Mikhael Angelo said:
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.
Funnily, I live directly next to Howell, Michigan, which, despite being a northern state, was a stronghold for the KKK not too long ago. When versing their high school swim team, we couldn't help but notice that nearly their entire team was blond and had paler skin and light eyes. Funny, to say the least.
Anywho, I don't have stereotypes like that regarding southern states, but I DO have stereotypes regarding religion and *much* of the south because of the stranglehold that Christian extremism has on a great deal of the US. This is a summary of the many, many stories that I've seen about atheism:
http://www.alternet.org/belief/151241/10_scariest_states_to_be_an_atheist/?page=entire
I've read stories of people losing essentially every single one of their friends and being disowned by family members for leaving their religion.
Hell, my dad has experienced this first-hand: He was raised as a Witness in Idaho but left after the death of his brother around age 23. He hasn't directly spoken to either of his other two brothers since then, nor has he spoken to anyone else that was in his church except for his father, which was most of his friends and family at the time. All communication between him and his own freaking brothers is with me or my mom as an intermediary.
I'm lucky that I live in a place where I can pretty much openly state my (dis)belief without being ostracized, but there are towns where everyone goes to the same church, and not going makes you an outsider.
