What Do You Think About The South?

and arrogant assholes who run around telling others how to live.

Indeed, when i lived in Ohio (and i lived there longer than anywhere else i've lived n my life), racism was pretty blatant. People were happy to express their racist views if there were no blacks around to hear them.

They make a kick-ass barbecue there.

Other than that, I don't think of 'the' South, any more than I think of 'the' North, or 'the' Jews, or 'the' Germans, or 'the' anythings. The differences among individuals in the American South vastly exceed the difference between the average Southerner and the average Yankee. These geography-based identity politics are mostly baseless.

It's just a marketing ploy to sell food, music and flags.

I encountered as much racism when I lived in Brooklyn as in Texas. The day MLK was assassinated, when it came on the radio, the man I was talking to broke into a happy grin and made a motion of kissing him off. Then he ran for the door, explaining as he went that he had to tell his brother. Walking in Manhattan I had someone call me Big Louigi. Went to see a movie with Bob Dylan (Don't Look Back) and two guys I passed took a look at me and said, "Hey. What's he doing in here." They began referring to me as "Tony." Crossing a street, a car full of black men taunted me, calling me "whitey." On a different day I was also called a "woodchuck." Just a few of the more memorable such moments. There, as here, I was able to adjust so that I did not have to put up with much of it.

I know pretty much zilch about the South in reality, but having got hooked on James Lee Burke in recent times, I've promised myself a tour of the place one day soon.
Oh, and Seasick Steve, of course.....

You mean Manifest Thievery, Foof.

To me, Mississippi is poverty, plain and simple.

Yes. I agree.

I hadn't directed that statement at you specifically. Are you defending racism or ignorance?

no, I am condemning arrogant do-gooder bullies. not every alleged flaw in humanity needs to be fixed, and even fewer justify the use of force to do so. sometimes the thing to do is leave those who live differently than us alone.

There's no law against living differently. Being racist and acting on those thoughts to harm to others is not leaving others alone.

Okay, show me how it wasn't Manifest Thievery.

being racist can not be a crime in any.society that believes in human rights, as the most important human right is the right to our own mind.

My husband, a playwright, was interested in the south. I'll add that he was raised in south LA. I was more noooooooo about anything. He knew a whole lot more about people there, in the south, and in south LA, than I did,

Yeah and they're all Republicans!

Well, Thomas you have the advantage of being enlightened.

Based on what?

I've lived in The South for as long as I lived in The North. It doesn't make me an expert on anything, but I do think it gives me a fairly good perspective on the matter.

I moved to the South as a Northern Liberal; with serious trepidations.

For the most part, not only were my concerns proven unfounded, but turned on their head.

My experience (and it is admittedly only mine) is that racism was far more prevalent where I left than where I relocated.

It is also my experience that folks in the South are friendlier and more civil, but again, that's based on my particular perspective.

Finally, it's been my experience that Northerners tend to have far greater prejudices about the South than the reverse.

There are loads of fine people in fine places throughout the North, but I'll never move back.

Based on all stats taken by the US.