What is Wrong in the South?

[backtoblue]

We need some serious re-educating of folks down here! It's like a big can of condensed paranoia soup has been poured into the water supply. Is our educational material somehow different from the rest of the country or are "we" simply born with disfunctional rationale and distorted perspective?



People seem to be afraid of EVERYTHING when it comes to President Obama. It's either "He wasn't born here!" or "He's just for the black people!" or "He's trying to kill off the elderly!".

Help! I'm surrounded by idiots!!!

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Move. Run away. It's not going to get any better. n/t

[Kalyke]

29. I don't want to move to the frozen North or the flooded/droughted

(take your pick) mid-West - and who in their right mind would want to live in California?!

I have a better idea - why don't liberals move here. In many Southern states, we're just a few percentage points away from electing Democratic leaderships. If y'all would move here, that could be accomplished.

BTW, we have jobs.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

44. There are lots of nice places in California.

We're much more than just LA and the bay area you know.

[Lorax]

46. I'm working on it.

I'm hoping to be in TX by October. The only thing that scares me is the thought of being stranded in a sea of right wing morans.

[KatyMan]

76. Depends on where in TX

But Houston isn't bad, San Antonio and Austin probably aren't either. I'd steer clear of Dallas, Lubbock or Midland...

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. better education and

a swift kick to the ass is needed.


My roots go deep into Ky and North Carolina, and some of my family living there are the most ignorant people I know.

[backtoblue]

5. Yes, I have to deal with the ignorance from my own family at times.

It's so frustrating because we are unable to have an intelligent conversation about ANYTHING political anymore without someone bringing up that Obama is going to sell our country to China or some other bullshit.

I'm going to blame it on crop-dusting poisoning......

[JitterbugPerfume]

19. they sure do love spreading poison

over everything you eat and breathe , don't they?


Bless their little hearts!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. ejukashun? When counties continue to push intel design courses in biology

it is hard to break into that shell.

The churches and religions that infect so many in the south bear a great deal of responsibility. Cracking that nut (those nuts?) is nearly impossible.

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. I totally agree about that old time religion

and it is going to take a lot of work and education to overcome it ,if it can be done . I am not optimistic

but them I am an evil athiest

[Sancho]

3. I was born in NC, raised in SC...and not ALL are crazy!

There are racists, crazies, and birthers in the South; but some of us are hard-core, card-carrying (union), progressive Democrats!

[backtoblue]

8. Cheers!

[boobooday]

4. Just like I did in the Midwest

I take refuge in a college town down here.

[mitchum]

54. That's also what I have always done down in dixie

live in college towns

[bobw999]

6. Unfortunately there are a lot of racists in the South.

Fortunately my redneck relatives aren't and supported Obama.

[backtoblue]

13. wanna trade?

[Aragorn]

57. my regular joke

is that the small East Texas town I now live in is "the ancestral home of the KKK). Although in THIS town that is old history. In parts of East Texas the prejudice is as bad as anything I have ever seen. Especially the cops.

[KatyMan]

78. Vidor? :) n/t

[Joe Fields]

9. What ISN'T wrong with the south?

The weather sucks and their politics are 50 years behind the times.

[taterguy]

27. We just spread those rumors to keep our good spots from getting overcrowded

[backtoblue]

31. beautiful pics!

[Joe Fields]

48. hey, taterguy...

I shouldn't come down so hard...

You really do have a few well kept secrets...

For balance, I live in the midwest, and I pretty much have the same to say about it...

[Kalyke]

34. The weather sucks??

Maybe in August, but at least I don't have to dig a trail of ice and snow to walk the dog in the winter.

[gita]

41. Winters walks are beautiful...Especially when the sun creates a

diamond-like effect in the snow drifts

(and it's not, like, 10 degrees outside! )

As I get older, I am digging humidity less and less.

[Joe Fields]

70. so, you have one good month to walk the dog, and that's why you

stay in the south?

[bvar22]

43. Long growing season,

fertile soil, unspoiled forests, plenty of Fish & Game, abundant clean water, low property taxes, inexpensive land, low Winter Energy overhead, great food.....yeah man, the South really sucks.
Don't come here.

We moved to the the deep South (Central Arkansas) from Minneapolis in 2006.
We love it here.

bvar22 & Starkraven helping to turn the South Blue

[Odin2005]

62. OMG, you are making this Minnesotan jealous!

Love the garden!

