The South: Cut us some slack, people.

[Mikhael Angelo]

Alright, I know that plenty of people may not agree with what I'm about to type here, but if so, this topic isn't for you. What I'm talking about is how a large number of people seem to believe that every person who lives in South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and any of the other southern-most states (especially on the east coast) are complete and total dumb-fucks and we like to have sex with our cousins/sisters/brothers/etc.

Now, to be fair, no I am not without my prejudices against the Northern States and even some of the Southern States (Alabama and Mississippi come to mind), but I mean really. How offensive are some of the Northern Stereotypes? That you wear suits all the time? That ya make a ball-fuck ton of money and you don't know what to do with it? That your woman are all ninety five percent silicon and syphilis? Granted, that last one was a little insulting, but it doesn't really matter does it? Because people don't take those seriously. However, the Southern image is so firmly engraved in the mind of most Americans that most of what people know is made-up or over exaggerated.

For a couple of examples, I've actually been asked by someone from Rhode Island if we had roads down here. Seriously? I mean really, what kinda fucking backward ass, caveman neanderthal sons of bitches do you think live down here? We've been in possession of the art of road paving for almost as long as the north, so where do you get that information? Another one that I hear a lot of is that we're filled to the brim with members of the KKK, Neo-Nazi's, and the like. I've lived in Georgia for almost all of my life and I can honestly say I've never met anyone that was involved in these.

So can we just cut the stupid shit and drop the stereotypes? That would make me feel a lot less like a dick. Why? Because I won't have to correct every single person who thinks I have sex with cows every saturday before killing them with nothing but a rake, a straw hat, and a screwdriver.

 

[JoJo]

Eh... welcome to the Escapist. I'm British so I'm not an expert on America or it's stereotypes but it doesn't really help that a lot of crazy shit comes out of the South, though we all know that not everyone there conforms to that. Every country has to put up with negative stereotypes (Irish being drunks, Germans being Nazis, French being cowardly etc) so you aren't alone.

 

[unoleian]

First off, it's not all of you, it just seems like a rather large representation of....er...."lowbrow culture" seems to come out of that region. Don't take that personally.

Second, the Eastern Seaboard seems to be good at being ignorant about everything else that's not the Eastern Seaboard. I live on the Continental Divide, and during a high school trip to DC, and one person had the bright idea that we were still subject to periodic "Indian attacks," as she put it. I was flat-out baffled. Yet another was convinced that most of us herded cattle and lived in cabins in the woods.I shit you not.

So, don't take that kind of crap personally either. Every part of the US can be strange and alien place to those looking in, really. I know the ones who acquired the company I work at came in from their home base out east, and were baffled by how we conducted business around these parts. It was far more casual than they were used to, and I'm sure we looked like a bunch of backwards hicks to them, despite this area being largely progressive in a lot of respects.

I'm sure the majority of ya are stand-up gals and guys just doing what you gotta do to get by just like the rest of us. I also know that Austin, TX and Atlanta, GA in particular have rather progressive and avant-garde holdouts amongst what appears otherwise to be a sea of modern urban ideals constantly at odds with backwoods sensibilities.

But face it, you do live in a very interesting region with a lot of colorful history, and that's bound to be the first things to cross people's minds.

 

[evilneko]

Pffft. It's all true.

We're a buncha cow-diddlin' ten-gallon hat-wearin' spurs-clankin' cousin-marryin' cowboy wannabes! If you ain't got a gunrack and a confed'rate flag in your truck (and especially if you ain't got a truck at all) we'll run you the fuck outta town. An' lord 'elp ya if you're drivin one a them high-brid things, we got special ways a dealin' with people like that. You don't wanna know. Now run along an' feed the chickens, but for pete's sake stop diddling them!

[small]This post made of 100% jest. If you are offended by anything in this post please download and install a sense of humor. I'm sure you can find one on Google[/small]

 

[Lucem712]

So can we just cut the stupid shit and drop the stereotypes? That would make me feel a lot less like a dick. Why? Because I won't have to correct every single person who thinks I have sex with cows every saturday before killing them with nothing but a rake, a straw hat, and a screwdriver.

Absolutely not, good sir!

I do think 99 percent of the stereotypes are wrong, [Being from NM, border town Texas] but then you meet that racist old man with a confederate flag across his chest, like it's something to be proud of...

I must confess that I have archetyped people from Alabama, Tennessee, places like that as being kind of hickish and uneducated.

[sub](Though, Texas does manage to catch media attention with its very christian values. That's what ya get for living in the Bible Belt)[/sub]

 

[Orange12345]

I wouldn't worry about it to much it happens to everyone, I live in Canada and I have heard stories about tourists asking where all the igloos are, ignorant fools each province is only allowed to make 10 igloos a year, which are raffled off at the Thursday flea market by our God the golden beaver.

Don't worry about the south though any crazy-ass stories about how big red-necks are is instantly balanced out by how awesome King of the Hill is.

 

[SycoMantis91]

To be fair, I know some "southerners" personally, and can say that these stereotypes are far from purely made up. Every culture has its stereotypes, it's part of being human. People get stereotyped as hicks due to being from the south, gangsters due to being black, and cheaters due to being male. It's how the world works, you see a group act a certain way, and many assume that's how everyone in that culture acts. Also, I know someone from a town in California that actually has mostly dirt roads. So it's not insanity to think that someone can live somewhere without pavement every 2 feet.

