What's with the Southern-bashing on DU

[mot78]

I've noticed that periodically for the last few days some posters have attempted to paint Southerners with the racist hick paint-brush. There are quite a few misconceptions around her about the South.

1. Racism also exists in the North. I live in Westchester County outside of NYC and I hear a lot of people use slurs like "Kike", "Spic" and even the N word. A town a few miles south of me even had Swastikas spray-painted on cars. BTW, the most Repug region is not the South, but the plains states like Idaho and Utah. Alabama and South Carolina actually have MORE Democrats and Liberals than those states.

2. Historically the North sided with the South many times on the issue of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act is a good example, as well as the Compromise of 1850. The famous Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster endorsed a stricter Fugitive Slave Law that was essentially a version of the Patriot Act targeting Blacks and Abolitionists. Many northern Democrats opposed the Emancipation Proclamation as well, especially in the border states.


3. The modern south is not Klan country. I've only been down there are few times, and yes it is Freeper country in respects, but if some places, especially in cities and suburbs, there are quite a few Liberals. A number of DUers are from a town in North Carolina and held a counter-demonstration against gay marriage opponents, and almost the same number of counter-demonstrators showed up as the number of protesters.

[skooooo]

1. its news to me...who's been bashing the south??!

[mot78]

4. Haven't been following this too much, but there was some kind of flame war

recently, and I've seen a few instances on other threads about this.

[Wonk]

2. Got links? nt

[Jacobin]

3. This usually shuts them the fuck up

[leftistagitator]

14. Thats a GOP tactic

Land doesn't vote, people do. The Repubs only won the South and the Mid-West. It doesn't matter what the rubes of California thought, the state went Democratic because there were more sane voters there than not. The rest of the country doesn't have a problem seeing the truth, we do.

[lapfog_1]

28. Show a different map

based on population centers, and then color it for Gore and Bush.

More important, let's focus on the state map (which is the only
one that counts, after all, if it was popular vote...) and lets
focus on Kerry / Bush.

[leftistagitator]

59. Here you go

http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~sara/html/mapping/election/map.html

[lapfog_1]

63. Cool

I briefly tried to google it, but couldn't refine the search
enough to discover this map.

Minor quibble, it seems that Tenn and W. Virgina are still
overly represented in the map, but that may be something related
to making a map where these things can be discerned.

Thanks for the link.

Now, let's get some T-shirts made and start wearing them. Fuck with
the Freepers a little.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftistagitator]

58. Umm, guess what

I specifically said they won the South AND the mid-West. You could bother actually reading my post next time.

[SayitAintSo]

16. Who is "them" that you are talking about shutting the fuck up ?

[Jacobin]

33. Obviously, it is not you.

:-)

[NMDemDist2]

17. I expect that map to have a LOT more blue in November n/t

[Lefty48197]

Looks like the dirt voted for Bush and the populated areas voted for Gore

.

[nonconformist]

61. I'd like to point out that swath of blue along the Appalachian Mnts

The southern poor, rural, religious, redneck mining towns. Poorest area in the entire nation.

So much for the generalizations!

The red is most dominate in the central and western US anyway.

[kixot]

5. Don't take it personally.

South-bashing has been an american pastime since the reconstruction. Nothing new to see here, move along.


Blame it on the dialect. Even Atticus Finch would have a hard time escaping the "illiterate country bumkin" stereotype.

[bobthedrummer]

6. COINTELPRO like tactic of causing division through disruption

but it doesn't work that well anymore, WE have learned many lessons over the years.

That's my opinion on this.

[skooooo]

9. right - o

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for making that point. It should save us all some time here! n/t

[Virginian]

25. The Dukes of Hazzard didn't do much for our image.

I hated that show because it tried to perpetuate the stereotype.
I think it succeeded.

People in the South are just like people anywhere else. I get tired of the regional discrimination. People from other areas think they can bash us just because of where we were born. They think everything here is about race when it is probably about money just like it is where they live.