[bamacrat]

10. That is all i hear here in Bama, except hes the socialist antichrist.

Who hates rich people even though he is one himself, cant do anything right before given a chance to act. I really feel it isnt education, i was born raised and educated in Alabama and I am not stupid, but the mentality of the overwhelming majority down here is one of just proud stupidity. People down here wont vote in their best interest because they are easily manipulated with flashy headlines and commercials. They were given a chance not to be dumb they chose dumb. Also people down here are very poor and rural, not that there is anything wrong with that but emphasis on education and sound reasoning is virtually abandoned here.

[rateyes]

11. Speaking as a southerner,

there is not enough space or time to answer your question. All I know is that, while it's certainly not everyone, the south has way more than its share of racist assholes.

[boomerbust]

12. This is what bothers them

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. There are some butt ignorant and mean people.

However, you also have the fact that in a lot of places there has not been a decent voice of opposition for decades. When people hear the same thing over and over, there is nothing or nobody to counter their ideas.

I know a lot of people who are decent. If not, Linda Ketner, an out lesbian, would never have come close to beating a white male incumbent. She did it with her own money too. The DCCC didn't get interested until it was too late.

I absolutely HATE what the Rethugs are doing with their racist shit. We still have a long way to go in this region, and every statement they make pulls us back a little. I am trying to fight them every step of the way. I am not going to cede a damn thing to them.

Don't start on the whole Southern meme or I'll point out some other people like McCotter and Bachman.

[redqueen]

22. "Don't start on the whole Southern meme..."

Far too late for that.

On the board in general I meant, not just this thread.

[Are_grits_groceries]

25. *sigh* true nt

[Kalyke]

64. Hugs...

Thank you.

I've been saying that for years.

[Xipe Totec]

15. No kidding

an acquaintance of ours, down in Texas, with four kids, one of which has Downs Syndrome, is a rabid right wing Republican.

Barely making ends meet on two salaries, taking public assistance for her special needs daughter.

She has a master's in mathematics, and her husband is an electical engineer.

And still, she hates the Democrats, hates Obama, hates taxes for the rich.

The way she rants, you'd think she was some millionaire.

But no.

She has absolutely no fucking clue who's on her side.

It's just nutz.

[backtoblue]

18. "hates taxes for the rich"

That is something I'm hearing more and more - poor people who oppose higher taxes on the rich. It's like a battered woman going back to her abuser 15 times (I am not making light of that horrific treatment of women ). There should be scientific studies. nt

[Echo In Light]

26. There are - studies in sociology, political sciences.

There really aren't any aspects of the structural dynamic within U.S. Power/Establishment and The Populace that haven't manifested/played out before.

[Posteritatis]

35. The basic idea behind that...

A lot of people are convinced that if things go Just So, they'll wind up among The Rich. While this is true, of course, for certain values of Just So, it's enough of a possibility to a lot of people that they're worried about being on the wrong end of it should they ever claw their way up there. It'd be like a high school senior opposing some regulation of tenured professors on the off chance that he ever becomes one, even if he's not going to college at all.

It's one of the odder views along those lines; so much long-odds foresight on the one end, so little on the other.

[RaleighNCDUer]

36. I wonder how much of it is because there is so MUCH poverty in the

south that those middle-class types bringing in 60k FEEL like they are among the rich - so they naturally associate 'taxing the rich' with 'taxing them'. They don't really quite get how rich the REALLY rich are.

[backtoblue]

42. That's possible

When people who were raised in poverty grow up, get educated, and become "middle class" there is probably a different mindset on how they view "rich". nt

[Echo In Light]

16. People who exalt their ignorance/belligerence aren't confined to the South, unfortunately

I'm not too far from the Canadian boarder and we have plenty of the mentality you describe up here. It's a wonderful world of colonized minds, brought to you by corporate America! (it's been going on since the dawn of time, but now due to technology is quite a coordinated effort)

[madaboutharry]

21. There are lot of ignorant people living in

Wisconsin.

[loudsue]

23. I'm glad to know it's not just the south....I think????

I'm in rural N.C., and the men around here are arming themselves to the teeth in hopes that Obama gets assassinated, and the local black people go into town to protest (one street=town) so they can get their guns and go kill 'em all. I hear this day in and day out from all of the small, independent contractors: electricians, plumbers, painters, hardware store workers/owners, locksmiths, carpenters...etc.) It's making me really afraid to even live in this area. These people are really, really and truly nuts.

"Obama really scares me".
"Obama is a muslim".
"Obama is NOT an American".
"Obama is a nazi and a socialist".

And these idiots are buying guns two and three at a time, and stocking up on ammunition.

I can't believe the government isn't cracking down on the news organizations for stirring all this stuff up. I mentioned to one of them that their Fox "news" channel was owned by an Aussie and the Arabs, and he said that was just liberal media propaganda to try to discredit the ones who are trying to tell the truth.

