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I've been reading this site forever now and have been bothered by a certain trend for a long time. You see when it regards nationwide opinion of The South there are mainly three kinds of people that post on this forum.
1. Northerners/Westerners who hate The South no matter what.
2. Northerners/Westerners who don't mind the cities in The South but hate the rural areas and smaller towns.
3. Urban Southerners who openly love their city but seem ashasmed of the rural/small town aspect of their region.
Why all the hate for small towns and rural areas (By small town I mean populatoin of less than 150,000)? Most of my mother's side of the family hails from rural/small town Southeast Texas. A lot of fun culture and traditions come from those areas. And contrary to popular belief not every southerner that isn't in a large southern metro area is unintelligent, "backwards", or racist. I've seen interracial couples in these small towns and nobody seemed to care. On the flip side i've heard of plenty of instances where interracial relationships caused an uproar in Brooklyn.
The people in these small towns contribute their own unique culture to this country (and espescially the south) and I don't see why they can't be appreciated for that. They are people just like anybody else.
Less than a 150,000 is a small town? Well maybe here it is. I remember I was watching a Hallmark movie and the girl was horrified, at first, to be trapped in the little town of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne isn't one of the largest metropolitan areas, but it's metro-area is around 400,000 people with the town itself being around 250,000.
Anyway it is true that the rural South, genuinely rural South, tends to be poorer and less-educated than the rest of the country. That said I think it's more a cultural thing. People here seem to be progressive types who want dense cities full of excitement. If your tastes run in that direction the rural South will be almost the exact opposite.
Now I have zero interest in densely populated progressive places, but tastes vary.
I've been reading this site forever now and have been bothered by a certain trend for a long time. You see when it regards nationwide opinion of The South there are mainly three kinds of people that post on this forum.
1. Northerners/Westerners who hate The South no matter what.
2. Northerners/Westerners who don't mind the cities in The South but hate the rural areas and smaller towns.
3. Urban Southerners who openly love their city but seem ashasmed of the rural/small town aspect of their region.
Why all the hate for small towns and rural areas (By small town I mean populatoin of less than 150,000)? Most of my mother's side of the family hails from rural/small town Southeast Texas. A lot of fun culture and traditions come from those areas. And contrary to popular belief not every southerner that isn't in a large southern metro area is unintelligent, "backwards", or racist. I've seen interracial couples in these small towns and nobody seemed to care. On the flip side i've heard of plenty of instances where interracial relationships caused an uproar in Brooklyn.
The people in these small towns contribute their own unique culture to this country (and espescially the south) and I don't see why they can't be appreciated for that. They are people just like anybody else.
Thank you for posting this, I was thinking of posting something like this not too long ago. It seems like most people on this site think that the correct way to live is in a high density, walkable urban neighborhood, and If you live in the suburbs or in a rural area, your not living the right way.
Less than a 150,000 is a small town? Well maybe here it is. I remember I was watching a Hallmark movie and the girl was horrified, at first, to be trapped in the little town of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne isn't one of the largest metropolitan areas, but it's metro-area is around 400,000 people with the town itself being around 250,000.
Anyway it is true that the rural South, genuinely rural South, tends to be poorer and less-educated than the rest of the country. That said I think it's more a cultural thing. People here seem to be progressive types who want dense cities full of excitement. If your tastes run in that direction the rural South will be almost the exact opposite.
Now I have zero interest in densely populated progressive places, but tastes vary.
Maybe I should have said less than 100,000. I was trying to make a distinction between your really rural towns (EX: Cuero, Texas) where McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and a couple of local Mexican restaurants make up your food choices and just regular small towns (EX: Victoria, Texas) that aren't that big but are big enough have things like a mall, 12 screen stadium seating movie theatre, a skate park, have their own local TV station and all your mainstream chain restaurants (Olive Garden, Chili's, Ihop, Denny's). People tend to look down on these people like they are somehow inferior and the arrogance of that really bites at me. I have spent plenty of time in both of these places (especially Victoria) and they both have plenty to offer in their own right. They are more than just "soulless and cookie cutter" like many on here make places like that out to be.
And true, people in the rural south are usually less educated. But my statement was about intelligence. Intelligence and education are two different things. For example a lot of northeasterners on here repeatedly tout their superior northeaster education, but some of their posts are sorely lacking in intelligence.
I also have issues when people hang on to ideas that people in smaller towns are any more racist than those in a big city. Is it like that in some small towns? Of course there are instances of that. However, that isn't necessarily the case. I have seen a ton of interracial relationships in smaller towns. Just like I have seen a lot of racism and racially charged tension in bigger cities.
It just appears to me that many people judge these places without knowing a thing about them.
Actually, the same can be said for Southerners judging the North (i.e. calling them rude, up-tight, fast pace, etc.) and so forth. I've seen it both ways between North and South. *sighs* I just think they don't understand how certain people prefer to live certain ways. Some love the slow pace. Others love big cities. Then, other people prefer small rural towns where you have to drive far to get anywhere. It's their own choice to live however they want to be.
As far as racism goes, it's universal in retrospect. There's always going to be a place where a small group of people have radical views against another group of people. Regardless of where you live ....Sadly... They may not show themselves in the open but they're there somewhere.
Less than 100,000? I've been through towns where you got less than a 100 people. ^__^
I've never lived in a town with over a 1,000 people, but I hope to someday. My ideal is 4,000-40,000. I almost considered starting a "best micropolitan area" thread.
Lafayette, Louisiana is "small with just over 120k people" in it, but it has a metro area of about 500k and two cinemas, a Grand 14 and a Grand 16, a ton of great restaurants, and endless supply of strip malls and a very thriving regional mall, a large club/entertainment district, a new urban style upscale community project called river Ranch, and our airport is doing renovations and working on getting an international business license. Lafayette feels like a smaller town because of its people and traditional cajun culture, but it is growing fast and so I think calling a town below 150k "small" isnt right all the time especially when it comes to Lafayette.
That said, there isnt anything wrong with small towns, because some people prefer them. If Lafayette was, say 200k people I might not want to live here. Almost 130k is plenty.
Lafayette, Louisiana is "small with just over 120k people" in it, but it has a metro area of about 500k and two cinemas, a Grand 14 and a Grand 16, a ton of great restaurants, and endless supply of strip malls and a very thriving regional mall, a large club/entertainment district, a new urban style upscale community project called river Ranch, and our airport is doing renovations and working on getting an international business license. Lafayette feels like a smaller town because of its people and traditional cajun culture, but it is growing fast and so I think calling a town below 150k "small" isnt right all the time especially when it comes to Lafayette.
That said, there isnt anything wrong with small towns, because some people prefer them. If Lafayette was, say 200k people I might not want to live here. Almost 130k is plenty.
A great place for people who want to eat, shop, and go to a movie. What else is there to do?
People up here feel tend to that way about ALL rural/small towns (yeah... rural towns are everywhere, not just in the south).
I grew up in a town in Michigan of 360 people! Now THAT is a small town. And I didn't even live "in town." I lived on a gravel road about 3 miles outside of town.
People that live in the city up here considered us rednecks (which a lot of us were). No biggie. Doesn't really bother me.
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