Newsflash: EVERY region is stereotyped and insulted on this board

[PurityOfEssence]

It's not the best characteristic of people who should be cosmopolitan and broadminded, but it's the truth. Southerners have had their collective noses out of joint throughout the three plus years I've frequented the place, and often rightly so.

Lest we get all self-righteous with our own personal causes, those other areas have been consistently derided too.

For the record: people who are liberal or progressive in places like the rural south or other "red" strongholds get more general respect from me than ones who live in more tolerant climes. It's easy being a leftie in San Francisco; it's tough in the Bible Belt.

Having said that, though, Berkeley and other leftist enclaves are held up to ridicule by the moderates and those smarting from the snotty snipes of the various cultural poo-poohers, and nobody's got a lock on victimhood or innocence.

For the record, I was born in the Midwest, and grew up in New England (spending summers with my Grandparents in the conservative South) until we moved to San Diego when I entered High School. I spent a decade in Berkeley and have been in Los Angeles for the past 15 plus years. I've got family in the deep South, and have had the luck to spend time in various parts of the country.

Dismissing people from "West by-god Virginia", as my Grandmother called it, is not going to help anything. To portray people of different political and religious affiliations as inferior is tiresome and silly. Cowards and second rate intellects categorize people by sex, preference, race and religion because they need to feel superior to people and are unable to really cut it on their own; hence, they use a convenient way of dismissing vast tracts of mankind by definition.

A little rage at unthinking people is understandable as the country is being swept with xenophobic ignorance, but in the end, it makes one no better and no different. Beyond all that, it's not going to bring anyone to the cause. Conservatism is the philosophy of "me", and its adherents thrive on conformity; Liberalism is the philosophy of "us", so WE NEED TO BE MORE TOLERANT.

And as for the more vocal yokels here: judge not lest ye be judged. If you've never been exasperated with your klannish kin, or have never disparaged the citified elites or lefty bohos, go ahead and pipe up. If, on the other hand, you've thrown some mud or indulged yourself in feeling put-upon, then realize that everyone else has taken hits too, and back off on the bellyaching.

Keep it in perspective, and remember: we all get our asses kicked by simplistic category, so nobody's got the blank-check trump card of victimhood.

Dammit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Yep, you are right

from the left coast, reporting here, the loony and very much left coast....

:-)

I do take it with a grain of salt

[Webster Green]

6. LOL.......I embrace it.........

"The land of fruits and nuts".........OK, count me in!

[AspenRose]

2. Does that go for Christian stereotyping too?

Just wondering.

[TrogL]

8. Most perceived Christian stereotyping is actually ...

(sorry, it won't all fit on the subject line)

...critism of right-wing fundie hypocrisy.

If you wanna call that stereotyping, I plead guilty.

[PurityOfEssence]

10. Yeah, I threw in a bit on religion, too

On balance, I'd say Christians and believers take more of a hit than the non-believers, but it's a two-way street.

The believers need to remember that their assumption is the far-and-away "accepted" one in society, and this is one of the few places of refuge for non-believers. While the vitriol against belief is seemingly stronger, the "given" that belief is "good" is such an overwhelming assumption, that it operates as group censorship. Also, whether religion is the cause of many of the world's troubles, it's definitely the excuse. Does it matter whether Hitler really believed in his religion? He used it to justify his acts, and there was/is no other tool that would have been as effective.

Religious threads follow a predictable dynamic: a person who dislikes religion posts a story about yet another Mom hearing god and killing her children (or parents denying medical care, or Dads doing something bad, or whatever; there are MANY cases, and the religion element is systematically avoided in the media when it's THE DOMINANT ENABLER) with intent of stirring up ire and lampooning belief. Some defender of the faithful appoints him/herself to extol the joys and unmitigated beauty of belief, gets slagged by a hothead calling religion a mental affliction, and we're off to the races. Various voices of reason get trampled in the ensuing ruckus, and it ends with the trailing-off self-pity of believers bemoaning their persecution and/or swearing to never darken our server again. A few mild voices of reason are always present on both sides (believers sad at the mechanism that belief provides to selfishness/insanity/evil, and non-believers defending the broad majority of believers), but they tend to get lost in the uproar.

You never see threads starting with "look what a horrible thing these atheists are doing", so the analogous opposite dynamic simply doesn't happen. Maybe it's just that there are relatively few of us, but somehow we don't get the press for such kinds of misbehavior. As a result, essentially all of these threads start as an outcry against something that's happened in open society that has a religious factor, and as such, they're viewed as endless attacks on religion.

Having religion gives one so many breaks at all levels of society; to have one place where the outsiders get to vent only seems fair. You have to realize that you're winning overwhelmingly; this is just inevitable backlash, and even then, I wouldn't say that there's a bias against religion on this board.

[mouse7]

3. Yep... I live in "Little Beirut" now.

a.k.a The Peoples Republic of Portland.

[Selwynn]

4. Liberal in idaho.

So.. respect me hehehe. :)

[RBHam]

5. Who Cares?

All you idiots who moan and complain about stupid shit like this better wake up. There's an evil cabal of Fascists in control of your country right now. They will stop at NOTHING to seize complete control - and if they cab't do it legally they'll do it any way they can. Steal elections. Orchestrate false flag terrorist attacks. Torture confessions out of innocent people.

You don't think that they're floating "watch out for another terrorist attack" segments on CNN for nothing?

YES! IT IS THAT SCARY!

AND THAT URGENT!

Now get to work.

[MisterP]

11. what makes you think they're only focusing on "trivial" things

like our own internal disuputes?

[reprobate]

7. Well, we try. This is an equal opportunity insult board.

[displacedtexan]

9. Everyone actually means "Present company excepted."

I'm from Texas. It used to be great when Dems roamed the state like free range liberals; however, since Poppy brought his fundie crowd to pillage my state, I haven't been insulted by any Texas slur on this board or anywhere else.

Flame Texas. We can rebuild.

[AspenRose]

13. I guess you missed out then

because I can recall fairly recent "flame Texas" discussion threads...

[PurityOfEssence]

16. What do you expect? A state with an unofficial motto that's a dare..

...is just asking for it.

If there's ever a state that deserves to be messed with, it's "Your Friend".

But then again, some of my best friends...

[AspenRose]

17. It's a anti-litter campaign slogan!

But I understand what you're saying....! I truly do!

[rucky]

12. You must be one of those diplomatic Midwesterners n/t

[AspenRose]

14. "Can't we all just get along?"

Sorry I couldn't resist ;-)

[BiggJawn]

15. I'm really disappointed in the way Hoosiers are treated here...

Really, the BEST you can hurl at us is Daylight Saving Time? That "peculiar twang" that I somehow avoided in 46 years of living here (thank goodness for "disc jockey school"!)

Evan Bayh?

Really, no fun for someone who's favourite pastime is ragging on his own home state...

[Name removed]

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