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New Orleans was more important in the 18th century, especially on the east coast where the people were. Of course most people think of Los Angeles when you see LA but living in Louisiana, I got used to using and saying LA for Louisana.
I don't hate the South...it's just that I think the Pacific NW is a much better place to live. I think the South has a lot going for it -- the people are friendly and down to earth, the most notable.
However, here in New Orleans there's...
A high crime and poverty rate
Obesity everywhere. Not an active city at all
Not much ethnic diversity
Too conservative for my tastes (the rest of the region, not NOLA)
I just find that the culture and lifestyle of the NW -- and West coast in general, to be more to my liking. I don't hate the South. Every place has its good and bad points. The South just isn't for me.
When my lease is up at the end of the year, I'm gone for good.
I don't hate the South...it's just that I think the Pacific NW is a much better place to live. I think the South has a lot going for it -- the people are friendly and down to earth, the most notable.
However, here in New Orleans there's...
A high crime and poverty rate
Obesity everywhere. Not an active city at all Not much ethnic diversity
Too conservative for my tastes (the rest of the region, not NOLA)
I just find that the culture and lifestyle of the NW -- and West coast in general, to be more to my liking. I don't hate the South. Every place has its good and bad points. The South just isn't for me.
When my lease is up at the end of the year, I'm gone for good.
Did you just have the nerve to complain about the lack of ethnic diversity in the south and than say you dream of living in the Pacific NW???
I think that many times the south is disrespected for the following things:
-Many times they are automatically assumed to be racist because of slavery
-The south is thought of as not being very ethnically diverse compared to other parts of the country
-They love guns and some northerners think it is bad for civilians to own firearms of any sort
-While southerners are thought of as very polite and friendly, if they get angry, people think they get REALLY angry and become dangerous that they can hurt or kill people (I think Hollywood movies give that impression of southerners)
-In the past, many people associate the south with poverty and that there are not a lot of rich people there but that is rapidly changing with places like Atlanta and Texan cities getting more millionaries
-Sprawling car-oriented cities that destroy the enviornment and a lack of dense mixed use cities that are loved by everyone like NYC, Boston, or Chicago
-The south is commonly thought of as being too religious and Christian
-The south is commonly thought of as being not enviornmentally friendly
-Strangely, the southerners and corporations that move there can be thought of as greedy and uncharitable people because they do not want to pay taxes that could help poor people
-Their built enviornment is not very pretty with lots of sprawling cookie cutter houses, office parks, and Walmart type stores everywhere
-Northern people think southerners have lower intelligence, while the north prides itself on having high quality schools and universities like in Boston
-Northerners do not think the south value fine art and culture, which is more closer to a European style (i.e. British or French) type culture and think of their culture as more cruder
These are reasons why some Northerners do not give the South any respect. I don't think it is right to disrespect the south for these differences but I do not see these attitudes against the south changing anytime soon. I do think the south needs to polish up its image with some of these things and do things like stopping sprawl and getting rid of car dependence but the problem lies is that many southern people would never trade in their suburban home to live in a dense mixed use urban community, similar to what you'd find in a northern city like NYC's Manhattan.
I am a southener, born and raised. I take great pride in being from the South and I love being called hillbilly or hick (redneck, no so much). Respect is not something you should demand or even expect but something you will get as long as you give it. I have spent considerable time in every state in this nation (minus 2) and have never been ridiculed because of my heritage, not once. I always got the same amount of respect I gave!
That's funny, I moved to Augusta, Georgia from Puerto Rico 5 years ago and I've tried to be as polite and respectful as I know how everywhere I go, nonetheless I've been called "you people", "whitey" and "*******", I've also been shunned and openly lied to by employees at hardware and auto parts stores. My wife, who has a strong Hispanic accent, tried a job at Burlington Coat Factory and was constantly harassed and made fun of for her accent by her black coworkers. One day my wife, daughters, toddler grandson and I were having breakfast at IHOP and some church lady came up to our table and shoved a brochure on child-raising in our faces while she repeated "Comprende?" "Comprende?" to us (we were quitely speaking in Spanish amongst ourselves). The lawyer who was present during our mortgage closing tried to pry $12,000.00 dollars more out of the deal and only relented when I told my realtor that I would let the deal drop if he didn't. Recently my boss went into a tantrum because, in his words, I was "overly formal" and seemed defensive (no, I don't have a PR job). At an earlier date, he'd claimed that the firm was paying me too much, when I inquired why, he said because I owned a Lexus and a Mercedes (what business is it of his what I own or do with my personal life?) My youngest daughter has great grades, but she constantly asks me how long we are going to stay in the area, and I notice that she has become withdrawn and spends more time contacting friends and family from back on the island. She refuses, wide eyed, to go to school parties. I don't know about the rest of the South, but so far I haven't seen too much of the "Southern Hospitality" thing or grace here that southerners claim to be famous for. I'm waiting to break even on my house to move maybe to southern California or San Antonio because I'm not sure if elsewhere in the southeast things will be different.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
4,409 posts, read 6,540,027 times
Reputation: 6253
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
I think that many times the south is disrespected for the following things:
-Many times they are automatically assumed to be racist because of slavery
I hate this assumption. The north is just as racist as the south ever was. That's a fact. Only difference is more northerners try to deny it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
-The south is thought of as not being very ethnically diverse compared to other parts of the country
I don't get this one either. There are more mixed race towns down here than up north. In the north many places tend to be strictly white.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
-They love guns and some northerners think it is bad for civilians to own firearms of any sort
This is coming from a native Upstate New Yorker: I LOVE GUNS. I believe guns should be given to all highschool students and that they should be required to take a course, in school, on how to properly use and care for firearms. All Americans should have guns by age 17, or at least the knowledge of how to treat them. I will NEVER change my opinion on this. I will NEVER hand my guns in. Touchy-feely anti gun liberals can kiss it on this matter.
