Come on...realistically speaking, is the South REALLY that bad?

Depends on were you go. I live in Atlanta GA, I'm southern for the most parts but don't have that southern accent. I say it's not really that bad in Atlanta, there are mix race here and it's okay, for me that is. That said, I was born in NY but raise in the south. Voted: Somewhat.

Never lived there so I don't have a proper opinion, I've also never spent any significant time in the "stereotypically South" states like Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana.

The only experience I have with the south of US is Texas and Georgia. I won't say that everybody in either state acts the same was as the people I've met (that would be a ridiculous statement) but a lot of them do.

What little I know of Texas seem to fit the "everything is bigger in Texas" motto...big egos, big tempers, big stomachs, big cars but also big hearts.

What I know of Georgia though...that does seem to fit the "blight" status...really backwards, really judgmental, really unwelcoming unless you're part of the "group". That being said though, I only know the "small town mentality" part of Georgia, it's probably quite different in places like Atlanta and such.

All in all, I choose the "somewhat"...most stereotypes exist for a reason...doesn't mean they're always accurate or that every person in a certain area will act the same way but you'll always find plenty of people who fit them.

@korvus: @davillain-:

Yeah, what I've noticed is that most of the stereotypes stem from the backwoods country/rural areas. There is definite redneck trash out there. But the thing that some people don't realize is that the situation is (usually) very different in the big cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, etc.

Yeah, there is a surprising contrast between the Deep South and the Mid-South. It may not show in certain aspects, but it sure as hell does in others.

@Kevlar101: I live with mix people who are Rednecks, few Asians, Hispanic, and Blacks who can be stereotypes from time to times but I'm not stereotype in a way, I just pretty much blend in on were I go. I just blend in on the environments and I'm a City guy. Don't get me wrong, there are raciest folks out there but nothing on a big deal though and never tend to show it.

Most of the major cities are almost identical to other cities throughout the United States. It's only the small towns and out of the way places where the majority of backwards holdouts are residing that give the South a bad name.

Precisely.

Well, there's plenty of racist white trash out here in the hills of East Tennessee. It isn't so bad in Knoxville, but the outlaying cities like Clinton, Lake City (now Rocky Top), Wartburg...yeah, rednecks. A large percentage addicted to meth and/or pain pills to boot.

Only lived in the south for 2 years (Mississippi and Louisiana) day to day, everyone was awesome, course, I'm not the type to talk politics and social issues so that could be why. Everyone was really nice and on many occasions I was invited for dinner. Except the humidity, I loved the south.

One of the friendliest places I've ever been to was a small town in Mississippi called Liberty. Population ~ 500 at the time. I'd say it was 45% Baptist, 40% Mormon, 10% Catholic, and 5% everything else, but everyone got along well. I lived there for almost a year so I feel like I got decent exposure to how people really are there. No openly racist people running around in big trucks or anything like that.

Considering they consistently vote Republican despite being some of the poorest, dumbest, and fattest states tells me they are that bad.

Most people that hate the South have never actually been there, or if they did it was a sojourn (personal experience).

I like the south to a degree. Cheap housing, friendly (if backwards) people, great food, muh guns. Weather tends to be muggy as shit though and they're not the most progressive bunch. Texarkansas is a very nice rural place.

Mississippi is literally shit tier though, the indisputably worst state in America.

The south sucks and this is coming from someone that grew up there.

There certainly are racists in the US. It's unfair to single out the South because there are parts of the blue states (mainly the rural areas) that can be worse.

I mean in the South, a visitor would probably be on the alert because they expect racist views to be there. But, it's more surprising to see it in the rural areas of say, New York or Illinois.

Hell. Even Canada has its share of racist assholes.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-2/

Either that, or Oklahoma. One of the two.

So if the majority are not racist OP, how about homophobic?

@korvus: Texas ain't the South, Texas is Texas.

Racist person I ever met was black guy. Like seriously racist. If he was white, he'd be a neo nazi leader. Just anotha angry brotha I guess.

Which is located in the North of Mexico, right? =P

@

It's important to note that this is just from my own personal experience, so I could be having an unavoidable bias. So, that said....