[Misinformed01]

7. DUers have been Southern Bashing since

Jan.2001. Might want to get used to it.

And hey, if you are ever down here, send me a PM, and I will make sure that you get a great meal at the Waffle House!

Bring your own fire arm, of course.

Steph

[gator_in_Ontario]

57. Waffle House???

I am there!!

Scrambled eggs and cheese, raison toast, grits and a side of bacon please!

I tip well *

My brother would like Pork chops and eggs, grits, toast and coffee.
oh...and bring the tabasco please, Ma'am!

[mmm]

68. Don't forget the sweet tea!

I love The Waffle House.

[Buns_of_Fire]

79. Don't forget a cup of the World's Best Coffee(tm)!

Ummmmm..... Cheesy eggs... Raisin Toast (with apple butter, of course!)... Bacon... Hash Browns (Scattered, Smothered, Covered, Topped, Diced, Chunked, and Peppered)... AND GRITS! GRITS, GRITS, GLORIOUS GRITS! (They're not just for mortar anymore!)

GAWD, I wish there was a local Waffle House where I am! (A company bought the franchise rights for the entire state of Virginia, and it appears they're only interested in opening new ones in the northern area of the state -- in the area near Washington, D.C., oddly enough. :shrug:)

I don't take any south-bashing personally. When I was working in Birmingham, a friend of mine from the midwest once asked me, "Why do you people walk so SLOW?" A few days later, when it was 92 degrees and 80% humidity, we walked to lunch -- him, striding off confidently; me, in my typical Huckleberry Hound saunter. A block later, I caught up with him, leaning against a building, panting and sweating. "And now you know," I said.

[freetobegay]

8. Yall come back now Hear!

[leftistagitator]

Probably has something to do with the fact

That the majority of the South jumped ship over to the repuke side over the Civil Rights Act and such infringements on states rights like an end to lynchings and poll taxes. Yes not all ignorant people live in the South but as a Texan I can tell you enough of them do.

[leftistagitator]

10. Dupe

...

[TheWizardOfMudd]

12. Randi Rhodes is making a mistake

This is only slightly related, because I haven't heard Randi bash the South, but she believes our party should have a "no southern" strategy, i.e., don't even try to capture the southern states and concentrate on the rest of the country.

Also, since I live in/near the South, I can tell you that her Brooklyn attitude and accent aren't going to sway a lot of rednecks down here. I wish she would make more of an effort.

[billbuckhead]

26. Nothing will swing the majority of southern rednecks to our side

We're the pro-gay, pro black, pro feminist, pro-Hispanic, pro intellectual, pro sensible gun law party and they don't like it. They're skeered. Our best hope is to suppress their vote and steal their women.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

32. I refuse to give in to cynicism

I'm gonna go charge a windmill now.

[Gemini Cat]

65. And we probably won't sway the northern rednecks to our side either.

Rednecks being rednecked and all.

I see rednecks everywhere. Rednecks have the habit of inhabiting all fifty states. The location of the redneck is immaterial.

[unblock]

13. some people think southerners are incapable of self-governing

but i disagree.

:evilgrin:

[Jacobin]

15. Heh. I don't know if the irony was intended, but

Does this mean its okay for them/us to secede now?

[TheWizardOfMudd]

21. Is your comment limited to brown-skinned southerners?

Heh heh. ;)

[elperromagico]

18. Because the South is not nearly as likely to go Democratic

as the North. The South went solid for Bush in 2000. Some have suggested that it is possible for Kerry to win without the North - I think it's entirely possible.

So, bashing the South is not entirely odd - they are a voting bloc that the Democrats seem unlikely to win. :(

[Jacobin]

27. Gee, what's this voting block in the midwest, northeast and west i see?

<wiping eyes, must be delusion>

[elperromagico]

43. Those voting blocs are in the large cities, apparently.

Whereas the Democratic voting blocs in the South are not in large cities, apparently.

