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As someone born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, I can tell you that Alabama has the worse reputation as a state in the US, mostly well deserved. I can also tell you, without a moments hesitation, that the majority of people in Alabama do not talk bad about Virginia or NC, and have always considered them part of the South. I can also tell you, without a moments hesitation, that the only state that people in Alabama really hate and trash is Georgia, and to that end Atlanta. Atlanta is not a popular city amongst people from Alabama, Mississippi, SC and Louisiana, states that are as deep red and deep southern as you will find. In fact the odd thing about Atlanta, is that it's not popular really in most of the US, but it's reputation amongst those people who consider themselves "real southerners" is even worse.
When I was a kid, I vividly remember, in the third grade, my history teacher talking about Sherman's March to the Sea and when she mentioned Atlanta being burned to the ground, the entire room literally cheered. It was both one of the strangest and funniest moments I can remember. In fact most people from where I grew up would tell you that Atlanta is the least Southern city in the South, not including Miami. They would place Dallas and Houston as more "southern" than Atlanta. I really don't care either way. I live in Atlanta now, and I find most of Atlanta to be the most out of place city in the South. The architecture, the people, the culture - at least over the last decade or so, is so completely foreign to where I grew up, that I can't think of a time when Atlanta actually was southern in culture. I mean the Braves migrated to Atlanta in 1966, and that was the first professional baseball team in the traditional deep South. At least since the 1940's Atlanta has probably tried the hardest to to cast off it's southern influences. Becoming the first city in the traditional South to embrace the kind of globalist trends that Northeastern cities did half a century earlier. In fact when you look at cities like Charlotte and Nashville it's clear as day that are following Atlanta's model after they saw the benefits of what Atlanta achieved decades earlier.
Atlanta, while playing a prominent role - location wise during the Civil War, was really not much of city back then. I think the reason why so many "real Southerns" in the South hate Atlanta, is that it became the the center and rallying cry of the "new South" back in the 60's. The city really overshadowed the rest of the deep South, and resentment grew from there. It's not just a lot of Northeastern and Midwest transplants that migrated to Atlanta, many progressive minded people in the rest of the deep South migrated there too. Which meant that jobs went to Atlanta and the other mid level cities in the South saw little to no job growth during that time; which again furthered the resentment.
Like I said, most of my family is religious and conservative as hell, I am the black sheep of the family, in that I am an atheist and liberal. My family views Atlanta as nothing but Northeastern transplants living in a state that, otherwise, they consider to be beneath Alabama. As I said earlier I don't care how people define other states south of the Mason Dixon line, but I can tell you that the only city I routinely hear getting trashed in the deepest of the deep South is Atlanta. Make of that what you will.
That's very odd of your family to think ATL is beneath them. I have 1 parent from the Midwest and the other's from the Northeast. Some of my relatives moved to Fla or SC to escape the cold of NY State. My image of the real South has always been metro ATL and Central Florida (along with the developed parts of the region. I'm aware of the rural undeveloped parts of the South but I really don't venture to those parts. Gotta stay safe, gotta live.
That's very odd of your family to think ATL is beneath them. I have 1 parent from the Midwest and the other's from the Northeast. Some of my relatives moved to Fla or SC to escape the cold of NY State. My image of the real South has always been metro ATL and Central Florida (along with the developed parts of the region. I'm aware of the rural undeveloped parts of the South but I really don't venture to those parts. Gotta stay safe, gotta live.
You'd have a higher chance of experiencing danger or dying in metro ATL or Central Florida than the rural, undeveloped parts of the South. Just thought you should know that.
That's very odd of your family to think ATL is beneath them. I have 1 parent from the Midwest and the other's from the Northeast. Some of my relatives moved to Fla or SC to escape the cold of NY State. My image of the real South has always been metro ATL and Central Florida (along with the developed parts of the region. I'm aware of the rural undeveloped parts of the South but I really don't venture to those parts. Gotta stay safe, gotta live.
Lol the rural areas is the safest part. At least here in Texas.
You'd have a higher chance of experiencing danger or dying in metro ATL or Central Florida than the rural, undeveloped parts of the South. Just thought you should know that.
Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Nashville, and Raleigh are considered to be parts of the New South booming with jobs. With the exception of Miami, they are still southern but their southern culture is changing though.
The Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) and other undeveloped rural areas aren't experiencing explosive growth. In these areas, you definitely are in the South.
I personally prefer large Texas cities like Austin and Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex over other cities in the New South but that is just me.
As someone who spent a significant amount of time in Mississippi when I was younger, a lot of people there view NC and VA as the South, but not the Deep South. Some barely consider Virginia the South at all. And Northern VA? Fuggedaboutit. I knew a couple of less-enlightened people who said that NC wasn't a southern state because the state has the word, "North" in it. Of course, they had never been to the state to know any better. But yeah, a lot of people I know there consider them the South, but consider Texas and Florida to not be the South at all, go figure.
And people from Alabama looking down on Georgia? I thought a popular saying there was "Thank God for Mississippi," since that's the one state they can look down on. And Alabama isn't even that crappy of a place, I'd rather live there than Mississippi, though I'd choose harakari over living in either state.
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