[nmnita]

Originally Posted by northbound74

From what I've seen, most places in Arkansas outside of Little Rock, and certainly NWA (though I'm not as familiar with that one), are like what the OP experienced. I knew quite a few people that moved to small town Arkansas from elsewhere, and were soundly rejected, REGARDLESS of how they acted towards Arkansas.
Arkansawer's don't like outsiders. How dare you go down there and ruin their life with all your yankee crap... oh... wait... the yankee was just minding their own business.......
And yes, people in Arkansas have mostly negative stereotypes of pretty much everyplace that isn't Arkansas, or a bordering state... and there's plenty of stereotypes about those as well.
I got sick of seeing my co-workers trashing the guy from the north, just because he's from the north.... get over it.
Newsflash! Nobody up there cares about any north/south rivalry, much less the Civil War..

Sorry. It's a sore spot.

and many of us would disagree. I have a perfect example: my granddaughter met her fiance (husband in 6 weeks) at a bar in Fayetteville. He is redneck, Arkansas from word go and she is far from that. She graduated for Fayetteville, he didn't go to college: never has anyone in his family rejected her in any way. Yes, they may be having some problems with the "city Girl" wedding but not her in general. You will always find some who have trouble accepting others, but AR isn't any worse or as bad as many states. I still beleive it is the person from the "other place" that creates most of the problems. You talk about "getting over it" the new comer needs to do all that is possible to be accepted an "get over it"

No one is referring to the little town in mid Arkansas or SW Ar with 1500 people, we are talking about the majority of the state.

Nita

[adysmom]

Originally Posted by Silvrbrd54

Why is Russellville so unaccepting of people from other states. I'm from Illinois and people are fine until they say "you're not from here are you" I say no "Chicago" and they immediately start treating me differently. If they are so afraid of transplants making changes here, why don't they listen first and find out that we are not changing things but making things better and safer for them.

making things better and safer is changing things. Stay out of it, And let people that have lived their a long time take care if it.

[Sam I Am]

Well, honest to freakin' Pete - this makes it sound like everyone who migrates to Arkansas from somewhere other than another place in Arkansas is ostracized, and everyone living in every town won't accept it. This is an ongoing theme - "will I be accepted because I'm -insert race, insert religion,insert profession, insert origin. Well, of course you will...eventually, and maybe not in exactly the locale you had envisioned. It's tiring to meet people from other areas who come in and immediately start contriving points of contention...we aren't sophisticated, we aren't urban, we're too religious, we haven't evolved, we move too slowly, no entertainment, blah, blah, blah. Or they contrive their reasons NOT to like Arkansas long before putting their feet inside the state lines based on what they've heard or imagined or read on some travel review site that is geared toward opera fans. Listen to that a half dozen times and then we start eye-rolling when someone announces "this isn't like we did it in Boston". Guess what? Go to Des Moines and it won't be like you did it in Boston! The best advice I could give anyone moving anywhere is to keep your opinion to yourself - watch and wait and see how things roll before judging or even commenting. Who knows, it may be better than where you came from - just give it a chance. Maybe it won't be better, but calm down and accept it or you'll give yourself a heart attack worrying about what you can't change singlehandedly.

This is not directed at the OP, but just a general broadcast for anyone moving to Arkansas. I'm only using Russellville and Pope County as an example since it is what I know and where I live. We aren't perfect. No place is perfect. Some places have better systems for whatever it is you're wanting than others. A very simple comparison is getting a license renewal - it is a special form of purgatory sometimes in Little Rock. In Russellville, it's in and out. Got a problem? Talk to Becky Linker at Revenue - she'll help you and everyone knows her. Or go online and do it and escape the "massive hassle" altogether. We're a dry county and you don't like that? Deal with it or move to Morrilton or get involved in a referendum to change that, but don't fuss. You're hardly going to change the system by announcing that dry counties are backward, and you've probably just offended half your neighbors to boot who like living in a dry county and not having fatality accidents every 6 blocks because of booze. Whatever, make the trip to Blackwell every two weeks - we do.