I feel like I'm living on another planet.

[greguganus]

38. I live in rural NC too, and a distant neighbor just opened a gun shop in his back yard

and I've been told he can't keep guns in stock.

[backtoblue]

24. Hate spreads like a plague

and what a fitting avenue for a politician/corporations to pass out their propaganda and mind-washing advertisements. They ignite old flames for ratings, money, and power. It's very sad that our society is being used like this. Hate is being used for the purpose of undermining and dividing the masses. nt

[BlooInBloo]

20. (shrug) As long as people are willing to vote against their own interests...

For some of the most shitacular of reasons, that's going to be the end result.

[backtoblue]

49. The sad thing is that they don't even realize it.

It's also sad that even some progressive liberals who live in the south take personal offense every time the south is mentioned as having conservative trends. I love living in the south - except for the crazed things I hear people saying and the right-wing majority.

[BlooInBloo]

53. (a) Yah, they do realize it; they have different priorities...

(b) It was the bugs that got me down there. Can't stand all the bugs.

[supernova]

28. Because we enjoy pissing y'all off!

Yes, it's perverse. Yes, it's against any kind of sanity.

[backtoblue]

33. Pfft.

:wink:

[Kalyke]

30. Oh, JOY! Yet ANOTHER South-bashing thread.

Dear, I live in the South and I'm not an idiot.

I don't know a soul who's "scared" of Obama. Sure, I hear about them and I hear the crazies on the wingnut radio show, but I don't know any, personally.

They must be in hiding.

[backtoblue]

32. I'm posting from personal experience from my area.

I'm not bashing the south, but we are portrayed as being "red" and that's how I see my neighbors acting.

[Kalyke]

72. OK - how about putting it this way:

"What is wrong with the people in rural areas?"

That's far more accurate.

Most cities in the South are blue to purple - even my own, which is smack dab in the heart of Republican Central. Knoxville - the city - votes Democrat. Knox County - the county in which Knoxville sits - votes Republican.

It's the same all over the United States: urban areas tend liberal while rural areas tend conservative.

The difference, of course, being that people in the cities get a wider variety of information, while most rural dwellers hear only right-wing news talk radio.

I wish I could do a study on this.

[backtoblue]

77. Well, I suppose it's how you look at it.

I see "red" southern states which implies that the majority of people in the south who voted are conservative compared to other regions in the U.S.

I agree about the study and I also agree that there is a difference of perspective between rural and urban areas. Is it possible that the south has more rural voters than urban? If so then both can be said of the southern region and rural areas.

[Kalyke]

81. Yes, the South (and the mid-West) have more rural area.

Look at a red/blue/purple map - the mid-West is far more Republican than the South.

[RaleighNCDUer]

65. If you are not seeing it I suspect it is because you choose to not see it -

something southerners also excel at.

I see it, and my residence is in a bluish area and my job is VERY blue - but the PT job I have is in a nearby very red area where there is plenty of evidence of it.

[Kalyke]

74. I see it - but it's not relegated to the South.

It's a RURAL vs. URBAN issue, not a North vs. South issue.

Lemme guess... you work in Raleigh, but your p/t job is in a suburbs or another more rural area. Correct?

[Still Sensible]

37. The whole country has been dumbed down

over the last half century or so. The MSM values controversy (for ratings) over accuracy, the schools have been so busy teaching to standardized tests (for everything except civics)--not to mention that school boards in some conservative places actually manipulate text book selection by their ideology--and the political strategy of keeping the public in a state of fear has been mastered by some. All of these factors have been around a long time, but they were fully mainstreamed in the GWB years.

[Romulox]

39. Since the beginning, the south's economy has been based on exploitation of a marginalized labor pool

and lax regulation.

The more things change...

[mitchum]

59. That's also why the myth of "the southern rebel" is so necessary...

because it is indeed a myth.
The southern working class is the most historically servile group in this country.
They rolled over for the landowners, cotton mill owners, textile mill owners, and their current corporate masters.

[tjwash]

40. Don't worry...us Californians have been doing enough fucking up for all of you lately

Just remember...y'all will have the pick up the slack a little later on though

[BlooInBloo]

45. (snarfle)

[Ikonoklast]

47. It's not the South as such, but the rural areas of every state.

The more sparsely populated, less educated backwaters of every state are the last bastions of the Republic party.

[backtoblue]

55. Well, I do live in a rural area.

I have been spending time listening to local political discussions and the people I've encountered are not acting very mature or intelligent with the things they say. nt

[Ikonoklast]

61. Small-town America is insuler, backward-looking, and resistant to change.

And if you'd listen to the people that live there, crime only happens in the sinful Big Cities.

