Is there a "Southern culture", and how has it contributed to the U.S.? (county, states)
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They are and always will be a very productive colony for Yankee and Yorker wealth. The best things about the South are their whiskey and their women. The rest is a joke.
How about airports? I flew through 4 this week - JAX (home base) and ATL and DTW (4th was in Canada - doesn't count). DTW can't hold a candle to ATL. Even the fast food places in DTW were staffed by people who were fat - stupid - not particularly polite or pleasant - seemingly speech impaired - and SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW (15 minutes to get your burger at a chain place when there are 3 people on line????? and mine was served with about 4 tablespoons of mayo - disgusting). Maybe these are former union workers who never learned how to be productive before they were laid off from their feather bedding jobs? No evidence of diversity either. All white - pasty white.
By contrast - everything in Atlanta was - even the fast food burger place. I don't think I'd ever hub through DTW as opposed to ATL if I had any choice in terms of destinations/hubs.*
Also - we were in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan for 3 days. Classy? Sophisticated? Intellectual? Once we started to drive around randomly 5 miles out of town (set GPS from X to Y using "Least Use of Freeways" - well I've never seen so many miles of unpaved roads in my whole life. Many of the roads that were paved were in deplorable condition. Big potholes everywhere.
Anyway - come on down and visit the New South. The Old North is falling increasingly behind. Robyn
*My last hub was EWR en route to Stockholm last year. You have to leave security to get from the local arrivals terminal to the international departures terminal - and clear security again to catch your next flight. How primitive. No wonder you guys up north are always talking about infrastructure. Yours is ancient and seems to be falling apart.
In the OP, the poster asks us to take a distant view from the us v. them position and to advise each side as a marriage counselor might.
With that in mind, I'd say Southerners, in general, resent the tone that they feel outsiders use when discussing or criticizing their way of life. It's seen throughout this thread. I'm not even sure that non-Southerners realize they are doing it. There is a tone of condescension, superiority, and arrogance that many of us native Southerners have noted and attempted to address. I think, perhaps, in some small way this is representative of the feelings that Southerners have had toward outsiders for centuries. There is a perception that those on the outside are always trying to degrade, belittle or control us. Some on this thread have specifically said that's not their intention, but that is how the posts read to a Southerner.
On the other hand, I think there is a tendency to dismiss criticisms or observations because they offend or because they are delivered badly. It doesn't negate the truth of the statement, however. For example, there is no arguing that in the Deep South God is King. Whether I'm in AL, MS, or TN, I hear references to Jesus, God, and church that really aren't relevant to the conversation. Christianity is the beating heart of the Deep South. That extends to the Texas School Boards (or whoever) editing textbooks and passing them off to the rest of us. I don't like this, but it's true. Perhaps non-Southerners offend us because they are not from among us, but they have a point. In the same vein, many in the Deep South have a traditional way of doing things. I certainly don't mean we do things like we did in 1865, but there is very much a right and wrong way to do simple things like making a pimiento cheese sandwich to more complicated things like preparing a wedding. These are just observations. I think Southerners have to stop viewing anyone from outside our circle as hostiles. They are our neighbors not our enemies.
In short, I think Southerners could do a better job hearing, processing, and examining criticisms from others, and I think others could do a better job mitigating their tone. If you really want to understand each other, you have to come to the table with a different attitude. I also don't think it's an issue that will be solved on a large scale until we stop on a personal level using inflammatory names and accusations.
I don't think there's any doubt that there is a Southern culture. We all define it differently. I'm not sure it is definable in any kind of definitive way, and I don't think that's a bad thing.
Your post gets right to the heart of the question, as for me, I'd have to say yes, there seems to be a "southern culture", not that a lot of educated southerners actually subscribe to that notion, just those who have been economically marginalized and feel the need to identify with something greater than themselves. Most of America's population doesn't identify with their geographical locale to the extent that many in the southern states do. I'm from the west coast but feel that I'm more of an "American" than a "westerner". New Englanders at times can be a bit overboard with their notions of being unique, but most of America's citizenry is simply "American".
