So everyone in the southern US is a racist hick?

[lockeslylcrit]

Pretty much the whole slavery thing
and the lynching thing
and the segregation thing
and the CIVIL WAR thing

People who haven't been there base their opinions on what they know about the history of the place.

And really, history has not been kind to the South.

One idea of why the South doesn't get a good rap is because Mississippi didn't ratify the Thirteenth Amendment (and thus it was legal to own slaves) until 1995. This, and the fact that the Reconstruction left the region economically devastated until the 20th century.

 

[the_tramp]

It's in the same sense that because I'm English I must:
1) Have bad teeth (I had a brace for over 4 years and they're as good today as they were when I got it off)
2) Drink tea (I can't stand tea, I prefer coffee)
3) Eat crumpets (Don't like them... at all)
4) Say pip pip ho and jolly good show (I can't even be bothered to refute this...)

the list goes on...

It's stereotypes that since the advent of the internet has exploded in ignorance and consequently through the popularity of the Southern stereotype in US films it isn't going to go away soon. Hell even Dame Judi Dench complained that British people are typecast as the villains in films (which is true!) and consequently a lot of British people are starring in US shows by playing Americans.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8643941.stm

 

[Queen Michael]

I think these generalizations are horrible. People need to realize that all generalizations are bad. All of them, no exceptions.

 

[Lamppenkeyboard]

I am from South Carolina, actually right near Charleston. I can't remember there being any glut of racism to speak of. Sure there were some bigoted assholes, there are some in every state. But I never saw the KKK running through the streets.

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

This has been a stereotype that I have always had to deal with, since I live in Alabama. A recent thread on a gubernatorial candidate in Alabama just brought it back to the front of my mind. Why does everyone bash the South as a racist breeding ground? I have known many people who are from different sections of the US who are just as bigoted as some of the people in the South. There are racists and intolerant people wherever you go, so why is much of the hate directed at us Southerners? The majority of the people I know here are kind and gracious. Your response doesn't have to necessarily apply to the South, but have you or your friends ever been stereotyped as a bigot simply because of where you live?

The west is full of liberal surfing hippies; the northeasterners all love chowduh and kill each other daily with machine guns; midwest are all farmers with thousand-acre corn crops; all blacks love watermelon, fried chicken, and rap; french are smelly chain-smoking wussies; brits all have bad teeth and drink tea; russians are all communists; germans are all nazis; jews love money, hate germs, and have huge noses; arabs are all terrorists; italians love pasta and have huge families who are tied to the mob; canadians say 'eh' and 'aboot' and mounties are everywhere doling out healthcare; latinos are all illegal, garden, and work at mcdonalds.

Are these true? No.
Are they based on some sort of cultural half-truth for the sake of comedy/stereotyping? Yes.
Get over it.

Most people know that stereotypes aren't true, so complaining about them is like posting 'hey guys, am I hot?' on /b/. At this point, it's just attention-seeking.
So,
"Why does everyone think Alabamians are dumb racist hicks?"
A) 1/4 of all your high schoolers drop out, 2nd highest in the states.
B) here's a nice little quip from your former chief justice: "Homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature's God upon which this nation and our laws are predicated. Such conduct violates both the criminal and civil laws of this state and is destructive to a basic building block of society ?the family."
C)Your acceptance.

I've met people from Texas, Georgia, 'Bama, all 'round the South, and they're all lovely people. But don't tell me you don't know where your state got its rep from.

EDIT: no, I've never been stereotyped as a bigot. Why? I'm not from the South ;P
But yeah, liberal, hippie, pot-head, artsy bum, health nut...that's pretty much all we get out west (health nut is true. So much tofu and gluten-free stuff. It's disgusting. It's apparently now trendy to have food sensitivities). The South really worked on their reputation...after shooting themselves in the foot a few hundred times.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

This reminds me of an Episode Top Gear where they get attack in Alabama by hicks

I saw that one but hey! One went with pro gay marriage mottos in a pink car. Other with bashing religion insults and I don't remember the last one, either something against republicans or pro black and hispanic people. But one wonders if the guys from the gas station weren't paid to react like that. When the women said: how dare you to come with this insulting shit into the core of the Bible belt, I am calling the boys!! (or something under those lines) it felt fake to me.

 

[KdS_22]

big snip

No I know where my area got it's reputation from, don't get me wrong. Maybe I should have phrased my original post a little better. I had let my buttons get pressed by a few of the comments in another thread that were outright bashing all Alabamians, and I wrote up this thread as a response while I was still a little miffed. I apologize for coming across as attention-seeking or whiny. My main question was actually supposed to be more along the lines of localized stereotypes and things of that nature. My own experience with them was just my best way of conveying that sentiment.

I agree that almost all stereotypes have a basis in reality, and it saddens me to think of how little some Southerners do to refute our stereotype, especially since a lot of the views which perpetuated that appearance to the outside world have started (in my personal experience, I'm not sure about the experiences of other Southerners) fading from common approval.

 

[acosn]

It may be an overly vocal minority but there is good reason for it. Just a few things in the past 200 years-

-Fought a war where one of the tenants was their right to own slaves, and more prominently black ones. Years after the fact they still hold reenactments because they forgot who won or something.

-Dragged their heels on post-war emancipation.

-Dragged their heels on civil rights to the extent that the National Guard had to be deployed over it.

-Is considered the most religious (or rather, Catholic) area of the US.

 

[KdS_22]

Years after the fact they still hold reenactments because they forgot who won or something.

