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The south has lowest social mobility and, as addressed earlier, the south doesn't value education. So everything you mentioned works in theory, except that southerners have an anti-intellectual culture. It's kind of hard to get people to go to school when they think the schools are liberal indoctrination centers.
A bit of truth here. We DO think the education system is a liberal indoctrination center. Seems clear, in fact. This week, for example, we learned that the kids in Colorado are protesting over being taught that patriotism is a good thing.
We don't usually do that in the South. Maybe that's why the armed forces are so heavily populated with Southerners.
A bit of truth here. We DO think the education system is a liberal indoctrination center. Seems clear, in fact. This week, for example, we learned that the kids in Colorado are protesting over being taught that patriotism is a good thing.
We don't usually do that in the South. Maybe that's why the armed forces are so heavily populated with Southerners.
(I believe you said you are from the south but considering you don't seem to know that Ferguson is NOT in the South, I'd call shennanigans) and just stop in some of the small towns. Just chat with the people who live there. I'd bet you find them a lot more pleasant than you are attempting to make us out to be.
This has been discussed at length. Missouri is a weird South-Midwest hybrid. Plenty of "Southern by the Grace of God" people who live there.
We just visited Virginia and West Virginia to see some friends. Western Virginia seemed to be very prosperous in both city and rural areas. The area around Charlottesville had some very impressive McMansions and extensive horse farms. Then we went to West Virginia to visit the Radio Telescope installation at Greenbank. It was a pocket of suburban America in the wilderness. Next was the museum town of Cass with the railroad. It was like a segment of Disneyland with a really remarkable steam train. Then as a whim we took Back Mountain Road up to Federal Rt. 50. The couple of small towns we went through, and stopped for lunch in one, looked really, really destitute. I wondered how they survived or if they will.
Except for the snow I greatly prefer New England. It, even in some of the smaller outback towns, does not seem as desperate.
You live in a City created by the mafia in order to trick people out of their hard earned money...and have the audacity to judge the South as a whole based on its previous mistakes and the current mistakes of a select few. You do realize the irony in acting like youre so educated and liberal, yet perpetuate biases and stereotypes right? If you had come one here and taken the attitude of suggesting options for turning around these statistics rather than resort to quoting bumper stickers and Paula Deen, perhaps people would take you seriously. Now go crawl back into your R.V. and keep googling about how much better the North is than the South.
Thank you so much, for proving everything that I am saying.
1) Las Vegas was created by the Mormons, not the mafia.
2) I am very well on record saying that I hate living in Las Vegas; that I think that gambling is a pointless waste of time; and that Las Vegas makes the South look like Austria. If you think I'm down on the South (and I'm not -- I think the South is great but still has a lot of problems to work through), then you should head over to the Las Vegas forum to read my scribes about living in that [excrement]hole. At least the South has redeeming qualities. Las Vegas has nothing except a low cost of living.
3) Some stereotypes are there for a reason. I will always give a person the benefit of the doubt. But as soon as I read things like "Now go crawl back into your R.V.," I know exactly what kind of person I am dealing with.
And yes, I do have the audacity to judge the South as a whole based on its previous mistakes. The reason I do so is because we keep making the same mistake over and over. When you're in a hole, STOP DIGGING. Admit that there is a problem, and then work on fixing the problem. By and large, Southerners will not agree that they have serious problems because that would require doing something meaningful about it.
You are taking a lot of time to pigeonhole a person who has written "the South is great" at least a few times in this very thread. I'm a realist. I can see that the South is great. And I can see that the South still has some major problems to work out. I do not see any dichotomy in these two statements.
Hoping that all the elderly bigots die off and are not replaced by new bigots is not a strategy. But it IS a very Southern way of going about things.
What's wrong with the south is that they're descended from a bunch of violent, stock-thieving, clannish, ignorant, drunken, vengeance-minded, feuding Border ruffians who'd been raising hell in the British Isles for centuries before they made their way to the south.
What's wrong with the south is that they're descended from a bunch of violent, stock-thieving, clannish, ignorant, drunken, vengeance-minded, feuding Border ruffians who'd been raising hell in the British Isles for centuries before they made their way to the south.
How many times have you been here? Ever? We're nothing like this.
My family nor anyone I know are violent (unless you attack our family), we are not thieves (quite the contrary we despise them), we are in no clan, hold 4 year degrees, we drink no more than anyone else (maybe every odd occasion at a social gathering), have no care for vengeance, and we don't fight over any kind of borders.
For most Southerner's we don't have an us vs them mentality. Only people who don't know anything about the South think that because you heard it from a friend of a friend or saw it on TV. It appears that other areas of the country perpetuate this us vs them mentality by spouting off such ignorant statements such as the one made above.