I'm married to a Yankee from New Jersey. Still sounds like a Yankee in some respects. Still has Yankee ideas. He doesn't have any problems getting by and everyone seems to like him, or at least they act like they do...they may tease him about his accent, but it's all in fun. He's an active, contributing member of the community. Half the people in town know him, if not by name, by face. He's out there, he's involved, he's friendly, he's smiling...but mostly he's out there meeting people with common interests. No one gives a happy hoot where he came from, and he doesn't care where they migrated from. He's not trying to "make things safer" with his particular brand of knowledge gleaned in the great northeast...he's just another joe trying to get by every day, make a few friends, and be a good person. But this is his home and he treats it as such, good or bad. We've lived here 8 years except for a brief move to the Caribbean. No one in town could tell you where we came from. They remember we lived on St. Croix - they remember we have lots of dogs - they remember we're renovating a historic house - but they don't know or care where we were in 2000.

All of this "will I be accepted" depends more on the mover than the residents. If you move to Havana, you're going to be the object of curiosity and the talk of the town for a while. That's life in small town America...if you just move in, blend in, and get involved, no one will remember where you came from in five years.

[Fasder]

This thread has a great deal of sweeping generalizations (Appearance of some proof used to draw a conclusion, where the conclusion exceeds what the evidence supports) and use of fallacious arguments.

The inference is whole of Arkansas is against ... and in this case ... is against transplants (outsiders that choose to live in community). On other posts, I've seen the same thing used against ... race, creed, religions, etc.

But this is not unique to Arkansas forum (On City-Data), as simple search across other state forums finds this same type of arguments being used over and over again.

It becomes very tiring when posters talk about 'them' as reference to broad groups.

[Fasder]

Arkansas and Mississippi are among the poorest, least well-educated States within these United States.

Just on the Arkansas front, but the state is making progress on many issues, including education.

Education system is improving:
State of education: Who makes the grade?
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/arkansas-final.pdf

And just for kicks, as statistic's and web sites ... are fun to bend a forum discussion. Arkansas is working to be smarter, and California is on a downward slide.

Smartest State Prior Years' Rankings

[Honeynutz]

"Well, honest to freakin' Pete"

Lardy, that made me laugh out loud!

Great reply and well stated!

[arguy1973]

i worked side by side with three "three" transplants..one from spain, one from wisconsin and one from chicago..none of the three had any problems here in AR

[Fasder]

I've moved a bit, across OK/TX/AR, living past 15 or so years in Texas. When people in Dallas or Houston ask where I'm from, they react one of two ways.

1). They make fun of the Hogs ... football. Mostly, those that remember Southwest conference.

2). They comment about how interesting Hot Springs is and fun to visit.

Maybe the people I have been around are kind or I do not to pay attention to miss-informed. Hopefully, if you have been slighted, it was not from someone that represented themselves as a true Arkansan and that you can over look their poor manners. Being rude to others is not a trait of a Southerner.

[okie1954]

well, my husband is already in Conway. We have chosen Greenbrier. He has not mentioned anything like this too me.

Especially the real estate lady is loving us.

Even if someone tried that osty stuff on me, I would just have to kiss up until they loved me. lol

it is a state of mind, truly...... I could care less. Friends come when they come. I realize there are just some rude people in this world and think nothing outside their world matters. awww too bad, we all have to grow and accept during a lifetime whether we want it or not.

I am not worrying one bit about it. I worry more about the mosquitoes carrying my husband away. We have decided not to get anything more than an acre or two hopefully less. I would be satisfied with .5 that is big enough to care for and have a workshop built on it for me. I am an artist and want my own space. I really wanted a pond and a place to have horses. But, I have decided no. Besides our 14 yr old daughter wont want to care for a horse. It would be up to me. ugh!! forget it!!

I am looking forward to moving...

[CESpeed]

Originally Posted by Sam I Am

All of this "will I be accepted" depends more on the mover than the residents. If you move to Havana, you're going to be the object of curiosity and the talk of the town for a while. That's life in small town America...if you just move in, blend in, and get involved, no one will remember where you came from in five years.

Yes I asked the question but the result was I discovered that if I do exactly what Sam suggested I will be very happy in Hot Springs.

Sam, I know you love your home but will you stop it! Please let the ignoramuses keep coming up with excuses to not move to Arkansas. That way it'll stay nice and peaceful and green. Everything I'm moving there for.