This part of your post actually made me chuckle. I have a friend who participates in said reenactments, and I have said the exact same thing to him. I love that South park episode with the Civil War reenactments in it for that reason, and I still poke fun at him to this day about it. He says that to him it's just a cool excuse to put on uniforms and play around with black-powder rifles on a given afternoon. But personally, I still don't see the point to it 0_o Haha

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

big snip

No I know where my area got it's reputation from, don't get me wrong. Maybe I should have phrased my original post a little better. I had let my buttons get pressed by a few of the comments in another thread that were outright bashing all Alabamians, and I wrote up this thread as a response while I was still a little miffed. I apologize for coming across as attention-seeking or whiny. My main question was actually supposed to be more along the lines of localized stereotypes and things of that nature. My own experience with them was just my best way of conveying that sentiment.

I agree that almost all stereotypes have a basis in reality, and it saddens me to think of how little some Southerners do to refute our stereotype, especially since a lot of the views which perpetuated that appearance to the outside world have started (in my personal experience, I'm not sure about the experiences of other Southerners) fading from common approval.

(I figured the post on the recent "LEARN ENGLISH" controversy had something to do with it ;P)

Now THAT'S a well thought-out post. Stereotypes are based on the few outrageous examples of any particular culture, so I can see why you were offended by some of the more sweeping generalizations. (Btw, 'grats on the BCS Championship if you follow that sorta thing) I think the most significant difference (and you pointed it out) is that Southerners...well...aren't doing much to help their image :/

 

[acosn]

This part of your post actually made me chuckle. I have a friend who participates in said reenactments, and I have said the exact same thing to him. I love that South park episode with the Civil War reenactments in it for that reason, and I still poke fun at him to this day about it. He says that to him it's just a cool excuse to put on uniforms and play around with black-powder rifles on a given afternoon. But personally, I still don't see the point to it 0_o Haha

So its just historical LARP'ing?

 

[RicoADF]

It's like all stereotypes, it may be mostly accurate but there will always be exceptions to the rule. Having said that IDK how accurate this stereotype is as I don't live in the states (tbh that stereotype is often said about the US in general by friends I know over there)

 

[KdS_22]

(I figured the post on the recent "LEARN ENGLISH" controversy had something to do with it ;P)

Now THAT'S a well thought-out post. Stereotypes are based on the few outrageous examples of any particular culture, so I can see why you were offended by some of the more sweeping generalizations. (Btw, 'grats on the BCS Championship if you follow that sorta thing) I think the most significant difference (and you pointed it out) is that Southerners...well...aren't doing much to help their image :/

Nooo! Don't congratulate me on that BCS Championship because the college I go to is the direct rival of the University of Alabama. You just re-opened a wound that I thought had recently closed. Haha. Next year, maybe we'll do better though... I can dream!

 

[Pokedude1013]

Yep, and everyone in the north is a yankee asshole. Mostly asshole

 

[KdS_22]

This part of your post actually made me chuckle. I have a friend who participates in said reenactments, and I have said the exact same thing to him. I love that South park episode with the Civil War reenactments in it for that reason, and I still poke fun at him to this day about it. He says that to him it's just a cool excuse to put on uniforms and play around with black-powder rifles on a given afternoon. But personally, I still don't see the point to it 0_o Haha

So its just historical LARP'ing?

As far as I can tell, yeah pretty much! He even went so far as to create a "persona" that he dons whenever he's in the reenactments... I'm talking background, occupation, love life (his girlfriend does it too 0_0), everything. He's mucho serious about it when the time comes to "reenact." I've told him that he should consider acting or something if he's that willing to get into character!

 

[Veleste]

I'm going to be honest, most of what I know about the South of America comes from TV and on TV Southerners are 9/10 time potrayed as racist, inbred, hicks.

I myself am Irish and am thus assumed to be an alcoholic with 9 kids. The fact is that sterotypes are born out of truth. Most Irish people do drink to excess and from my brief experience in Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina there does seem to be an incrediable backwards way of thinking outside the major cities. That, however, is the way in most countries and the only reason America gets hit with the racist stick is that you just are bigger so there are more biggots in this 'rural hick' area than in what I guess you could call the 'rural hick' area of other countries due to sheer scale.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Noone has ever given me shit for being from Lolland.

It's an island in south-eastern Denmark, look it up.

Also the name is a misnormer, nothing ever happend there.

 

[DkLnBr]

Stereotypes really dont exist (unless by some coincidence) and yet i dont think anywhere is really safe from them. So your best just to laugh and carry on, because no matter who it is, some stereotype applies to them as well. Up here in Canada I hear a lot of that kind of thing and... Oh! I have to get to my Igloo soon before the blizzards start! better wake up the dog sled team and gather my hockey equipment!

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

(I figured the post on the recent "LEARN ENGLISH" controversy had something to do with it ;P)

Now THAT'S a well thought-out post. Stereotypes are based on the few outrageous examples of any particular culture, so I can see why you were offended by some of the more sweeping generalizations. (Btw, 'grats on the BCS Championship if you follow that sorta thing) I think the most significant difference (and you pointed it out) is that Southerners...well...aren't doing much to help their image :/

Nooo! Don't congratulate me on that BCS Championship because the college I go to is the direct rival of the University of Alabama. You just re-opened a wound that I thought had recently closed. Haha. Next year, maybe we'll do better though... I can dream!

ahhhh, the tigers, eh? Welp...er...I can't really say anything ^_^; what do you say to the rival of the National (sorta) champs?
Normally, mentioning a hated rival would be a quick clue towards what school said bitter mention-er belongs to. However, I truly believe that so many people hate this team for so many reasons, that you won't be able to place my school when I say...f--k Boise State e_e