However, Little Rock/Pulaski County - the most populous area of my home state - consistently goes Democratic in every election.

I am not convinced the the South is completely lost to Kerry. I think he can win a few Southern states, such as Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana. If this election is close, I believe those states might make a huge difference in who is inaugurated on 20 January.

[elperromagico]

67. Post-editing period edit.

"Some have suggested that it is possible for Kerry to win without the North" should be "Some have suggested that it is possible for Kerry to win without the South" - quite clearly, he could not win with just the South.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

19. Its the climate...the South is too humid...

Really, the climate is really ubearable (without air conditioning)

[corporatewhore]

20. North-full of stupid yuppies South Full of stupid hicks i dont know what

the fuck goes on in the midwest or the west coast bottom line
Texas Rawwksss (well except for e.texas that belongs to y'all southerners)

[corporatewhore]

22. Bush and Lieberman are both from connecticut !!!

[jorno67]

23. The typical southerner

believes:
that American = Republican
Liberal = comunism
Guns = America
Gays = sin
The Fox News Network = the News

[Jacobin]

29. Gee, I didn't even know there were 50 million voters in southern states

Sure glad you don't have any where you live.

Must be nice.

[jorno67]

35. I lived there for 12 years

but I don't get your 50 million number.

[Jacobin]

37. The number of voters who voted for Smirk in 2000

[RebelOne]

77. To those who are bashing the South, have any of you

actually visited a large Southern city? Come on down to Atlanta. It's as cosmopolitan as New York. I know, I live here. I was not born in the South. I am originally from Philadelphia. I grew up in Miami, Florida and moved to Atlanta in 1989. I now consider myself a Southerner and I have never been accused of being a hick.

[ACK]

36. There is no typical Southerner showing ignorance

You mean the large percentage of African Americans in the South?

Do you mean the growing number of hispanic people in the South?

Do you mean the growing numbers of ex-pat yankees in the 'burbs of Atlanta and other metro areas?

Wait a minute I know you are talking about the suburban white females who helped Clinton win in Ga that one time? Is that who?

Oh wait a sec, you are talking about a stereotype. The redneck nascar dad right? They exist in large numbers in the South and the Midwest.

Thanks for asking.

Thanks for proving that not just conservative freeper assholes understand the power of writing off whole areas of the country and types of people by silly stereotypical talk.

Thanks for making the guys point.

_

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[atre]

74. "to fruity?"

How cute that our friend here on his anti-South jihad/crusade here attacks Southerners as ignorant, but then offers up this little gem!

[jorno67]

78. That is in quotes because that

is what the attackers said to them. Can you guys read or do you just go into attack mode yourself when some one says something edgy?

[Nalgenelover Snort]

84. "Edgy?"

No. That was just ignorance. I've lived all my life in the South and have met precisely three people who fit your "typical Southerner."

[jorno67]

85. maybe you should try Little Rock

or Camden AR. I love the south and have many friends and family still there. But after I moved to New England I had people ask me about the number of Afro-Americans the way some one would ask about the amount of snow we get each year. Is it ignorant to share true experiences? Even though yours are not the same.

[Nalgenelover Snort]

86. The South is a big place, dear.

Little Rock does not represent the entire South. Ever been to Asheville? I'll admit that racism is a problem in the South-- a very big one, as it is everywhere else-- but you really need to think twice before saying that "typical Southerners" are bigoted, rebel flag-flying gun-nuts.

[jorno67]

87. You should think twice before

mis-quoting me. I never said any of that. Those are you're words not mine. But lets change it to " to the parts of the south that I lived in people feel", OK?

[ACK]

89. When you reflect your experiences as the typical experience?

Yes it does appear to show ignorance.

If you had added all the qualifications you made in other posts to your original post where you quite obviously was trying to say the typical majority of Southerners are redneck bubbas, then you would not have gotten such a response.

The percentages of people with the attitudes you describe are higher in the South and btw in the midwest too.