Funny dat.

I see lots of arrests made in the hinterlands for meth labs, prostitution, corruption among public officials, etc.

[mitchum]

50. There IS a reason that extraordinary southerners are considered to be...

extraordinary

[KatyMan]

80. Well, if I'm correctly interpreting what you typed

My response, and anyone in the South's response, would be a resounding "Fuck you".
If I'm not correctly interpreting, my apologies, but please clarify what you mean.

edited for grammar
and then edited to fix the typo that fixed the grammar

[Hepburn]

51. I have not been in the South for a bit....

...and the last time I was there, I was in Natchez, Miss. What I noticed is that there was NO interaction between people of different races AT ALL. And I don't mean even a little ~~ I saw NO blacks and whites intermigling, talking, walking, communicating, etc. Even in the food court at a mall, the blacks were taken care of by black employees, and the whites by whites. When it was time for school to be out, and the teens hit the mall ~~ not one interracial group seen. They totally were segregated in their social interactions.

Just from seeing this, IMO, a lot of what is going on in the South is racist and segregationist. They want the "good ol' boy" attitude in that it was anti-black. Therefore, it seems to me that they identify with the older, conservative white males ~~ who appear to want the "traditional" ways preserved. Read "no blacks allowed" for "traditional."

Maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong...but it sure seemed to me like there is a lot of racism there.

JMHO...and no insult intended to any Southern DUers.

[deaniac21]

73. You made that visit in 1961?

[KatyMan]

79. No kidding

next we'll be told ice cream causes crime...

[depakid]

52. Proud ignorance, parocialism and fear of the other

Are all rampant in the region.

[Odin2005]

56. Oh geez. I hate South-Bashing. Stereotypes suck.

[backtoblue]

60. I wasn't stererotyping - I was pointing out the conversations I hear.

I live in the south. I hear what my neighbors are saying and it's ridiculous.

The southern states are mostly "red", with the majority vote being conservative.

Sorry if it seems offensive. It's not meant to be.

[Odin2005]

67. It's not a Southern thing, it's a RURAL thing.

The part of rural Minnesota where I grew up is virulently socially conservative, and lots of racism, too (in our case towards Native Americans and Hispanics). The rural Red River Valley tends to be Blue, but that's almost entirely for economic reasons, a relic of Prairie Populism, on social issues this areas is very conservative.

[backtoblue]

69. well, there are alot of rural areas in the south.

If the southern states have more rural areas that are conservative, then it stands to reason that the majority of those states are also conservative. It is more prevalent in rural areas, but does the south have more rural areas than parts of the mid-west?

[Renaissance Man]

58. There are several reasons...

...but people are proud of their ignorance here and wear it as a badge of honor.

[Amos Moses]

63. What's wrong in the United States?

Why do idiot northerners in Kansas murder people like they did Dr. Tiller? Are the people living up there just a bunch of fundy nut jobs?

It seems like Repuke politicians from CA are in the news every week for spamming their colleagues with racist emails. Ever ask yourself what's wrong with those idiots on the west coast?

Why are all the cops in Massachusetts racist? They STUPIDLY arrest law abiding black men inside their own homes. What's wrong with those racist idiots in New England?

What's wrong with all these paranoid Freepers from all over the US posting racist shit and swearing allegiance to an idiot like Sarah Palin on their forum?

Only thing I can figure is there are people all over the United States that could use some education.

[backtoblue]

66. Here is a clarification for those of you who think I'm south-bashing.

I live in the south, in a very conservative district.
I am commenting on actual conversations that I've heard.
The south is a Republican stronghold, with the majority being Republican.
Now, I don't think it is too offensive to ask what the fuck is wrong down here?

[Mariana]

68. The churches are doing a lot of the fear-mongering

where I live in Texas.

I supposed frightened people put more money in the collection plate.

[The Stranger]

71. Faux News, AM Hate Radio, 24 Hour Fear from the Glen Becks ,Michael Weiner Savages, Lou Dobbs, Sean

Hannitys, and on and on and on.

[ColbertWatcher]

75. Check your mail.

I suspect the GOP is sending out "anti-government run" crap by the truckloads ... using the government-run mail service.

[dana_b]

82. it's not just the South

I live in the Bay Area and I see it all the time. In the area where I live (East Bay area) there ae some who really have an attitude towards Latinos. I will never understand it. The Latinos I have known are very hardworking and generous people. Fear is the problem.

[pinto]

83. Locking.

Please don't make broad brush assumptions, criticisms or attacks on a whole region.

This never leads to a constructive discussion.