Why is Mississippi on the bottom of every quality of life study (Jackson: condos, high crime)

[davfar]

I don't think it's the fact that there are no large cities in MS...look at all of New England...Boston is the only city with over 200,000 people and poor up here is if one personally make less than $50,000 (obviously exaggerating)!

[Colts]

I've spent some time in Mississippi a while back, and I enjoyed it. There is a level of humility and friendliness that the North surely lacks. If there was an opportunity to go again, I would.

[internat]

You can still live poor in such cities. A lot of people in London, New York possibly less, make a lot of money yet do not enjoy what I believe most people would call a high living standard. You would live more for the future saving money to live somewhere with a lower cost of living. Those cities tend to have a diminishing middle class. Demand is high and supply is low. Property prices go up and neighbourhoods once considered bad become sought after by yuppies. In other words, you get gentrification and an influx of nouveau riche, who do their best to emulate old money.

Living in an expensive city with a lot to do can be exciting to a young professional. It can of course give you the opportunity to move somewhere with a lower cost of living and enjoy the money more. It is not easy to adapt moving from a big happening city to the middle of nowhere which to the true city slicker is most likely any small city not widely known.

Originally Posted by davfar

I don't think it's the fact that there are no large cities in MS...look at all of New England...Boston is the only city with over 200,000 people and poor up here is if one personally make less than $50,000 (obviously exaggerating)!

[Manigault]

Folks from West Virginia say "Thank god for Mississippi" because otherwise in many of the quality of life areas WV would be last.

[questioner2]

One thing about Mississippi the people forget is that even minimum wage workers can survive economically in the small towns. I know people in Mississippi who make about $20K a year and own a house and live a semi middle class lifestyle. I doubt that could be said for a retail or fast food worker in the urban northeast.

[RuralCoastalGuy]

I think that Mississippians get bashed as that seems to be the thing to do...at least for those who feel superior and above everyone else. There is a lot of poverty there as there is in West Virginia, Louisiana and many other States.

Maybe it's time to find out why and start helping these folks out...not sending our money to save the rest of the world. At least Americans will be grateful for the help, unlike all those we have helped and are still helping who now hate us.

Charity begins at home and home to me is The United States of America...I contribute and if everyone did this would be a moot point.

[LauraC]

First you should see what their criteria is for "quality of life" before you get excited about a ranking. Things you prize for "quality of life" may not even be included in the criteria or receive less weight and things you consider to be negative may be highly prized by the people doing the scoring.

[SteelCityRising]

Where are all of our native Mississippians to help counterbalance such negative vitriol? Lest your state be loved by no one, I will come to the defense of y'all.

Labeling an entire state as being "backwards", "hick", "crime-ridden", "poverty-infested", etc. is simply showcasing one's ignorance. How would folks in New York City like it if everyone assumed that the South Bronx was characteristic of the city as a whole? I'm sure the metrosexuals in the East Village would be outraged. How would the folks in North Carolina like it if everyone assumed their state was just an urban sprawl wasteland based upon what they saw in the Lake Norman area? I'm sure folks in Asheville would be upset. In the same sense I feel as if it is impossible and imprudent to make such broad generalizations about an entire state, city, or community.

I'll use my hometown of Scranton, PA as a perfect example. While in the past 2-4 years we've been making a rapid comeback fueled partly by NYC/NJ transplants, by and large the 1990s were an era in which we were literally dubbed by a major national publication as the runner-up for "Armpit of America." Also during that decade I heard some very callous remarks made about my hometown---"inbred hicks", "backwater", "uneducated", "coal crackers", etc. I personally can attest to the fact that NONE of these statements are valid. I know of several MENSA members. I know of a woman who turned down Harvard because she wanted to stay in the Scranton metro for college. Our arts/cultural community is exploding and thriving with very popular First Fridays and all sorts of other galleries, museums, etc. I scored a 1300 on my SAT and had a 3.5 cumulative GPA and was nowhere near the top of my class, just to give you an indication of how bright children even in our public schools are. It all depends upon who you want to associate yourself with. I could head to a corner bar and see overweight lowlives with mullets making racist jokes while drowning their sorrows in alcohol (as can be said about EVERY part of this nation, not just Scranton). However, I can also surround myself by vibrant, upbeat, intellectually-enriching people, as is also the case with EVERY part of this nation.

