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The South has a larger proportion of Black people than any other region of the country while it's more of a Right-Wing stronghold than any other region. This wouldn't be true if White Southerners were more racially tolerant from a collective standpoint than those in other regions of the country. At the same time the South likely has the largest number of particular locales where race relations are progressive than any other region's locales.
I am an Independent Conservative white male and this is an absolutely ridiculous comment. I've lived in the South and New England and travel extensively. Neighborhoods in the South have been racially mixed since the early 70's, the churches/schools are racially mixed, I've never seen more racially mixed couples/families than in the South, people of different races get along really well and race is not obsessed over as in some areas. In New England (Boston), it was the complete opposite. There was no racism that I saw, but there was very little interaction between races. Everyone just seemed to stay to themselves. Race and people's differences were obsessed over. The notion that White Southerners are collectively intolerant is based on your own straight-up bigotry and blatant ignorance based you your own, sheltered images. You have no basis for you claims whatsoever other than stereotyping. That's the trap of Identity Politics. It's built on labeling individuals as a collective group. Bigotry is then meted out depending what group you're a part of. And this is what you consider "progressive", by the literal definition of the word?
Mainstream southern culture is gradually being less accepted by younger generations as they want to be "in the loop" with the rest of America/the World. Unless if you live in poverty-stricken areas like eastern Kentucky/far southwestern Virginia/Northeast Tennessee/much of Mississippi outside the northside of Jackson, coast or south Memphis suburbs, you're looking to make out better than your parents. The South today is about as religious as the Northeast was in the 1980s, with most of the loss of share occurring the larger cities. Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston compete with America's finest large cities nowadays, while cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville, and Austin have completely adjusted into the 21st century with its growth outpacing much of the rest of the country. Manufacturing and service industries have allowed for a larger middle class to develop. Yes, there's still country music, fried chicken, and NASCAR out there, but it isn't as universally popular as it was compared to a generation ago. The fringes of the south also blend seemingly with its neighboring regions (or in Florida's case, the Caribbean and Mexico in Texas' case). Millennials and younger aren't as likely to become "get off my lawn" hags like their forebearers, have a neutered accent (with only y'all remaining, and even that has spread to much of the rest of America) and of course, people from most of the rest of America have sweet tea, listen to Kenny Chesney, or root for Jimmy Johnson. Technology has truly become the driving force for change. Lots of ethnic immigrants from other regions have migrated there as well, providing a boost ethnic cuisine that was seen as a joke just a few decades ago outside the largest cities.
Yeah I've noticed that the accent has been fading amoung younger Southerners. And y'all has spread to the younger generations of the whole country, likely due to black social media influence in my opinion.
I am an Independent Conservative white male and this is an absolutely ridiculous comment. I've lived in the South and New England and travel extensively. Neighborhoods in the South have been racially mixed since the early 70's, the churches/schools are racially mixed, I've never seen more racially mixed couples/families than in the South, people of different races get along really well and race is not obsessed over as in some areas. In New England (Boston), it was the complete opposite. There was no racism that I saw, but there was very little interaction between races. Everyone just seemed to stay to themselves. Race and people's differences were obsessed over. The notion that White Southerners are collectively intolerant is based on your own straight-up bigotry and blatant ignorance based you your own, sheltered images. You have no basis for you claims whatsoever other than stereotyping. That's the trap of Identity Politics. It's built on labeling individuals as a collective group. Bigotry is then meted out depending what group you're a part of. And this is what you consider "progressive", by the literal definition of the word?
I would say there is southern culture but each city is different based upon commercial base, education and demographics of the city.
Charlotte is totally different than Birmingham or Memphis.
Race relations are not better in the north nor is it better in the south. The culture is different and people have different ways of expressing their intolerance.
Im starting to realize in my opinion that the south is very distinct and different from the great of the nation.
Our OP has not returned so we may be talking to ourselves. Anyone who has given the issue any thought has realized that there is no single southern culture. Arkansas, coastal Virginia, Alabama, Carolina Low Country, the Blue Ridge, the Mississippi delta, and the Florida panhandle all have their own cultural attributes that contribute to peoples' varied perceptions of southern-ness. There is not a whole lot of agreement among those who try define it as a single culture.
I am an Independent Conservative white male and this is an absolutely ridiculous comment. I've lived in the South and New England and travel extensively. Neighborhoods in the South have been racially mixed since the early 70's, the churches/schools are racially mixed, I've never seen more racially mixed couples/families than in the South, people of different races get along really well and race is not obsessed over as in some areas. In New England (Boston), it was the complete opposite. There was no racism that I saw, but there was very little interaction between races. Everyone just seemed to stay to themselves. Race and people's differences were obsessed over. The notion that White Southerners are collectively intolerant is based on your own straight-up bigotry and blatant ignorance based you your own, sheltered images. You have no basis for you claims whatsoever other than stereotyping. That's the trap of Identity Politics. It's built on labeling individuals as a collective group. Bigotry is then meted out depending what group you're a part of. And this is what you consider "progressive", by the literal definition of the word?
A middle-class or working-class person from Massachusetts or Rhode Island is going to be, on average, much more overtly racist than any person you will ever meet in the South. Remember, most people from the American South are Protestant, and as a general rule, Protestant people tend to be more demure than Catholic people, even accounting for the implications of Scotch-Irish ancestry and Southern hospitality. You have got to be kidding me if you think white Southerners are more than racist than Italian-Americans and other “white ethnics” from the Northeast.
Several years ago, an Italian-American woman in Cheektowaga, NY was caught cursing and hollering at a black man outside of a Dollar General store on videotape. Sadly, the woman kept using the “N-word” over and over again. Of course, the video recording was posted to YouTube and blasted all over social media. That woman is a good example of the type of person I unfortunately grew up around in working class areas of Rhode Island.
A middle-class or working-class person from Massachusetts or Rhode Island is going to be, on average, much more overtly racist than any person you will ever meet in the South. Remember, most people from the American South are Protestant, and as a general rule, Protestant people tend to be more demure than Catholic people, even accounting for the implications of Scotch-Irish ancestry and Southern hospitality. You have got to be kidding me if you think white Southerners are more than racist than Italian-Americans and other “white ethnics” from the Northeast.
Several years ago, an Italian-American woman in Cheektowaga, NY was caught cursing and hollering at a black man outside of a Dollar General store on videotape. Sadly, the woman kept using the “N-word” over and over again. Of course, the video recording was posted to YouTube and blasted all over social media. That woman is a good example of the type of person I unfortunately grew up around in working class areas of Rhode Island.
Yeah. I agree. My thing is no region is any more racist than another and has its own share of bad people. There is no race that is immune to having racism within their own race. I've seen it firsthand. Having said that, most people in any race and any region are good, caring people. That's what I focus on, not what identity group they belong to. If you're a good person, you're my friend no matter who you are. If you're a jerk, I want nothing to do with you, no matter who you are. In my experience, at the end of the day, I think most people across the board are that way.
Yeah I've noticed that the accent has been fading amoung younger Southerners. And y'all has spread to the younger generations of the whole country, likely due to black social media influence in my opinion.
Or just the fact of black people in other regions saying it for as long as they have been there. So, it isn’t new outside of the South, except for maybe some people.
Totally anecdotal here, but to me, there are the following LARGE cultures in the US:
Southern
Midwestern
Northeastern (with New England as a subset)
West Coast (which includes places not on the west coast, like Vegas, Phoenix, and to an extent places like Colorado) (PNW being a subset)
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