...just like racism, it really depends. When I was in elementary school, there were a few bullies who constantly called me Gay as an insult, just because I was weird and hyper. Yet, most of the other kids did not use that word in such a way, and a couple even used the "Even if he is, what would be wrong with that?" argument. Now, eight/seven/six years later, most people I know are perfectly fine with homosexuals/bisexuals, and think that people should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want. Yet, it's worth noting that a couple of those exact same people use the word "******", but only half-heartedly. It shows that the straight-up judgment of people is diminishing, but that there is still that slight prejudice.

But then there are the idiots who still judge homosexuals (usually old or middle-aged Republican fake-Christians), and my father is one of those judgers. For example, one night there was an event honoring homosexual comedians being held at the Kennedy Center, and the event was being aired on CBS. My dad, having drank his beer beforehand, went on a semi-angry rant about how un-American it was to show that kind of stuff on television, and at the Kennedy Center no less. It really pissed me off, and my mom and I were just rolling our eyes at his diarrhea of the mouth.

So yeah, it really depends on who you talk to. It varies a lot more than people think it does.

Then there's the issue of racism....which is a much more clear-cut issue. You tend to find tons of racists in the little rural towns and country areas, there's no denying that. There certainly are lots of redneck trash and hillbillies. I live next to one, and he's one of those assholes who hangs Confederate a flag out on his front porch. You know how it goes.

Thing is, racism often comes with being a redneck, and there are significantly fewer rednecks in the major cities than there are in the rural areas. Vastly fewer. In fact, most of the major Southern cities are not all that different (in terms of sophistication) than most other major cities in the U.S., for the most part, anyway. Obviously, there are still racists around, but you might be surprised to hear that racists are in the minority in major cities. They are, however, at least a slight majority in the rural areas.

Once again, it's worth noting that it depends on the individual. See, racism is kind of taking a back seat to simple prejudice nowadays. Lots of people are prejudice, but not racist. People may often use derogatory terms towards blacks/Asians/etc. behind closed doors, but still have no intention of wanting them oppressed. It's an odd predicament.

But it's kind of funny how people say the South is more racist than the rest of the U.S., when that's not necessarily so. 9 out of the 10 most racist major cities in the U.S. are in New England and the Midwest. Only one is in the South, and it's Miami. Only one. That's because, oddly, while racism in the south is more confined to the rural areas, racism elsewhere is found in the major cities.

So, yeah. That's my two cents.

I typically split the South into four cultural regions.

The Mid-South: Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. (This region is not nearly as stereotypical-South as other states, but it certainly has plenty of backwards bullshit of its own)

The Deep South: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. (This region is the stereotypical-South, and even some people in the Mid-South think the folks down below are idiots)

Florida:Well...Florida. (Florida is freaking Florida, it's a goddamn enigma, lol)

The Cowboy South: Texas and Oklahoma. (They have their own thing going on over there....)

The phrase "Solid South" related to the southern United States is a true one. Not everyone shares the beliefs of those who supported de jure and de facto segregation, the Jim Crow laws, and bad morals in general, so it would be unfair to stereotype. Even if everyone here did, that would not mean that is the only potential outcome of their lives.

That is true. Neo nazis also love alpine regions. If anyone here visits Lake Tahoe, it's a lovely place. But, mixed-race couples (esp if the woman is white) should probably avoid it or else go to places there where the cops are at.

The South doesn't seem all that bad to me, but I guess I can't really judge since I've never lived in the deep south. Still feels like a pretty good place though, and at least some if not most parts have progressed throughout the years just like the rest of the United States.

I've visited Virginia at least several times in my life, feels like everyone or at least mostly everyone, I came across, felt pretty friendly and welcoming of others.

If you look at it in terms of numbers like education and poverty. The south is on the low end compared to the rest of the country.

On top of that I see a lot of racism. As a northener who goes on a lot of business trips, I was pretty shocked in talking to some people and seeing how racist they were.

South in a nutshell.

A lot of really dumb extremists does not account for 100% of everybody.

