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Here’s the telling experimental result: When children of either age were asked whether the speaker was “American” or “lives around here,” children from Chicago selected Northern rather than Southern speakers as being locals or Americans. The kids from Tennessee did not show any such preference at either age. The authors suggest that Southerners do not categorize speakers of either accent as being alien, because they hear Northern accents at a young age from National news anchors, film and television characters. The kids in Chicago don’t have the same opportunity to hear a Southern accent. As they grow up, attend school, and develop social awareness, Southern children begin to associate the Northern accent with people being “in charge and smarter,” because these prestigious “celebrities” of high social status and respect speak with a Northern accent. This nurtures a self-perpetuating stereotype which takes root by at least the age of nine.
My experience mirrors your exactly! Basically, the my experience with self identified liberals is that they only views people as groups or categories and therefore cannot understand that each person, as an individual, can be racist or not, intelligent or not, etc., regardless of their geography, race, religion, or political affiliation.
I think this stems from the diversity brainwashing that liberals seem so enamored with. My experience has been that they place people within groups and separate then according to their own stereotypes. And this is viewed as OK in America now. Instead of treating people as people, they are broken down into classes and descriptions.
Seeing as how it was was 4 blocks from where I work, it's hard to ignore this event, but the CMA awards last night got me thinking.....
We all know the South is/always has been an easy target for people to pick on....despite enormous economic and social growth. We know that outspoken liberals (maybe progressives is the right word) love to hate on people who are religious nuts, over-patriotic flag wavers, Confederate flag supporters, and really just simply conservatives in general. The south has a stereotype for having religious conservatives who want to block same-sex marriage, pro-war 'MERICA supporters and still some who show off the Confederate flag.....among other things that rub left-wingers the wrong way.
My question is this: Do you think we've we gotten to a point in society where a good amount of people on the left are conditioned to think negatively of someone when they hear them speaking with a distinct southern accent, as if it meant they instantly assume this person to be "ignorant" and then believing that they couldn't possibly get along with them because of their perceived social views? The reason I bring this up is because if this is the case with some people, it seems like it would be similar to what people who are "racists" would subconsciously feel when seeing someone not of their race. If a true racist were to automatically think less of a person upon seeing they had a certain skin color, therefore being ignorant towards that person, wouldn't that kind of be the same as hearing someone speak in a certain accent and then harboring negative feelings towards them?
You can't convince me that there aren't some people who hear country music (I personally don't like it, just saying), see a Southern person on TV, hear on the radio, watch SEC football fans, whatever and immediately think in their heads what I explained above.
It's an odd thing to think about as a millenial-aged moderate Republican who lives in the South with no accent and to wonder if people would think differently of me if I spoke in a different dialect.
Having lived for many years in the South I can tell you that Liberals are often snobs when it comes to southerners. They have an "I'm smarter, better educated, hipper and richer" attitude. They really do think they're better. It's wrong, of course, but they don't care. They live in a bubble.
It's apparent no one is interested in a serious conversation on the matter, preferring instead the usual hyper-partisan bashing. It's a shame this is what passes for discourse these days.
There's no doubt about the Southern accent being stereotyped as ignorant and worse. Wife and I both worked on the West Coast in scientific/academic circles and had to lose our accents.
Seeing as how it was was 4 blocks from where I work, it's hard to ignore this event, but the CMA awards last night got me thinking.....
We all know the South is/always has been an easy target for people to pick on....despite enormous economic and social growth. We know that outspoken liberals (maybe progressives is the right word) love to hate on people who are religious nuts, over-patriotic flag wavers, Confederate flag supporters, and really just simply conservatives in general. The south has a stereotype for having religious conservatives who want to block same-sex marriage, pro-war 'MERICA supporters and still some who show off the Confederate flag.....among other things that rub left-wingers the wrong way.
My question is this: Do you think we've we gotten to a point in society where a good amount of people on the left are conditioned to think negatively of someone when they hear them speaking with a distinct southern accent, as if it meant they instantly assume this person to be "ignorant" and then believing that they couldn't possibly get along with them because of their perceived social views? The reason I bring this up is because if this is the case with some people, it seems like it would be similar to what people who are "racists" would subconsciously feel when seeing someone not of their race. If a true racist were to automatically think less of a person upon seeing they had a certain skin color, therefore being ignorant towards that person, wouldn't that kind of be the same as hearing someone speak in a certain accent and then harboring negative feelings towards them?
You can't convince me that there aren't some people who hear country music (I personally don't like it, just saying), see a Southern person on TV, hear on the radio, watch SEC football fans, whatever and immediately think in their heads what I explained above.
It's an odd thing to think about as a millenial-aged moderate Republican who lives in the South with no accent and to wonder if people would think differently of me if I spoke in a different dialect.
well, there's no single "southern accent."
as someone with a coastal southern accent, when I hear someone from the Appalachians speak, it is really difficult not to stereotype them as being stupid.
same with people who watch NASCAR, vote Republican, listen to Nashville Country, or think the bible is factual. It's not "the south" that I think is stupid, it is very specific cultural markers that I associate with stupidity because of their general anti-intellectual mentality.
that said there are plenty of "hillbillies" who defy the stereotype. But they're the exception and not the rule.
I will admit to having had this stereotype, even when I was a rabid conservative Tea Party supporter. Having been born and raised in Scotland the southern redneck stereotype was equivalent to the neds or chavs for me. When I was a teen we moved to the US, Virginia specifically and I did find the accent unappealing but as I've gotten older and more left of centre I actually find it pleasant and soothing, like ice tea on a hot day. It's rarely rushed or rude and a Southerner can tell you to perform an act of self love and sound lovely doing it. There are times I have trouble understanding some of it but not so many as when I first moved here.
I love how the phrase "bless your heart" can sound so welcoming but mean something else entirely.
Now if something could be done about the heat....
You do know " bless your heart" means stupid sob.
Look at johnnie playing with that hornet nest, bless his heart
I think this stems from the diversity brainwashing that liberals seem so enamored with. My experience has been that they place people within groups and separate then according to their own stereotypes. And this is viewed as OK in America now. Instead of treating people as people, they are broken down into classes and descriptions.
You have got to be joking or sorely misinformed. Placing people in separate groups and classes and marginalizing them was invented by conservatives. It created their power base, ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed the social Security Insurance act and they've been doing it ever since.
They did it with the civil rights act of LBJ in 65, they did it with Voting rights act, and they even did it with Obamacare by separating the poor lower class from receiving Medicaid expansion in the republican controlled states. For all the American Indians, Blacks, Hispanics and people of faiths other than Christianity, Conservatives have never been their friends and have built their party by stereotyping all of us minorities throughout history.
Progressives have built their foundation on a "Big Tent" concept. We are all inclusive. That's why we have the black, hispanic and american indian vote. Conservatives are constantly striving for purity of the group and the Tea Party has gone so far as to brand their own conservatives unworthy to be considered part of their process. More of a "Pup Tent" concept of inclusion.
Did I mention we also have the woman vote? Conservatives only have angry white guys. they've thrown everyone out or branded them RINOs.
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