In fact, in some places, this attitude is not so evident like in Atlanta proper for example or even in a Repuke stronghold that everyone has written off like Northern Virginia or the Research Triangle.

But, it is much more evident in places reaching a 50%+ mass in rural Southeast Georgia or in rural Mississippi.

I do believe that many border states and states where the diversity of voters are very high in the South can be won consistently by Dems.

There are pockets of resistance against the tide of ignorance that can be expanded.

In a place as diverse as the tech centers of Northern VA and the Research Triangle to the backwoods of idiocy in deep Alabama and the odd mix of cultures and experience in New Orleans that to talk universally about a typical Southerner is just silly.

_

[jorno67]

90. Thank you

for your thoughtful post. I will try to add all my qualifiers first next time. I was trying to express what I have seen as a person who grew up in the Midwest(St. Louis), got a degree in theatre from Arkansas State University, lived in Little Rock for 8 years, and spent the last 4 years in MA just north of Boston.
I guess my sin was believing that what I saw was typical, sorry.

[ACK]

91. Lived in the South my entire 35 years

The last lynching in my hometown happened when I was five.

I was called a N-lover for dating a beautiful girl whose only sin was to be the wrong color while walking down Tybee beach.

I also lived in the middle of Atlanta and saw the incredible convergence of African American culture and power being a place that boasts both Spellman and Morehouse college.

I work and live everyday in Northern VAand visit Raleigh on a regular basis and actually met good ol' boys who do not see blacks as evil or the enemy and cringe in horror at those who do.

I grew up in BBQ restaurant and hung out in the 40 watt club in Atlanta.

I was taught to cook cajun by (in her own words please) a coon ass woman from Baton Rouge. And partied in Va Highlands with folks from New Orleans.

My wife lived in Birmingham. My grandfather on my dad's side was a blue grass singer from West Virginia.

My grandmother on my mom's side can still tell tales her grandmother told her about Sherman's march through Georgia and the barn burnings and rapes and theft they experienced.

I have seen both the good and the evil in the heart of place far more complex and insane that many people see from the surface.

I understand what you are trying to express now. Thank you as well.

Updated for not being able to write and look after the kids at the same time. :-)
_

[jorno67]

80. I can't believe my response got deleted

Oh well some much for thoughtful debate. My posts have not been hateful or damaging. I'm talking about my experiences (and my in-laws who would be proud of my original analysis), but I'm sure because you didn't have the experiences that I am wrong and hateful. Delete this again if must, we wouldn't anyone to have a slightly different point of view based on real life experiences.

[forgethell]

38. Sterotypical bigotry n/t

[jorno67]

49. This may piss people off, but

I don't really believe it is a north/south thing. It is more of a country music thing - be fore you get all crazy watch ads on CMT and listen to adds on your local country radio station.

[daveskilt]

55. country music is evil. but then so is hip hop

especially when my neighbors on each side like to share their damn country albums (on the left) or hip hop albums (on the right) with me at 3am.

[atre]

75. "be fore," "adds"

Yup, nothing but illiterate bumpkins in the South... riiiight.

[nonconformist]

62. Not in my experience. nt

[Gemini Cat]

66. Really?

Is that a fact?
The dickens you say!

Huh.

[atre]

73. This is untrue

You= uninformed

[ACK]

24. Avoid the bashing threads -- How Progressives can win in the South

Listen I have lived in the South my whole life. Dems lose by closer margins in the South than in many other Republican dominated areas.

So, how can a Progressive Dem politico win in the South. Do some research about the governor race in LA and look at Mark Warner and then think about these points.

Listen you admit you are for a woman's right to choose and then shut the fuck up. The fundies will not vote for you anyway.

You are for hunters. Half of your PR photos in the South be you with a shotgun in your hand beside a nascar racing car. If your anti-gun in the South just avoid politics all together, sorry it sucks but it is true.

Pump up the volume on tax credits for the working poor and closing loopholes for those rich folks who don't want to pay their taxes.