It really depends on what you mean by bad. I've lived most of my life in Georgia. I mostly grew up in rural South Georgia. I've been living in Atlanta for years now. I've also lived in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

Living in the rural South is awful in a lot of ways, for sure. Yes, the people are extremely religious, conservative, racist, homophobic, and everything else. This is also mostly true in the rural North (to a lesser degree, but still true), except for the racism. But then again, rural northerners almost never even see black people unless they go to the big city for a sporting event, so how could they be racist? The funny thing I've noticed is that Northerners who move to these towns become pretty racist pretty damn quick. In rural Georgia, I knew people from Illinois, Michigan, New York, California, etc, who would talk some racist shit to you at a level that even the biggest rednecks would admire.

It's true that many are friendly, especially if they think you're only visiting their backwoods portion of the world. But it's also true, like Korvus said, that they're very unwelcoming to outsiders who move to their town, and very judgmental. But this is true in the North as well. Not to the same extent, because Southerners seem to be more naturally suspicious of outsiders than people from anywhere else I've been, but it's definitely a problem in the North as well. Small towns suck ass. I never want to raise a family in South Georgia, or in any rural area. I wouldn't want to put my kids through what I went through. Your last name means so much there. Seriously, when I worked retail in college (in Atlanta), I used to see people from South Georgia, and some were even from the county I lived in. The first fucking question they'd ask me when I said I was from there as well was: "What's your family name?" Of course they'd give me a weird look when I told them. Annoying as ****.

As far as homophobia and politics are concerned... again, they're conservative. Their backwards opinions are endlessly annoying. However, you don't have to talk politics and religion to people. I avoid doing so. Therefore, I hear fewer opinions and avoid migraines. For the record though, it's getting a bit better every generation. The younger people are a bit more tolerant, even in the rural areas. I even knew a couple of atheist rednecks. The thing I hated the most was the utter apathy toward education. And the black people were FAR FAR worse than the white people in that regard. It was sickening.

The urban South.. Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, etc.. is so much better than the rural South. I don't have a problem living in Atlanta. Yeah, there are dumbass typical Southerners here as well, but there are dumbasses in literally every fucking city I've been to, in the North, South, Canada, Europe, everywhere. The living standards are comparable to anywhere else. You can live as comfortable a life in the South (even in the rural areas) as you can anywhere else. Actually, I think the rural South is actually more developed than a lot of the rural European places I've been. Ever been to rural Spain or Portugal? Holy ****, it's like stepping back in time to the Middle Ages.

So yeah. The urban areas are no worse than anywhere else. The rural areas are awful. But you're not putting your life on the line by moving there, like a lot of people seem to think.

Yes.

Ofcourse it ain't as bad as people say it is but stereotypes came from somewhere! (there is always a bit of truth in a lie!)

@GamerForca:

Being gay is not political. It's not as simple as just not talk about it to them. A lot of homophobes confront you even if you've never spoken to them before. Homophobia is no different to racism. You don't expect blacks to just simply not talk to racists about being black and then they will never face racism. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

@GamerForca: Yep, I'm Portuguese and the rural areas are stuck in time. My mother grew up in a small village and man...she's probably the equivalent to your great-grandmother...technology is bad, black people are thieves, gay people are diseased, everybody's out to get her and she's the only good person in the Universe...

There's racist people in Canada??? Get the hell out of town,in Canada???Wow!!! I live here and I've never heard of any racial comments in the 40+ years I have lived.You Americans know everything.Wow,racism in Canada,who'd ever thought????

the kkk still walk down the streets in some of the cities in the south carolina. clearly people who have nothing better to do with their time.

This comment doesn't make sense. I know plenty of people who are not exposed to blacks that are racist. Actually, I'd say that the lack of exposure are part of the reason they are racist. They haven't actually gotten to know actual black people, so they operate on the level of negative stereotypes. Also, some white racists go out of their way to avoid black people. There are actually some all white towns (that drove blacks out violently) where racists settle so they don't have to interact with blacks.

Exceedingly cool story. Not sure why you think it's relevant to the thread topic tho.

Only ignorant people believe that nonsense.

@GreySeal9: Sure. That's true. I simply noticed that when I visit my family in the rural Midwest, that many of them complain about racism in the South constantly when I'm there (when we speak of each other's states). I simply find it amusing that people who've never lived within a mile of a black family act like they're the standard of righteousness when it comes to race relations. And having seen first-hand Northern families move South and become racist as **** within a year, I wonder how long it'd take for them to become the same in similar circumstances.

