What a very interesting question. I have not traveled extensively in Louisiana. My experience is limited to New Orleans and a man from Baton Rouge (who I don't really count as terribly relevant, as he was not raised in the US). Are they particularly genuine in New Orleans? Or just particularly good actors? Or what makes you raise the question?
Louisiana has a lot of Catholics who practice Voodoo, and most of them probably don't even know it's Voodoo.
Well, I hope you'll stay long enough to fight off the Republican Yankee invasion. If you do any research, you'll realize that much of the Republican leadership, in the General Assembly, is from out of state and many of them from Yankee states. There are a lot of yellow dogs down here and many with deep roots, and we're pretty damn pissed.
Because they have a generalized idea of what the south is and what type of people live there. I used to live in a small town outside of Ashville, North Carolina; a city full of old hippies, hipsters, and all sorts of people who didn't fit the southerner stereotype. We had a neighbor who was a Wiccan. I would also like to point out that calling all of the southeastern United States "The South" is a terrible generalization. These states are home to a variety of different cultures. To echo what others have said, people hate the preconceived idea that they have of what the South is, not the actual South. I am sure that many who hate the south have never even been there.
I don't blame AwesomGaytheist at all. I was born and raised in Metro Atlanta and I also lived in Bradenton Florida for awhile. I have to say that Atlanta isn't that bad. We still have rednecks and homophobes here, but they aren't nearly as common as they are in most of Georgia, and they're usually avoidable. A year ago, my mom moved to a puny town in north Georgia, and it was fucking scary. Confederate flags as far as the eye can see, drunk rednecks everywhere, meth everywhere, and being anything other than a straight white cisgendered Christian could have you beat up or even killed. If you are a woman, you are told that sexual harassment is something you "have to get used to", and coming out as lesbian will only result in more harassment. The only way to avoid it is to stay away from everyone and only go outside when you need to. No one can live like that. I'm an example. There is a beautiful town 20 minutes away from there. My Unitarian Universalist church is there, and it's classy, but we couldn't afford to live there. It has all of the classy things associated with the south with almost none of the bad things, and you don't have to drive out of town to get to a fucking store that doesn't have ridiculously overpriced items. Now, long story short, I'm out of that hellhole. I'm back in my beloved Atlanta, and I've never missed this place more. It's far from perfect, but it's heaven compared to where I was previously. As for Atlanta Pride, my UU church is going there this year (a lot of the members are LGBTQ), and this year will (possibly) be my first year going. Wish me luck. Haha, I'm not from up north, but I feel your pain. Most of my family is from Pennsylvania, and while I've never been outside of the southeast, I was raised around them. I talk like them and act like them, so people often ask me where I'm from and are shocked to learn that I am a native Georgian. I don't say "y'all" or "ain't" either. Someone even asked me if I was from Philly awhile back (my family is from Harrisburg, but close enough, lol). Atlanta is probably the least southern place in Georgia, and I'm grateful for that. Some areas can be scary, though, so everyone should know where they are going when they come to visit. No one wants to end up in that bad part of Atlanta.
What is aggravating about him is that he is a conservative and hates our part of the country, but it is because of conservatives, who routinely raid our education system, that many of us are lacking in education. He hates our part of the country because of problems that people like himself have created, which is why I have unreserved contempt for his views. If people like him had his way, we'd all be as dysfunctional as much of the South.
I love love the South! They have such lovely accents, quite a lot of robberies here and there but people are friendly in general. Plus, the food! Yuuuuummm Or wait, which South we are talking about here? :lol:
By the way, in my part of the country, many of us say "you all." Rarely, you also hear "you-uns," mostly in the mountains. And the proper pronunciation of "ain't," where I come from, is "ain" unless it occurs at the end of a sentence, and either is only appropriate if used humorously or very informally. It's not that it's considered to be "incorrect," but it's seen as sort of presumptuous. Saying "you all" to people who aren't your friends or family is sort of creepy, since it's a bit of a diminutive.
I'll apologize for-- [YOUTUBE]gXjibzO7ios[/YOUTUBE] When you hear someone blaring this, you know you've gone too far South. --for the South, but the North has to apologize for Ronald Reagan.
I have nothing against the South. I have plenty against the culture and ideals that are prominent within the South. Those are issues, however, that are not exclusive to the South. I am no less aware of their existence in the North or in American society in general. Or in western society in general for truthfully.
Uhmmm... I have this song in my iPod, one with "High Cotton" and "If You're Gonna Play in Texas" and a few other gems :lol:. [YOUTUBE]nSTp-EAkCcs[/YOUTUBE]
Excuse me? Everyone I know, across Europe, does not hate the Germans. It's incredibly stupid to hate a country for the actions of someone, especially when it has no longer anything to do with the country anymore. Hating the Germans, the people now, for the WWII makes no sense.
The Polish presently have more widespread neo-Nazi sentiments than Germany, I think. In fact, I think that more Europeans hate Gypsies than hate the Germans.
Actually, on the "better manners" thing, there are actually only a few places in the Northeastern US that I have found authentically rude people. One is Brooklyn, where people honk at each other constantly while driving and seem to be just be almost surreally aggressive. However, in Atlanta, people will actually pull a gun on you, and they might actually use it. In O-Town--also known as Orlando, Florida--it is not so much that people are rude, but they are just jerks who don't give a shit about you. Some of those might not be true in other people's experience, but the point is that you find rude people in many different places, and they are rude for various reasons.
I believe it's genuine, but I wasn't there for long. The reason I asked was I experienced the same things you mentioned when I was in New Orleans, but when I went a little further north (and in a rural area) it was a totally different experience. This was over a decade ago, maybe things have changed.
OMG first the germans get bashed now the poles lol. lay off of my ancestral homelands lol. It is all in the past and they are better because of it.
As a Yankee born and bred and from a progressive city (home to Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglas), I love the South. I went to Wake Forest for grad school and my parents had a place in SC. The things that aren't positive about the South are right there on the front porch. In the North, many of those same things exist, but they're subtle, hidden. I prefer they be out in the open. They're easier to deal with when they're right out there.
I was talking about modern Poland. Their politics can be a little right-wing. Like...somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. Their record on gay rights is kind of bad. The thing is, Europe has countries that have poor records on human rights and also have very poor existing policies related to human rights, but that is no reason to hate those entire cultures because of their bad politics. A country like, for instance, Republic of Georgia is culturally diverse, and just because their politics could use some work doesn't excuse hating all Georgians over it. And Poland, although they have a ways to go on LGBT rights, they have made a lot of progress, and they have a thriving gay rights movement there. Again, there is no reason to hate all Polish because their politics leave something to be desired. I love Israel, and I love it's culture. I think their politics have been rather wayward, and I think Bibi is dangerous. That's not a reason for me to despise their entire culture. Although I see Bibi as a rabid fool, Israel is still one of my favorite countries.