Some folks would simply prefer to look at the glass half-empty all the time. I enjoy drinking a half-full glass of Southern sweet tea every now and then. Yes, Mississippi, just like Scranton, has its fair share of problems. However, one must not let an area's downsides overshadow its positiveaspects. I have never been to Mississippi, but I'm fairly certain I'd fall in love with a lot of the historic architecture there and receive a hearty, warm welcome from folks just like the sweet woman earlier in this thread who just received a few rep points from me for being the ONLY Mississippian bold enough to stand up for their state at a time when it's "popular" to slam it into the ground.

We're all well aware that Mississippi has issues with poverty, education, and race relations, amongst other societal ills, but what good are we all doing by just poking fun and making snide remarks? None at all. All we're doing is turning off other would-be investors, tourists, transplants, etc. to MS as they read such disheartening comments. If more folks had Roma's upbeat attitude about what Mississippi can be instead of what her home state currently is, then just like Scranton it could finally start to turn itself around after decades of neglect.

Roma, I'd love very much to visit your home someday; it sounds wonderful. I, too, am taking a risk by investing in an older Victorian home in a sketchy city neighborhood in a few years after college to raise my family and try to improve the city's quality-of-life. It's folks like you who give me the resolve to keep on truckin' along despite all of the negativity I hear about my own town. Happy New Year!

[AQUEMINI331]

I have a feeling at least half of the people on this board have never been to Mississippi. Yes, Mississippi has its problems. What state doesn't? Many states have problems that are worse than Mississippi IMO.


With that being said, I grew up in Alabama and my girlfriend is from Mississippi. I've been to the state, quite a few times. It's actually a lot nicer than what many would think. Or at least it was before Katrina. Katrina hit MS just as hard, if not harder, than Louisiana (since Katrina's actual point of landfall was in MS, not LA). Gulfport and Biloxi are STILL struggling and still recovering from the aftermath of the storm, more than two years later. Federal aid has been slow and people admittedly have been reluctant to return. But I've seen some of the plans for the MS Gulf coast - and they are beautiful. The area will be transformed into something even more beautiful than what it was before.


Before Katrina, Mississippi opened itself up to Indian casinos (mostly Choctaw Indians) and this created a lot of revenue for the state. They used that to provide a much needed upgrade to public services and property, primarily schools and roads. Mississippi had (and actually still does have) some of the best schools and roads in the South, because of money from the casinos. Alabama for years had been a state with schools and roads in poor condition, but it still looked like it was top notch compared to Mississippi. Not true anymore, the Magnolia State has come up. Katrina dealt the state a really hard blow, harder than anything that any other state has had to deal with in quite some time. But before the storm, Mississippi was well on their way to increased progress and prosperity, and they're still on the same track today, they've just been delayed. A few years ago, the state followed the trend of other southern states (most notably its neighbors Alabama and Tennessee) by luring a $1 billion (yes, I did say $1 billion) Nissan plant just outside of Jackson. That plant created hundreds of much-needed, well paying jobs. The state has all it needs to attract more automotive plants, with extremely cheap land, tax incentives, warm weather, and overall high quality of life. The state is laid-back (i.e. not fast-paced and stressful like big cities are), the people are friendly, and is home to beaches on the coast and not far from other getaways like New Orleans and Gatlinburg, TN.


Mississippi has a LOT going for it. All that I just mentioned doesn't even take into account the people. The people are genuinely friendly, charismatic people. My only real gripe with them, and the South in general actually, is religion and how dominant of a role it plays in everyday life. I'm not religious so it would get irritating to live there and have people ask me where do I go to church, knowing full and well that I don't attend one nor do i have any intentions to do so. But I won't get into all of that, this is not a religious debate, this is about Mississippi.


Overall the state has its good qualities and bad qualities, but overall I think it's a pretty good place to live. Certainly you could do much worse.


_

[Nafster]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Like most Southern states, Mississippi has historically invested very little in educating their population. The reason is racism. The white power structure saw little reason to invest in the education of their black citizens.

Racism isn't the reason for everything, buddy. The state has been in a major recession ever since the end of the civil war. Almost everyone, white and black, in that state is poor.

None of the races are getting good education, and there are deeper economic and social reasons, including greedy governors, for reasons of poverty affecting ALL of Mississippi.