You talk about conserving nature for future generations of kids to enjoy. Talk about keeping the water clean to fish in and places for people to hunt.

Talk about connecting people to jobs. Getting folks off of welfare and into the workforce in a real way, a compassionate way. Dumping folks with no hope just makes no sense.

Talk about targetting education spending to those rural schools that have been left out and unfunded for too long.

Talk about small business initiatives and getting tough with corporations that want to run rough-shod over the small towns.

Talk about helping out family farmers with loans and subsidies to protect them because all the foreign farmers are protected the same way.

Talk about fiscal responsibilty and the need for the government to pay its bills and not borrow and spend its way into debt.

Wrap yourself up in the Bill of Rights and talk about getting government out of their personal lives.

You wrap progressive politics around a populist voice.

If you want examples look up Mike Warner's campaign in VA. He aimed his message at the people and in a Repuke dominated state came up tops.

[billbuckhead]

40. Yankees & Californians need to quit subsidizing the south with their tax

dollars and put them on the money. If we can take back the government we need to close every military base and defense plant we can and transfer the money back to the north and west coast. Make these sicko fundies and bigots suffer the economic and political consequences of their choices.

[ACK]

44. Sure there are no military bases in California? Silly.

Silly nonsense.

Instead of trying to plan how to work around the re-districting and take back the South, we live up to the stereotypes of defeatist liberal wussies and write the whole area off. We do this despite the fact that Dems win more and Repukes win by closer margins in the South than in the midwest.

Yet, we never see Midwest bashing here.

The conservatives demonize the North.

Do we have to make a right out of two wrongs by using the same tactic to piss on the South?

[daveskilt]

46. bush did that -except for evil

wrapped facist politics in a populist voice.

[solinvictus]

64. Populism

Yep, attack big business and NAFTA for gutting rural manufacturing jobs. Take advantage of photo ops and pose with a hunting rifle (or better at a pistol range), fishing pole, and at a local BBQ gathering. Talk a great deal about the lack of educational opportunities in rural and depressed areas. It can be done, but I'm afraid the national Democratic party sees the south as nothing more than flyover country.

[ACK]

81. flyover country that is a good one

It is so true but if you cannot persuade the educated people in Northern VA or turn around the diverse and yankee ex-pat Atlanta 'Burbs or keep everywhere in Fla except the deep innards as Democrat, then ... hold on ....

You just ain't damn well trying hard enough!

[QC]

83. Those Atlanta yankees aren't necessarily liberal.

As I recall, Gingrich and Barr (who are carpetbaggers themselves) drew quite a bit of their support from recent arrivals in the Atlanta suburbs.

[ACK]

88. Yes but many are and do not see a lot of good options on election day

I am talking about good populist slight left of center options.

Many of them feel very disenfranchised in the South politically.

There is the ghost of chance of a grand coalition of voters to win in many suburban and urban areas of the South and to help make the South a battleground in many places as opposed to a write off.

_

[jonnyblitz]

30. well i know its ok to bash northeastern liberals...

usually its people from the....oh nevermind..

[Kinkistyle]

34. Whats with the Northern-Bashing at Free Republic?

Same thing. New York and California are not completely liberal either (Witness the elections of the Gropenator and Pataki/Giuliani/Bloomberg). But there tends to be a general tendency towards liberal ideals in the Northern states and the opposite is true of the South and Midwest, so there tends to be animosity.

[ACK]

39. So if its cool for them then its cool for us -- equal opportunity bashing

By that same logic, I guess it was ok for those American soldiers to torture Iraqis because Saddam tortured Iraqis?

Of course not.

Using freeper logic is not a good sign.

BTW, no one bashes the midwest here. Just the South.

_

[Kinkistyle]

45. Point out where I said it was "OK"

I didn't say it was OK or Bad. I simply gave a possible reason.

[ACK]

54. Point out where I said that you said it was ok?

I was just following that line of thought to its logical conclusion.