For most Southerner's we don't have an us vs them mentality. Only people who don't know anything about the South think that because you heard it from a friend of a friend or saw it on TV. It appears that other areas of the country perpetuate this us vs them mentality by spouting off such ignorant statements such as the one made above.
I agree completely. For most Southerners isn't not us vs. them.
But let's face it, the rest of the country looks at disdain at the South because of things like the "renege" bumper sticker that was so popular in 2012. (I wrote 2008 earlier in the thread. That, obviously, was a mistake.) I also agree that there are plenty of people in the former CSA who have advanced degrees and are genuinely great people.
But I can still say that public education is a train wreck in the South. Entire segments of society are basically shut off from economic advancement (and thus often take the military as a career path -- for economic as well as patriotic reasons). People are underpaid and told to be thankful that they have a job in the first place. And their local and state governments are riddled with corruption on a grand scale.
Are there other areas of the United States with similar problems? YES! What is so wrong with saying "We have some problems to work out?" I think the reason that it is so wrong to point out the problems in the South is that Southerners know they have these problems, but they do not want change. And the people who DO want change eventually have to riot to see it. That's no way to run an area.
Originally Posted by Listener2307
A bit of truth here. We DO think the education system is a liberal indoctrination center. Seems clear, in fact. This week, for example, we learned that the kids in Colorado are protesting over being taught that patriotism is a good thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lycos679
The protest was over censorship.
Yeah. That's what the kids said. But here's what New York Times said:
Quote:
A new conservative school board majority here in the Denver suburbs recently proposed a curriculum-review committee to promote patriotism, respect for authority and free enterprise and to guard against educational materials that “encourage or condone civil disorder.” In response, hundreds of students, teachers and parents gave the board their own lesson in civil disobedience.
Censorship? I won't argue that point, but the protest didn't happen in the South. And the kids were mimicking the actions of their unionized teachers who forced the closing of two schools. Didn't happen in the South.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Listener2307 Maybe that's why the armed forces are so heavily populated with Southerners.
Quote:
ScoopLV...
Or maybe it's the only decent job with decent benefits for such a large swath of the population desperate for upward advancement?
Oh, man! Now, THAT'S stupid. The 9 years I spent on active duty in the navy would not be described as a "decent job". Benefits are of little interest to the average 20 year old. And desperate for upward advancement? You're kidding, right? Because just a few minutes ago you were filled with vitriol for all things Southern except you. Now, you want to see them as innocent prisoners who will risk their lives to advance. You don't make any sense at all.
I agree completely. For most Southerners isn't not us vs. them.
But let's face it, the rest of the country looks at disdain at the South because of things like the "renege" bumper sticker that was so popular in 2012. (I wrote 2008 earlier in the thread. That, obviously, was a mistake.) I also agree that there are plenty of people in the former CSA who have advanced degrees and are genuinely great people.
But I can still say that public education is a train wreck in the South. Entire segments of society are basically shut off from economic advancement (and thus often take the military as a career path -- for economic as well as patriotic reasons). People are underpaid and told to be thankful that they have a job in the first place. And their local and state governments are riddled with corruption on a grand scale.
Are there other areas of the United States with similar problems? YES! What is so wrong with saying "We have some problems to work out?" I think the reason that it is so wrong to point out the problems in the South is that Southerners know they have these problems, but they do not want change. And the people who DO want change eventually have to riot to see it. That's no way to run an area.
No.... the rest of the country looks at the South with disdain because of a perpetual stereotype. That stereotype is further instigated by others who for one reason or another hate the South while knowing almost nothing about it aside from what the media outlets run.
I remember a while back that Top Gear UK ran a segment where they took a road trip through the South in an old Dodge truck, an old Caddy, and an old Camaro. They took turns painting offensive things on their vehicles and driving to the most out of the way town they could in south Mississippi and made fun of the entire south because they "happened" to run across a "gang" of rednecks who wanted them out of town. I think some supposedly threw rocks at their cars. Of course it was pre-planned but the point being was that it further pushed the negative stereotype that others have on the South.
The entire COUNTRY has problems, and they aren't any worse in the South than anywhere else. But even saying the South doesn't want to change is an unfair and stereotypical response.
Do you know what most people in the South want? Respect, a decent job, and to have a comfortable existence. What we DO know that some others tend to forget is that money and material possessions aren't the most important thing in the world. If I can make a comfortable living, take care of my family, and have a healthy quality of life I'm pretty happy as are many people that I know.
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Now, THAT'S stupid. The 9 years I spent on active duty in the navy would not be described as a "decent job". Benefits are of little interest to the average 20 year old. And desperate for upward advancement? You're kidding, right? Because just a few minutes ago you were filled with vitriol for all things Southern except you. Now, you want to see them as innocent prisoners who will risk their lives to advance. You don't make any sense at all.