The posts herein that allude to a southern greater allegiance to God or Jesus is proof that the rural expanse of the southern U.S. harbors that old time religion complete with it's puffed up sense of moral superiority, consequently the region also harbors more hypocrites than you'd find elsewhere. Conservative politics is another form of the "glue that binds" in the south, proud red staters relying heavily on the much hated government for their daily bread all the while voting against their own self interest. Joe Bageant, an accomplished writer who grew up in the south (W Virginia) saw the problem as one of not knowing who to kick. That's to say that the uneducated southerner was getting the economical shaft but was told to look to government as the perpetrator of all that was wrong in their life. Their innate anti government notions according to Bageant were simply a holdover from the days when the glory of General Lee died with the victory of the (government) North.
Those modern southerners who have the benefit of a good education are part of the change that is sweeping the region, prosperous, knowledgable people that see the old ways as a black and white film piece depicting aberrant interbred Scot-Irish types running around those Georgia hills drunk and disorderly in their White Knight get-ups. Today's Atlanta is a thoroughly modern city with an abundance of that new culture that seems to be rising from the ashes of ignorance, the nation, not to mention the south, is better off for that change. After traveling in the south I can say that the new ways are quickly gaining ground, everything is subject to change, it's a beautiful part of our country, with good people in abundance everywhere.
Disclaimer: I'm one of those "Scot" (sic) Irish types" running around not the "Georgia hills drunk and disorderly", nor in "White Knight get-ups", but running around Central Kentucky in normal, everyday contemporary attire.
Let's not confuse ethnic heritage with behavior.
Seems as if Southern Americans with Scots-Irish heritage are one of the last ethnic groups whom others consider apt targets for stereotyping. How many of you think of the hillbilly stereotype as offensive? How many of you have (supposedly jokingly) asked Arkansans or Kentuckians or West Virginians, or people living in other states which include part of the Appalachian or Ozark Mountains, about marrying their sisters (or cousins), wearing shoes, making moonshine? Did you think it was funny, or new, or something that's never been heard before ?
Did you think it was thoughtful, kind, friendly, or likely to be well-received? Did you think it would be funny for these people to be the butt of your little joke?
Would you engage in similar "joking" with someone who is Black, or Jewish? No, I didn't think so...
Interesting, since my own ancestors, who came from Northern Ireland to western North Carolina in the late 18th century, were prominent and successful members of their community, involved in establishing (mainstream Protestant) church congregations and buildings, schools, roads, commerce, local government, etc. No White Knights in this bunch or their descendants, and I'd daresay the same is true for most Southerners and other Americans of Scots-Irish descent.
For the record, my almost entirely Southern ancestry also includes French Huguenots, who came to Virginia in 1700 as religious refugees, English who came to Virginia in the 17th century to grow tobacco, Germans who came to Pennsylvania to farm in the mid 18th century, Irish who came to Colonial Maryland to build boats and farm, and people of other backgrounds. I also have ancestors who lived in Colonial New York City and New Jersey before moving to Virginia to farm around 1800.
The generations following the original immigrants engaged in a wide variety of occupations, professions, and activities. Some were slave-holders, which I regret and deplore, but accept as typical of their time and place. I'm sorry they didn't view it as abhorrent as it truly was, and pray that those whom they held in slavery were treated with relative kindness. Many fought for the Confederacy, at least one fought for the Union. One was in Pickett's Charge, 150 years ago tomorrow; one was a Confederate chaplain who later returned to his civilian occupation as a Methodist minister; others left their rural home as civilian refugees under the protection of the Union Army to avoid murderous bushwhackers - with a son in each army, and many small children still at home, this was a wise decision. Two teenage great uncles, sons of this same family, helped evacuate the wounded and bury the dead following a battle fought less than a mile from their home.
The one who fought alongside Pickett (and made it to the Bloody Angle of the Stone Wall) later walked home from Appomattox. He'd lost his teenaged brother in combat, early in the War. Many years later, after very successful years as a tobacco farmer and warehouse owner, he told my inquiring father (his g-grandson), who was then a young boy, that "It (the war) was all a big mistake". He never would discuss it or tell detailed stories of his many experiences, but he was involved in the creation of the Virginia Monument at Gettysburg, and went back for the 1913 reunion, at which Yanks and Rebels exchanged handshakes across that Stone Wall, instead of bullets...
I may also be part-Cherokee - those would be the mysterious south-eastern Tennessee ancestor we can't quite manage to trace. Family lore says she was part-Cherokee and part French (surname is French) and very assimilated, and that the Cherokee blood was denied to avoid the Removal (of the Cherokees via the Trail of Tears). Time and place are right - I just need to get the DNA testing done.