[daveskilt]

50. no one bashes the midwest? - I shall start right away!

lived in utah...too tired and going to bed otherwise I would type for hours about that place. and as for kansas....every time I've driven through it Im sure I get behind the same semi for 300 miles. 300 miles with nothing to see except a sign every mile for 150 miles saying "see the worlds largest prairie dog - 147 miles"

also not enough scottish bashing...im feeling left out.
hear about the scotsman who ran 15 miles to get to a football game? by the time he got there he was too tired to hop the fence.

whats the difference between the rolling stones and a scotsman? the rolling stones sing hey you get offa ma cloud, a scotsman says hey mcloud get offa ma ewe.

[Rowdyboy]

41. Southern bashing is MUCH less prevalent now than it was

a couple of years ago. I was tempted to leave several times during my first few months here. There were several posters who DESPISED all things southern and repeatedly attacked.

Some people are so uninformed and ignorant that they draw their impressions based on tv sitcoms and stereotypes from the 1960's. Ignore them. You know the truth, just like most people do.

[daveskilt]

42. lived all over - but the south is pretty damned strange

I've been in Georgia for 3 years now. Never had an opinion about the south (being from Scotland - you're all yanks to me) having been here 3 years and having lived or worked in over 20 states (including Utah which is also its own brand of weird and seriously bang-your-head-against-the-wall-trying-to-talk-to-thesemindnumbingly-daft-Republican but not like GA) I have to say a lot of the stereotypes are warranted. I know a lot of great progressive folks down in GA. Yes racism exists everywhere but the south has its own special blend that is just so jaw droppingly overt and I have never seen that - not in the UK not in the rest of the US, not even in Bavaria.

example 1: My first day in Georgia. I go looking for an apartment. friend of a friend of a friend shows me houses and tells me to avoid this one part of town as it is the N***** neighborhood. I loose this guy quick and go looking on my own. Meet this one guy renting houses. He says "now I have to be honest and let you know up front the woman next door, well she's a black...but she ain't given me no trouble and I rent to anybody, but I thought yous should know. She ain't no uppity woman and knows whats what so she should not bother you one bit." didn't rent from him. Went to get something to eat and am shocked at the racial slurs and abuse that I hear from the white waiters and managers at the restaurant to the African American busboys and janitor. I take MARTA back to Atlanta and a scared old African American woman keeps trying to give me her seat on the train and calling me suh. I feel dirty. THIS IS DAY ONE IN THE SOUTH!!!

example 2: 4th of July in the Colbert parade. segregated parade. Klan float (pickup truck, crucifix's etc followed by lots of chaps on horses calling themselves "knights") A group of fellows dressed as southern civil war soldiers with 2 guys dressed as northern soldiers in chains. One of the prisoners is in black face and the heroic southern soldiers are waving a rope around yelling "yeah yeah we're gonna have us a lynching"

Some of the most liberal folks I know are from the south though. They have to be more militant down here to survive. I am not bashing the south, or anywhere else. that would be silly of me to make such a ridiculous generalization, but I do understand the stereotypes. This place is its own special blend of nutty.

[cookre]

48. Being a slow, dim-witted rube from Bahama, NC

has been a distinct advantage on numerous occasions when underestimated by the the slick, cosmopolitan sophisticate.

Now, I will admit we've no trendy night-spots or art houses nearby, but, somehow, I don't feel the least bit diminished when I fall asleep listening to frogs, crickets, and owls instead of car alarms, sirens, and gunfire.

[daveskilt]

53. great point! like the old joke...

American tourist in Scotland walks up to old Hamish and says hey fella you want this dirty old bit of paper (holding out a ten pound note) or this shiny coin (holds out a one pound coin) the scotsman says oh ill take the coin thanks. The american shows the same trick again to his friends and they leave marvelling at the scotsmans stupidity.

After they leave angus walks to hamish and says - "you do know that the paper is worth ten of those coins dont you" hamish says "of course, but if I take the paper they would stop coming back"

[gator_in_Ontario]

52. I agree...

I was born in the south, and have spent most of my life here. I have also spent a good portion in the north (Ohio mostly) and even lived north of the border for a bit.