 

[Mikhael Angelo]

Yeah, I understand all this really, I just needed an outlet for my rage is all. Like i said, I have my own stereotypes, but it just irks me when people actually take them seriously. I know that not all black people like fried chicken, not everyone Floridian is older than Methuselah, and not all aliens are little green men in shiny silver jumpsuits that shoot laser guns and abduct people in their flying saucers *coughcoughhackcough*fallout3*coughcough*.

And to be fair, there are a lot of people that don't know how stupid they are. I know a girl in my anatomy class asked if bears laid eggs. She was serious. I wanted to slap her. In her face. With my weiner. Oscar Meyer of course.

(P.s. Thanks for the welcome to the Escapist. I've been exploring the site for a while and I figured I'd make an account O: )

 

[FalloutJack]

Look, fella. If it was about the lady and the sacrificial daggers, I can EXPLA- Wait...

*Looks around*

Oh right, the whole South thing. Uhhh...that's not something I'm guilty of anyhow. I don't anymore make that assumption than I do the idea that everyone in Texas is a high-boot wearing cowboy wannabes. I know there's a part of Texas that IS this and I know the REST of Texas hates them for it. I assume that this is the same with the South. Some guys are the stereotype, but you're not and you hate it. I get all that.

 

[McMullen]

Just about all of this West Coaster's preconceptions of Texas were shown to be wrong within 24 hours or so of arriving there. Of course, that was Dallas, which I was told is the part most like the West Coast, and having driven across only half of it, I know that it's certainly got room for the Deep South somewhere.

If you really wanted to not give everyone else a bad opinion of you though, you wouldn't have let people like Perry, Bush, Barton, or Jindal into elected office. That's your problem.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Alright, I know that plenty of people may not agree with what I'm about to type here, but if so, this topic isn't for you. What I'm talking about is how a large number of people seem to believe that every person who lives in South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and any of the other southern-most states (especially on the east coast) are complete and total dumb-fucks and we like to have sex with our cousins/sisters/brothers/etc.

Now, to be fair, no I am not without my prejudices against the Northern States and even some of the Southern States (Alabama and Mississippi come to mind), but I mean really. How offensive are some of the Northern Stereotypes? That you wear suits all the time? That ya make a ball-fuck ton of money and you don't know what to do with it? That your woman are all ninety five percent silicon and syphilis? Granted, that last one was a little insulting, but it doesn't really matter does it? Because people don't take those seriously. However, the Southern image is so firmly engraved in the mind of most Americans that most of what people know is made-up or over exaggerated.

For a couple of examples, I've actually been asked by someone from Rhode Island if we had roads down here. Seriously? I mean really, what kinda fucking backward ass, caveman neanderthal sons of bitches do you think live down here? We've been in possession of the art of road paving for almost as long as the north, so where do you get that information? Another one that I hear a lot of is that we're filled to the brim with members of the KKK, Neo-Nazi's, and the like. I've lived in Georgia for almost all of my life and I can honestly say I've never met anyone that was involved in these.

So can we just cut the stupid shit and drop the stereotypes? That would make me feel a lot less like a dick. Why? Because I won't have to correct every single person who thinks I have sex with cows every saturday before killing them with nothing but a rake, a straw hat, and a screwdriver.

I have been to Texas and other Southern states, and I think the image that people have of the entire south is that its like West Virgina. Now if you've been to West Virgina you might see what I mean.

 

[Malyc]

I'll be honest, here in the upper midwest, we have pretty much the same types of people the south does, except it's colder up here and the south has a cooler accent. Rednecks, hillbillies, rough and tumble miners, lumberjacks, you name a profession, we likely have several people who do it.

 

[dancinginfernal]

I've been in the Southern U.S. a few times, and all I have to say about the people there is that they're very kind. I got quite a few handshakes on the street, merely because people had not met me before. As a New England resident, that's rare and very uncomfortable for me up here.

I like the South. Tons of very nice people in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee at least. The only reason you get flak is because of how uneducated the country is. Speaking of which, power to Tennessee for finally tossing No Child Left Behind out into traffic.

 

[Smolderin]

I don't know why this upsets you. I live in Florida, the very deep south part of a America, and I don't see a problem here. In fact, I laugh at the stereotypes cause there rather funny. Funny story, one time when I went up north to DC, a person asked me where I was from, and I said Florida, and they went, "Oooooh, so your Cajun then". Inside of my head I was thinking, "Someone was been watching to much swamp people". Anyways, point is, you gotta be able to laugh at yourself...and alot of times, we deserve to get made fun of, afterall, some really dumb shit does happen down here in Florida, I am just grateful I am not from the same gene pool.

 

[Smiley Face]

Pah, we've all got our stereotypes, we all know they're not right, and we can all pick how to deal with them. You can either throw a fit, or do what I do, and spin tall tales of how we have to build igloos in the winter because the snow rises up past our front doors. But there's no changing stereotypes, not in less than a fair few decades.

 

[Chunga the Great]

I don't have anything against the south, but I frickin hate those people who walk around with a Confederate flag on their car or some other BS. Pisses me off to think that some people are just that ignorant. Overall though, people are nice down there.

 

[Tiger Sora]

All I need to know about the South. It has great culture. Like any it has it's good and bad. If theres anywhere I'd actually go in the States it would be the South.

 

[antidonkey]

I live in Texas.....when i was in high school we had a new student from California. She was genuinely shocked we drove to school instead of riding horses. Everyone wanted to punch her so much. Stereotypes aren't going away. It's easier to use them rather than learn about individuals.