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Another example of Southern culture is my son and his experience in the Navy in a top secret job. He said one of the men he was working with kept being just plain mean and doing mean things to him and in the idea of the Bible saying vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, he kept being kind to the young man. He said this continued for about a week and then the young man came to him and told him that he thought no one was that nice and he was testing him to see if he could make him act in an unchristian manner.
So when you think someone from the South is not too bright; they may just be showing kindness. I wouldn't take it too far though. We all have our braking point and before that happens God can come in a zap you. And it will hurt.
Another example of Southern culture is my son and his experience in the Navy in a top secret job. He said one of the men he was working with kept being just plain mean and doing mean things to him and in the idea of the Bible saying vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, he kept being kind to the young man. He said this continued for about a week and then the young man came to him and told him that he thought no one was that nice and he was testing him to see if he could make him act in an unchristian manner.
So when you think someone from the South is not too bright; they may just be showing kindness. I wouldn't take it too far though. We all have our braking point and before that happens God can come in a zap you. And it will hurt.
My son is a much better person than I am.
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He said this continued for about a week and then the young man came to him and told him that he thought no one was that nice and he was testing him to see if he could make him act in an unchristian manner.
So when you think someone from the South is not too bright; they may just be showing kindness.
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Another example of Southern culture is my son and his experience in the Navy in a top secret job. He said one of the men he was working with kept being just plain mean and doing mean things to him and in the idea of the Bible saying vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord, he kept being kind to the young man. He said this continued for about a week and then the young man came to him and told him that he thought no one was that nice and he was testing him to see if he could make him act in an unchristian manner.
So when you think someone from the South is not too bright; they may just be showing kindness. I wouldn't take it too far though. We all have our braking point and before that happens God can come in a zap you. And it will hurt.
My son is a much better person than I am.
That's a nice story. There are good people everywhere. I just don't think the South has more than any other region.
So apart from the stereotypes, would it be fair to say that Southern culture may quite set in it's ways and outwardly religious and conservative, but not really puritanical in the sense of having lots of rules, being austere, temperance.etc like the Amish or the original Pilgrims?
Southern people are a lot crazier than northerners in my opinion. This thread reminded me of a friend I know who's originally from North Carolina. He would go to church and then literally go tear $h!t up after lol.
I mean in the Bible Belt, it seems there are a lot of teenage pregnancies, alcohol is popular - I mean whiskey and bourbon is big, not to mention moonshine, and there are many well-known watery holes. Statistically I think the South is just 'sexed' up as any other part of the country, I think I read Houston has more strip clubs than any other city. Stereotypical southern culture, especially redneck type culture and African American culture of course, seems quite a pleasure loving culture which enjoys having fun. They also really enjoy food - and have some great, gust-busting, artery-clogging chow down there. Obviously, the sin of gluttony is the one taken least seriously in the South.
So apart from the stereotypes, would it be fair to say that Southern culture may quite set in it's ways and outwardly religious and conservative, but not really puritanical in the sense of having lots of rules, being austere, temperance.etc like the Amish or the original Pilgrims? Would you say this is more a feature of a place like North Dakota? Or is it more puritanical than it seems?
I think there's a large truly "puritanical" population in the Bible Belt, which is why it is called that. I know this for sure, because some of my extended family in Arkansas is such and I know of families in Oklahoma that are such. Because "puritanical" Christians have a large and known presence in the Bible Belt doesn't mean that everybody in the South is that way. The wild Southerners may at least have more respect for those who try and live a Christian lifestyle.
Utah and the Mormons might be more "puritanical", although I don't know much about them. Latter-Day Saints says it all, doesn't it?
There are probably other religious cultures elsewhere in the country, especially the midwest, that are pretty tame people, maybe Lutherans?
The only groups in the South that come close to puritanical are the small Mennonite and Amish groups that can be found in the most rural regions -- and these are certainly not exclusive to the South (small pockets of these ultra conservative religious groups can be found across the country.
Even the more protestant elements including Bapists and Church of Christ don't come close to being puritanical, and don't truly represent the South as a whole. While the South is generally known for being more religious than other regions, I think the level of religiousness is overblown. They are just louder than the other groups. Aside from the Catholics and other not-quite-so-conservative Christian groups, there are atheists, agnostics, Jews, and plenty of other religious affiliations (or non-affiliations) that exist, especially in the cities. It's also important to note that these other groups are not entirely made up of transplants. Plenty of Southern born folks fall into this area.
I think that the small town and rural elements of the South are used to paint the region as a whole, while most of the population lives in metropolitan areas (like most of the rest of the country).
And as it has been pointed out already -- even the Baptists, Church of Christ, and other super protestant groups have their partiers among them. They just try not to get caught on facebook.
I found that article particularly absurd. It probably wouldn't hold true for 1912 America, and it certainly woudn't hold true today. There has been so much demographic transition, to the point where places like Atlanta and Houston, which are some of the strongest economic and cultural engines for the south, are no longer really every truly southern cities, even in the sense in which the article's author talks about it.
It was nevertheless interesting, although rather biased. I appreciate you linking to you.
The South is in many ways a place of duality. That's why it's so ridiculous when people both in and out of the South refer to it in such monolithic terms. It is both the friendliest and the cruelest, the most repressed and the most permissive, the most free and the most oppressive. And many times within the same person or place.
It's a bit difficult to articulate if you didn't grow up around it.
I'd agree with this. I grew up in California, but I am reborn son of the South. It's a place of such contradictions. I love it.
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