Lots of variation, and my background is quite similar to that of many Southerners. It should be noted that family stories such as those I referred to above very frequently get passed down through the generations in the South, possibly more often and in greater detail than do similar stories in families of other areas. I suppose this would be a cultural trait.
Those who claim the South is lacking in ethnic variety and is almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in origin need to educate themselves. The South has been quite varied for a very, very long time.
Similarly, those who hold to the notion that Southerners are all alike in their views, backgrounds, and motivations, etc. need to broaden their horizons as well as their knowledge - and their minds as well.
It's interesting to observe how many Americans from other parts of the country feel free to make very sweeping and often very negative judgments about the South and Southerners, on the basis of having once or twice spent a very little time in the South, traveling through very limited parts of the South, apparently doing very little reading about the South, Southerners, and Southern history, and also, perhaps most revealingly, on the basis of having met no more than a handful of Southerners, and then quite briefly, and in the most limited of ways. Really, judging all or most of the inhabitants of an entire region on the basis of ethnicity or on brief encounters in restaurants and gas stations?
As noted, I have a very Southern heritage and background. I've lived in the South - mostly the Upper South - most of my life. My relatives are Southerners. But I've traveled extensively in the North, the Midwest, and the West, as well as outside of this country, and I would not think of judging the inhabitants of those places in the negative, preconceived manner in which Southerners seem to be judged far too often.
The South - and Southerners - are far more nuanced than many give us credit for being. It's too bad the popular impression seems to be so stereotyped, and that some seem to want to cling to that often negative stereotype rather than search out the real South and Southerners. I have to wonder if this is sometimes a form of projection - if the South and its inhabitants can be painted so overwhelmingly negatively, then perhaps those doing the painting can feel smug about themselves and/or their place of residence, for not being Southern.
Understood, although you seem to ignore the carefully worded OP framing this as simply a cultural discussion requesting positive aspects, and also the many positive posts that followed, where you'll see that I and others do specifically mention other qualities besides "the less flattering aspects" (including all the music and literature Southern culture has contributed, the impact on our national identity,and the fact that southern folk have fought most of our wars)!
Yet if you look at the progression of the thread, perhaps those "least flattering aspects"... that touchy southern "pride" and quarrelsome chip on the shoulder... almost immediately raise their belligerent heads. And regardless of every attempt to tactfully steer it back to an even-handed discussion of the culture (pros and cons), off we always go again with someone of the southern persuasion often doing some version of ''them's fightin' words''... also demonstrating that, caricatures or no, southern folk clearly love to fight!
Just as you yourself have chosen here to quarrel and ''defend southern honor''... rather than use it as an opportunity to speak to the OP from your unique vantage point, and explain Southern culture's more ''positive'' aspects. Which BTW, you"re still welcome to do.
As other posters have written. It is safe to ridicule and impugn Southerners on TV and in movies. The villian always seems to have a Southern accent ) i.e. Brad Pitt in Kalifornia... why a Southerner, why not someone from the Midwest like John Wayne Gacy. Southerners ( both Black and White) are tired of being talked to like we are morons when we travel outside out region. Asked questions like " do you have running water?" " do Southerners still eat dirt" etc. Yes Southerners have good reason to be defensive.
And another concept that bears remembering. The victors write the history, The Northerners galantly freed the slaves... much more complex in reality. Many Northern heros were quite racist in their writings. People from New England have pride that they didnt have Plantations,,, forgetting it was New England slave ships that brought slaves from Africa. The money made from slave trade was a large part of the endowment of Brown University in RI.
