to that. But yet I continually get people going "say aboot" when I talk to them and they're not from around here.

As for "America's Hat," how damned ethnocentric do you have to be to even think that's clever?

So yes, AA, you got the short end of the stick by the stereotype of your area, but you're not the only one by far who gets annoyed at other people because of it.

[guywithashovel]

I think it all boils down to the fact that people like to generalize. However, I think the South does find itself on the brunt end of jokes more often than some other regions of the country do. People like to poke fun at Californians, portraying them as a bunch of ultra liberal freaks with tons of body piercings. People stereotype New Yorkers (or New Yawk-uhs) as loud, pushy, and impatient. However, I don't think I've ever been stereotyped for being from the Midwest.

Also, people forget that there are exceptions to the rule. There are many areas in the South that are nothing like the stereotype. For example, my aunt and uncle used to live in Wilmington, NC, and from what I could tell from the time I spent there, that town is not your typical southern, Bible-Belt town. My aunt and uncle are not religious, and they never experienced any backlash for it.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Pro-gun people are automatically psychopaths.

Anti-gun people are communist, pinko, wimps.

People from the city are arrogant and apathetic.

People from the country are ignorant to the point of stupidity.

Gays are all pedophiles.

White people are racist.

Americans are assholes.

And the list goes on forever.

Every group has it's labels, and everyone who associates with a group 'benefits' from those labels. It does suck and it is wrong but there's nothing particularly special about most groups. Those that are particularly special usually site body counts.

So forgive me if I really don't care if people judge you as a southerner. Because people are going to hate other people for one reason or another, so unless they are actively trying to kill you/remove your rights for such reasons, I for one would rather focus one those who are oppressed and/or dying.

People hate me for being a white, agnostic, pro gun, pro gay, non sports fan but that really doesn't matter compared to those who are slaughtering each other because they belong to different clans.

end of song.

[Flyndaran]

Southern states have the worst education system from this horribly uneducated country.
The most recent lynchings have happened in the south.
Those facts make the rest of us nervous.
But yeah, you can't say anything bad about any area's people, because there are almost certainly nice people that are stuck... I mean live there.

[Boozy]

Because people are going to hate other people for one reason or another, so unless they are actively trying to kill you/remove your rights for such reasons, I for one would rather focus one those who are oppressed and/or dying.

Well put.

Everyone is judged, and that's the way it's going to be. But I don't worry too much about groups getting judged if I feel their rights are suitably protected.

[AdminAssistant]

Southern states have the worst education system from this horribly uneducated country.
The most recent lynchings have happened in the south.
Those facts make the rest of us nervous.
But yeah, you can't say anything bad about any area's people, because there are almost certainly nice people that are stuck... I mean live there.

This may completely de-rail the thread...but a lot of the South's infrastructure problems can be traced all the way back to Reconstruction, including education. That, plus the fact that education is funded by property taxes. Generally speaking, people here are poorer, fewer property taxes coming in, fewer funds for education.

Lynchings...I don't have the figures on those, but they haven't been common in well over 50 years.

I wasn't "stuck" in the South, and I would gladly move back to a place below the Mason-Dixon, largely because the climate is more comfortable. See, in the North you have a lot of this stuff called "snow" that I'm really not a fan of. I'd prefer to live in a place with mild winters and hotter summers.

anriana, I brought up the Catholic church, I guess, because I know folks pick on Southern Baptists and I suppose I wanted to point out that they weren't the only ones who do insanely crazy crap sometimes. In hindsight, I shouldn't have. Sorry.

The accent is still one of my big peeves. I have a bit of a drawl and a bit of a twang, and I've been told that I should have to change it in order to be taken seriously as a scholar. And to that, I say, BULLSHIT. How I speak and how I look is not an indication of what's going on between my ears.

Oh, and anriana, I am truly sorry that you've had bad experiences with Southern food. Mom never makes dessert with jello or salads with marshmallow...YUCK. Vegetables are often fried or added with meat, that I will concede. guywithashovel makes a good point - there are a bunch of different cultures just in my home state, let alone the entire South. I mean, just in Arkansas, there's the Delta, the central Ozarks, Pulaski County, NorthWest Arkansas (aka WalMartLand), the Ouachita area...etc. All with different accents, cultures, and cuisines. Across the larger South..the Mid-South differs from Texas which differs from the Deep South which is different from the Carolinas.

[anriana]

And one more thing - part of the reason people bag on the South when it comes to religion is people are so much more overt with it. The Southerner who doesn't mention religion at some point in the call is just as odd as the non-Southerner who does. Maybe it is a Baptist thing and not a Catholic thing -no one ever says "Praise Mary" or "Thank the Saints!"

[DesignFox]

I've visited the south a few times. My experience in New Orleans was...different!

I kinda liked it. Everything down there was slooooow. People were friendly and stopped to say hi.

I mean, jeez, I went to a Burger King and it took 20 mins to get my food! 20 mins! Up here, there'd be a damn riot if that happened!

And I didn't believe my Dad when he said the automatic doors move slower there...but they definitely did....

It was culture shock.

Why are all us northerners always so self absorbed and in a hurry, anyway?

[blas87]

Cuz the Packer game starts in 20 minutes, that's why.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Cuz us city slickers have become incredibly time sensitive in that our culture values time more than others tend to. It's considered rude to waste someone's time or in any way prevent them from doing something as quickly as possible.

Besides if I take any longer all the tables at Athens will be taken.

[Flyndaran]

This may completely de-rail the thread...but a lot of the South's infrastructure problems can be traced all the way back to Reconstruction, including education. ...

I know that. I did take A.P. history for a semester in highschool.
It is funny that the south would have prospered far more if Lincoln had lived to keep political vengeance from happening.

I wasn't "stuck" in the South, and I would gladly move back to a place below the Mason-Dixon, largely because the climate is more comfortable. See, in the North you have a lot of this stuff called "snow" that I'm really not a fan of. I'd prefer to live in a place with mild winters and hotter summers.

Blech. I live in Oregon, and it is still too hot a lot of the time for me. My most southern visit was to Oklahoma when I was two. My first words off the plane was, "Homey hot!"

.. How I speak and how I look is not an indication of what's going on between my ears...

Oh please. Of course it does, unless you really think no one would judge you harshly if you if you spoke with ebonics while wearing dirty jeans, a tube top, and messed up hair.

[McDreidel09]

However, I don't think I've ever been stereotyped for being from the Midwest.

Oh darling, I have. People think that Midwesterners are bible thumping farmers who have nothing better to do than wake up at 2 am to milk good ol' Bessie or spew bible quote and the only thing teens have the option of doing is having sex in the cornfields or cow tipping.

As was said, EVERY region of EVERY country in the ENTIRE world has stereotypes and people who judge solely on those, even if they have never been to the area or talked to someone from the area. It's a lack of education of cultural differences.