@korvus: "she's probably the equivalent to your great-grandmother." My mother is an Alentejana, so for some reason, I feel that your mother probably isn't the equivalent to my great grandmother after all. =D XD

@toast_burner: Thanks, Captain Obvious. Obviously, if you're gay and live in a rural Southern town, it's going to be a nightmare. Not everyone is going to treat you badly, but you're going to have a lot of abuse thrown your way, especially in high school when you're walking the halls with a bunch of bullies. When I said that you don't have to talk to people about their political opinions, it was more directed at the people (and the posters on here) who make the South out be a hellhole simply due to the things people say. There's a guy on a thread a little below this talking about moving out of Texas for that reason. I feel that those people exaggerate.

My (Asian) wife would probably say the same. She's been here in the US for almost 20 years. Everyone has been polite to her so far.

The South isn't terrible but it's not always great either, I've lived on the coast of Mississippi for a large part of my life and it wasn't bad. I don't know why the South gets the bad rap for racism, ignorance, and homophobia; when you can go up North and see some of the same stuff you see in the South; some people in this country just like to pretend the Northern states are superior for some reason.

The point is, all of the U.S is practically the same. The only people that actually believe wholly in Southern stereotypes (I will admit some stereotypes about the South are true) are: foreigners who've never been here (ignorant), Northerners who've never been here (ignorant), or people in general who believe everything they see on TV; movies; or the internet (again ignorant) because not all of the South is like the movie Deliverance...and shockingly there are parts of the deep South that are nice, however those include only the larger cities and towns and the coastal areas and maybe a few smaller towns, I've driven through some places that were just plain scary..

Most people's views of racists paint a picture of rural folks whistling Dixie. They don't realize there are other racists such as neo-nazis who prefer the urban areas. They're quite modern and more subtle with their hatred. In the past, they looked like jack-booted skinheads. They've since changed their appearance to blend in more. But, they're still around and I mean they really are around whether here in the US, Canada, or Europe.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a number of them here (Off-Topic).

On one hand, clearly it isn't like that every where.. But on the other hand, look at the kind of fucking people they vote into public office. The Texas board of education for instance thought that American history books were too "liberal" and focused too much on people like Jefferson.. And not people like Thomas Aquinas (who wasn't even alive during the founding of the colonies or the United States), which they felt they needed to focus on.. It may not be that way every where, but man the people down there are making it sure hard breaking from that stereotype when they are voting these crazy people into places of power..

I visited Atlanta, Georgia and stayed for a few weeks. People are welcoming and pretty chill, some not. Maybe about how everything is big, but other than that, it wasn't really bad at all.

My only complaint is I went there around summer, so it's VERY VERY HOT HUMID. You would literally sweat outside just relaxing in shaded area.

I live in Tennessee as well and I don't think it's that bad.

I don't like the accent that I got from living here though.

It's generally fine for white people.

Most backwards and fucked up dude I ever met was from Idaho. I lived most of my life in various cities in North Carolina so despite having a southern accent shine through on occasion I don't consider the areas that I grew up in "The South" at all.

I'd say its a greater divide with rural/urban. However the rural south is pretty bad.

@undefined: in my opinion the south is much more racially heterogeneous and races intermingle in a much greater scale than NYC per se.

Southerners are a gentile kind folk who go out of their way to help others, especially in rural communities.

Finally, many stereotypes are false. The south is not backward and plenty kids go on to Ivy League schools and live successful lives. Even the poor can overcome the seemingly impossible barriers to achieving the American dream..

The south is my home and is a wonderful place, but I need a change of scenery so I'm moving to denver

@jun_aka_pekto: I live in a "southern" Canadian province and I can say from being here for 23 years, it is obscenely racist. A lot of people have the "If you are not white you are not right" attitude.

I expected the midwest part of Canada to have some racists, say the region from Alberta to Manitoba where agriculture is the main industry.

We have a number of Canadians who moved to my hometown of Fallon in Nevada. They've told me some stories.