As far as Jim Crow laws... The North would have had them if there were a larger percentage of African-Americans. They didn't pass them because there wasnt a large population of blacks until the 20th century outside the South. Remember places like Levittown NY did not allow black people to buy property
Only read the first page. Will try to read the others later. South Louisiana's culture is different because of the heavy French heritage along with Spanish (not Mexican), African, and a dash of German, Irish, and Italian. New Orleans is where the rich merchants and noblemen of France made their fortune. West of New Orleans is where the Acadians settled after their exile by the British from what is now Nova Scotia. These were the working class tradesmen of France. Things were so bad for the Acadians in New Orleans that even the slaves took pity on them and tried to provide them food. That's when they had enough and moved west. Most of the stereotypical southern culture heritage is Scotts/Irish. As for the Civil War thing, it isn't so much about loosing the civil war as what the Union Army did during and after the civil war. The south had plenty of schools and universities before the civil war. Those were some of the buildings destroyed by the Union Army. In many towns across the south, the Union Army took whatever they wanted from families' homes including vital food (livestock and crops) and women (raped both the white and black women whether free or slave). Many former Confederate soldiers were promised reconciliation but were given the bullet or the blade even after surrendering. When the Union Army arrived in south Louisiana, they found everyone here spoke French. They took control of the state government, wrote a new state constitution, and made the French language illegal in Louisiana. They then brought in teachers from up north and told them to get the kids speaking English by any means necessary. The paddle was kind compared to some of the things those teachers did. Open hand slaps across the face, closed fist punches to the face or body, a leather belt, and sometimes whipped with a bull whip or switch to the point of blood flowing. This continued for several decades. My grandparents (who would be in their 90s if they were still alive) told us of some of the abuse they suffered when they went to school if they spoke French. Many families kept their kids out of school to protect them. Many never learned to read or write because of this. Before the Civil War, schools here taught reading and writing in French. Then came WW2 and the US government needed the language they spent decades trying to literally beat out of south Louisiana. My grandfather was one of many from here who were sent to France because he spoke French.
Perhaps things would have been better if the Union Army hadn't raped the south during and after the Civil War. But we'll never know if it would have been better if a real reconciliation had been applied instead of what actually happened.
Am up to page nine. Wow, appears some learned about the south from TV and Hollywood movies. White southerners are still a favorite groups to freely insult in TV and movies.
Back in 1964 my dad joined the military. When they found out he was Cajun, they made him take off his socks and shoes. They wanted to see if Cajuns really did have webbed feet from living in the swamps. For the record, my dad and I never set foot in the swamps. When I joined the military, they thought this was my first time on dry land and first time wearing shoes (this was 1990). I always walked on dry land and I always had shoes even as an infant.
As for being anti-intelectual, it's more about being against those who use their degree to look downing those who don't have a degree. These are also the same intelectuals who try to use their education (many big words written by others) to justify going against "common sense". We have some of them here in the south just like in the north.
I have a theory that the long relationship the south has had with religion may be tied to the long standing agricultural community and industry. My area is generally Catholic, though we don't take the Pope nor the Vatican very seriously. But as our area becomes more urban, I see less religion (people Gounod to church). During the time of the civil war, people in the north were also very religious. Somewhere along the way, more northerners moved away from religion. Perhaps it was the industrial factories with people working long hard shifts. I've been to one of those "hell fire and brimstone" churches when I tried to get back with my exwife in Arkansas. They preach to fear God and sin. What the preacher considers to be a sin varies from one preacher to the next. Much different from the Catholic priest I saw when I was growing up who taught peace and love of God. He told stories that he tied to a message from the bible like a kindly grandfather. No screaming nor slapping the podium. Got my wife to consider not going back by saying "how can he say who's going to hell when only God can decide that by looking within a person's soul to see what's in their heart and mind". She did eventually stop going to that church. Perhaps it was the long years of suffering the south endured during and after the Civil War that made the people here hold to their religion so much longer than in the north? In times of suffering, many people turn to a higher power. There's an old saying that there are no atheist in a foxhole. Many avowed atheist have turned to prayer in such times. The decades of hardship the south endured was just such a time. Each region of the south has it's own history and culture. It's not divided by state. Louisiana has several distinct cultures. Some of these cultures extend into the surrounding states. The black community here looks similar to the black culture around the country at a glance. Rap music, big rims, etc are all here. But there are also black communities of farmers who enjoy horseback riding, rodeos, country music, hunting, and fishing. The food here in south Louisiana wasn't always so popular. At one time it was a matter of shame to be seen eating crawfish. It meant you were so poor you couldn't afford real meat or fish. Though I'm from here, I don't like okra, neither boiled nor fried.