The criminals are still gonna have the guns even if they are entirely illegal for citizens. And I DO NOT want to live in a police state. I'll be right there with the south on guns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
-While southerners are thought of as very polite and friendly, if they get angry, people think they get REALLY angry and become dangerous that they can hurt or kill people (I think Hollywood movies give that impression of southerners)
This assumption makes me laugh. Northerners have violent tempers. In fact, we are notorious for it among some circles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
-The south is commonly thought of as being not enviornmentally friendly
Sadly this is true. Nature is not cared for down here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
-Northern people think southerners have lower intelligence, while the north prides itself on having high quality schools and universities like in Boston
This always makes me shake my head as well. When I was living around Ithaca NY, a lot of Cornell students were from Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, etc. As well as local students.
That and some of the most delusional fools I know are from the north. They often mistake education for intelligence. There is actually a difference. That's why the term, "educated idiot" exists.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
I do think the south needs to polish up its image with some of these things and do things like stopping sprawl and getting rid of car dependence but the problem lies is that many southern people would never trade in their suburban home to live in a dense mixed use urban community, similar to what you'd find in a northern city like NYC's Manhattan.
While I believe that many assumptions about the south are foolish at best, I do agree with this. The south could certainly use some betterment in certain areas. Especially environmental concerns.
How is nature not taken care of? There's national parks and wildlife management areas everywhere here.
I think if you look at Atlanta, a problem that even Atlantans (is that the proper term?) do not like is the sprawl causes so much problems. They kept on spreading out and turning greenfields into suburbs, and Atlanta is the poster child for sprawl. While there are national parks and wildlife management areas in the south, they aren't that many compared to some northern areas but mostly the west such as the Rocky Mountain areas and the Pacific Northwest have the most federally owned wildlife areas. When suburbs are built where wildlife used to be, that is enviornmental destruction. Nature isn't taken care of if it is paved over with highways, suburban houses, and single use zoning office complexes.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
4,409 posts, read 6,540,027 times
Reputation: 6253
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
I think if you look at Atlanta, a problem that even Atlantans (is that the proper term?) do not like is the sprawl causes so much problems. They kept on spreading out and turning greenfields into suburbs, and Atlanta is the poster child for sprawl. While there are national parks and wildlife management areas in the south, they aren't that many compared to some northern areas but mostly the west such as the Rocky Mountain areas and the Pacific Northwest have the most federally owned wildlife areas. When suburbs are built where wildlife used to be, that is enviornmental destruction. Nature isn't taken care of if it is paved over with highways, suburban houses, and single use zoning office complexes.
Exactly!
Here in south Louisiana I am constantly seeing entire forests burned down for McMansions. And often, they never even build the houses because funding will fall through.
So you will have a dead field with roads where a great woods once stood.
There's also the carelessness of the people. More often in the south than in the north you will see beer bottles, cans and other articles of trash just thrown everywhere. This happens all over the country, but it happens much more here.
Drive down a highway in Louisiana and watch the litter, then drive down a highway in Ohio and see the massive difference.
...You can find closed-minded, uninformed, ignorant, prejudiced folks on both sides of the aisle...
This is true, but like many false equivalencies, one party has many, many more than the other.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nashvols
...And before the Bible-thumpers voted Republican, they were yella dog Democrats...
This is also true, but like many misleading statements, Bible-thumping yella dog Democrats were, are and always will be conservative.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nashvols
...Just because someone is a Republican doesn't make them a Bible-thumper. Likewise, just because someone is a Democrat, it doesn't make them a tree-hugger.
True enough, there’re always exceptions to the rule. But that doesn’t negate the fact that the vast majority of Bible-thumpers and Republicans are conservative and the vast majority of Democrats care much more about our environment than the first three groups.
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Nature is not cared for down here.