Racism is everywhere, and those who deny that fact are living somewhere I never have. When I was young and left the south in search of independence and freedom, part of what I was seeking was an absense of racism. I have never found it.

Ignorance lives in every Zip code and Postal code.
Enlightened people do as well.
As my grandma used to say "Folks is Folks"

[scubadude]

56. Interesting thread. Something to ponder.

This happened in Texas, at the Sam Houston memorial statue.

I was down there courting my soon to be wife. We chit-chatted for a few moments, her showing off some of the nice things in the souvenir shop. I'm from Chicago, and speak with a basically mid western Chicago accent. After she went into the rest room a group of about 5 or 6 obviously proud Texans, both men and women, perked up in her absence, talking loudly, looking my way. They basically chatted back and forth, bashing northerners. I remember one of them saying, and this was from a woman, "of course we all know anybody that lives north of Dallas is a yankee"...

They didn't threaten me directly, but definitely made me feel uncomfortable, on purpose. It went on for a few moments until I drifted out of earshot.

What I want to know is why did they do this? Have any of you experience similar experience up north? My guess is that you have.

This leads me to a broader question. Why do we still band together to persecute others? Is this an inferiority complex playing itself out?
It seems to me like a softer version of gang type behavior, and I see it over and over, from local sports teams to the horrible behavior in Iraq. People grouping together expressing various manifestations of dominance.

My conclusion is that we are indeed not that far from our genetic cousins, and unless we stop acting like animals we may end up back there with them. Like Einstein said, "I don't know what weapons World War Three will be fought with, but World War four will be fought with sticks and stones."

Scuba

[SOteric]

60. Don't let it get you down. Some of our best, most intelligent

most well-reasoned and valuable posters are from the South or even *gasp* Texas.

I wouldn't regard broad-brush disparagments of an entire region as worth paying much attention to. They don't tend to come from folks with really excellent reasoning skills.

[niceypoo]

70. Its the southern REPUBLICANS who are the main racists

Not the Democrats

[SOteric]

71. I'm not bashing southerners. And I didn't say anything about racists.

Maybe you meant to respond to someone else?

[niceypoo]

69. In my political chatroom 90% of seething racists are from the Carolinas

And the two racist democrats in my chatroom also hail from the south. Yes, racism exists everywhere but it was an institution for hundreds of years in the south until about 35 years ago.

[Moloch]

72. Certain parts...

3. The modern south is not Klan country. I've only been down there are few times, and yes it is Freeper country in respects, but if some places, especially in cities and suburbs, there are quite a few Liberals. A number of DUers are from a town in North Carolina and held a counter-demonstration against gay marriage opponents, and almost the same number of counter-demonstrators showed up as the number of protesters.

There are certain parts of the south that are still very much Klan country. South Alabama, north of Mobile, is very much Klan country. You can see flyers on signposts and they still hold gatherings out there. I have seen some of the same thing in North Louisiana. The Rural South has much to do to keep up with the rest of the country.


However, you are right. A check of the map of hate groups in the U.S. on the Southern Poverty Law Center web site reveals that they are, unfortunately, everywhere.

[atre]

76. It's a pathology

There's something deep in many people's psyche that needs to feel superior to another group. There is no reason associated with this pathology. Preconceived notions reign supreme; contrary evidence be damned.

That's why you have white on black racism. It is why you have lighter-black on darker-black racism. It's why you see anti-Arab sentiments (and it's a large reason why the Abu Grahib soldiers were able to do what they did without batting an eyelash). And it's why you have Northerners and others with a pathological hatred of Southerners.

[doni_georgia]

82. We southerners are used to southern bashing

We get it EVERYWHERE! Just look at television and how southerners are usually portrayed. I used to get really pissed off about it, but now I just consider that it shows the ignorance of the person doing the bashing.