As for geographic identity and pride in where you're from, the 3 cities I see this most were not members of the Confederate states. They are Dallas, NYC, and San Francisco. Sure there are other cities that could go on the list, but even some transplants to these cities develop such attitudes of superiority based upon living in these cities. I like where I live and recognize it's good along with it's faults. I say for the good and hope to change the faults. I've traveled to many countries and several states. I've seen good and bad in all those other places. Some I felt were better, but none of them were home. Nothing wrong with having pride in the place you call home. But don't use that pride as an excuse to belittle or look down upon those who happen to live in places you don't like. Same goes with education. It's fine to get a higher education and be proud of what you've accomplished. But use that to bash those who don't have such education. Even the wisest man can learn something from a poor man with no formal education if he's willing to listen with an open heart and mind. I use to be good in Algebra. Guy sitting next to me wasn't. But I learned humility from him. Though he couldn't grasp algebra, he knew how to bring food from the ground, repair large farm tractors, raise farm animals, test chemical composition of the soil and know how much of what chemicals to add for particular crops. I didn't know any of this.
There is definitely a "Southern Culture". However, pinpointing exactly what this is is going to be difficult. Your answers are going to vary widely based on so many things; urban vs rural for one, geographical location in the South being another. As someone pointed out, southern culture of Louisiana will be different than that of Mississippi, South Carolina, or East Texas.
I identify as Southern, and I feel an affection for Southern culture which I know I would miss (will miss) when I finally move away, but even saying that, I have a hard time defining it in exact terms.
In spite of the fact that I see myself as a Southerner, you would not easily match me with many of those stereotypical traits often mentioned.
Pride in ancestry? Yes. Prefer a slower pace? Yes. Respect for my elders? Yep. Not likely to get into verbal disagreements, a focus on politeness & manners, a sense of propriety, yep yep yep. More likely to just say "Well, bless your heart!" if you are opinionated and pushy about something in a face to face discussion.
Storytelling? You betcha, it's a family tradition!
However, I am also politically very left-leaning, openly bi-sexual (traveled to Iowa to marry my same-sex spouse), not at all religious (agnostic at best), and despite the fact that I am in Texas, beef is not "what's for dinner" at my house ever. OTOH, I grew up around guns and while I don't own guns myself, I don't agree at all with most of my (Democrat) friends/peers views on gun legislation issues.
It is definitely there is a Southern Culture in how they live , food and how they dress so on. Most people from the south dress way better than people from the north .You will never see southern people (especially girls) in plain t-shirt , plain jeans , shorts , trackpants , sweatpants , legging or gym pants out in public or even local store so on like you do in the north.
People in south spend more time socially and out doors than people in the north.
It is definitely there is a Southern Culture in how they live , food and how they dress so on. Most people from the south dress way better than people from the north .You will never see southern people (especially girls) in plain t-shirt , plain jeans , shorts , trackpants , sweatpants , legging or gym pants out in public or even local store so on like you do in the north.
People in south spend more time socially and out doors than people in the north.
Actually, I have to disagree on some of this. I live in the South and I have seen southern women(as well as men) walk around in plain jeans, plain t-shirts, shorts, trackpants,etc. I've seen southern women go into public dressed in pajamas(during the morning hours), sweatpants, and leggings. I've seen it for myself. I don't know what part of the South you went to, but I've seen it happen in Georgia. I've seen women go into stores dressed in camouflage jackets and camo hats.
Disclaimer: I'm one of those "Scot" (sic) Irish types" running around not the "Georgia hills drunk and disorderly", nor in "White Knight get-ups", but running around Central Kentucky in normal, everyday contemporary attire.
Let's not confuse ethnic heritage with behavior.
Seems as if Southern Americans with Scots-Irish heritage are one of the last ethnic groups whom others consider apt targets for stereotyping. How many of you think of the hillbilly stereotype as offensive? How many of you have (supposedly jokingly) asked Arkansans or Kentuckians or West Virginians, or people living in other states which include part of the Appalachian or Ozark Mountains, about marrying their sisters (or cousins), wearing shoes, making moonshine? Did you think it was funny, or new, or something that's never been heard before ?
Did you think it was thoughtful, kind, friendly, or likely to be well-received? Did you think it would be funny for these people to be the butt of your little joke?
Would you engage in similar "joking" with someone who is Black, or Jewish? No, I didn't think so...
Interesting, since my own ancestors, who came from Northern Ireland to western North Carolina in the late 18th century, were prominent and successful members of their community, involved in establishing (mainstream Protestant) church congregations and buildings, schools, roads, commerce, local government, etc. No White Knights in this bunch or their descendants, and I'd daresay the same is true for most Southerners and other Americans of Scots-Irish descent.
For the record, my almost entirely Southern ancestry also includes French Huguenots, who came to Virginia in 1700 as religious refugees, English who came to Virginia in the 17th century to grow tobacco, Germans who came to Pennsylvania to farm in the mid 18th century, Irish who came to Colonial Maryland to build boats and farm, and people of other backgrounds. I also have ancestors who lived in Colonial New York City and New Jersey before moving to Virginia to farm around 1800.
The generations following the original immigrants engaged in a wide variety of occupations, professions, and activities. Some were slave-holders, which I regret and deplore, but accept as typical of their time and place. I'm sorry they didn't view it as abhorrent as it truly was, and pray that those whom they held in slavery were treated with relative kindness. Many fought for the Confederacy, at least one fought for the Union. One was in Pickett's Charge, 150 years ago tomorrow; one was a Confederate chaplain who later returned to his civilian occupation as a Methodist minister; others left their rural home as civilian refugees under the protection of the Union Army to avoid murderous bushwhackers - with a son in each army, and many small children still at home, this was a wise decision. Two teenage great uncles, sons of this same family, helped evacuate the wounded and bury the dead following a battle fought less than a mile from their home.
The one who fought alongside Pickett (and made it to the Bloody Angle of the Stone Wall) later walked home from Appomattox. He'd lost his teenaged brother in combat, early in the War. Many years later, after very successful years as a tobacco farmer and warehouse owner, he told my inquiring father (his g-grandson), who was then a young boy, that "It (the war) was all a big mistake". He never would discuss it or tell detailed stories of his many experiences, but he was involved in the creation of the Virginia Monument at Gettysburg, and went back for the 1913 reunion, at which Yanks and Rebels exchanged handshakes across that Stone Wall, instead of bullets...
I may also be part-Cherokee - those would be the mysterious south-eastern Tennessee ancestor we can't quite manage to trace. Family lore says she was part-Cherokee and part French (surname is French) and very assimilated, and that the Cherokee blood was denied to avoid the Removal (of the Cherokees via the Trail of Tears). Time and place are right - I just need to get the DNA testing done.
Lots of variation, and my background is quite similar to that of many Southerners. It should be noted that family stories such as those I referred to above very frequently get passed down through the generations in the South, possibly more often and in greater detail than do similar stories in families of other areas. I suppose this would be a cultural trait.
Those who claim the South is lacking in ethnic variety and is almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in origin need to educate themselves. The South has been quite varied for a very, very long time.
Similarly, those who hold to the notion that Southerners are all alike in their views, backgrounds, and motivations, etc. need to broaden their horizons as well as their knowledge - and their minds as well.
It's interesting to observe how many Americans from other parts of the country feel free to make very sweeping and often very negative judgments about the South and Southerners, on the basis of having once or twice spent a very little time in the South, traveling through very limited parts of the South, apparently doing very little reading about the South, Southerners, and Southern history, and also, perhaps most revealingly, on the basis of having met no more than a handful of Southerners, and then quite briefly, and in the most limited of ways. Really, judging all or most of the inhabitants of an entire region on the basis of ethnicity or on brief encounters in restaurants and gas stations?
As noted, I have a very Southern heritage and background. I've lived in the South - mostly the Upper South - most of my life. My relatives are Southerners. But I've traveled extensively in the North, the Midwest, and the West, as well as outside of this country, and I would not think of judging the inhabitants of those places in the negative, preconceived manner in which Southerners seem to be judged far too often.
The South - and Southerners - are far more nuanced than many give us credit for being. It's too bad the popular impression seems to be so stereotyped, and that some seem to want to cling to that often negative stereotype rather than search out the real South and Southerners. I have to wonder if this is sometimes a form of projection - if the South and its inhabitants can be painted so overwhelmingly negatively, then perhaps those doing the painting can feel smug about themselves and/or their place of residence, for not being Southern.
Excellent and informative post. The South-and Southerners-are far more varied/diverse than often given credit for.
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OTOH, I grew up around guns and while I don't own guns myself, I don't agree at all with most of my (Democrat) friends/peers views on gun legislation issues.
