Why I am so occupied with southernness

[Arkansota]

I live in Arkansas, which is pretty much always considered to be in the South. However, there are a few people who think it's in the Midwest and that freaks me out because I wanted to go to college somewhere out of the midwest. I want to live somewhere that is completely like where I grew up (Minnesota) and if Arkansas is Midwestern, that means it's similar.

So, I constantly feel the need to assert Arkansas's southern-ness. It's OCD and anxiety talking.

[partis]

ive lived in the south of two countries so i class myself as a southerner (sort of) though our south and your south are of course not the same. other here sometimes all the northerners think were "soft" but there just a bunch of northern monkeys :p (please dont hit me in the face)

[Sylph]

Well you know what gurl, good for you.

So long as your happy with where you are now.

I don't know America like that, but if Arkansas is better than Minnesota to you, then be a Southerner . just don't forget where you came from :p

[VileKyle]

And New Mexico is the Southwest. I'm not a native here, but I really need to convince everyone on this site of my Southwestern status. Now I'm going to make 20 threads about that topic.

Sorry, but that's what you are doing. I get that you like Arkansas and the south, but you really don't need to convince anyone here. You are in Arkansas and the south. We accept that and we're happy for you. You are a part of this forum and we accept you no matter who you are. Now stop trying to convince us.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

No this is not OCD.

This is a pompous ass who wants to exert their reality upon the world so badly they just can't keep their fucking mouth shut on the issue.

THAT is not Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that is just prickishness, selfishness, inflated to the point of annoying self centered-ness. You are an egomaniac who just can't abide differences in opinion and are on a mission to force everyone to believe as you do.

The fact that you throw OCD out there willy nilly offends those who actually are OCD. Stop it. You are hurting people.

For the record, those who have OCD don't talk about it - not talking about it (but thinking about it all the time) is one of the symptoms of OCD. OCD is not a handy label for you to attempt to use as an excuse for inexcusable, unacceptable behaviors.

OCD is painful, annoyingly so, it is such a horrible place to be that anyone who uses 'I'm ocd' as an excuse causes far more damage than the disorder itself. STOP it.

You are not, never have been and most likely will never be a southerner. Just like I am not, never have been, nor will be a British Gentleman. Or for matter just British.

You have this delusion that being a southerner makes you a better person. It won't. No more than my carrying and umbrella and wearing a bowler hat makes be a better or more respectable person.

You are fascinated with the notions and stereotypes of the Old South. That south died around 1973 - approximately 20 years before you were born. Curtsey, kindness, hospitality, mint juleps and sweet tea may exist somewhere in the south, but they are no longer mandatory to the south nor for that matter limited to the south.

Truth. The south Sucks. The south is full of hate and bigotry, the south has sat on the black man so hard and for so long that they are still considered the Racist center of the US of A. http://americablog.com/2013/02/is-the-so...north.html

http://americablog.com/2013/02/mississip...-late.html
Mississippi “forgot” to abolish slavery


Truth: once your little secret gets out that you are a fairy, your chances of having your ass handed to you via a baseball bat is far, far higher in The South, than in your Midwestern hometown. Granted you are in a melting pot town where there is a bit more tolerance. Go ahead, leave town for a weekend and go see the rest of Arkansas and let us us know how being an openly gay fairy works for ya out there.

https://www.google.com/#psj=1&q=The+sout...nt+to+gays

Southerns do hate - and do it well. They are well known for lynchings parties, the KKK, Cross burning parties and their obsession with raising the 'Old South' from its grave. https://www.google.com/#psj=1&q=The+southern+states+KKK

I fail to see how hospitable the South really is considering it can't seem to pull its collective head out if its own ass to accept that people come in different colors, and that it is the 21st century where racism is no longer cool.

They firmly believe that Church and State should be Separated - As long as they can push their Old time religion down the throats of every one else. They firmly believe that freedom of religion is a right and they will be the first to tell you which religion you are free to believe and which ones will not be tolerated under no uncertain terms.

Truth - the south is the poorest part of the US of A, predominately focused on old 'traditional' stupidity and 'Fundamentalism' to the point where most of the Southern states are a burden to the rest of the USA financially and economically speaking. Illiteracy is actually pretty high down there. Stupidity abounds so much that they just don't get that creationism is not a science.


Truth - You are not a better person because you are taking a liberal arts Degree in some Arkansas College. It doesn't make you southern, it definitely isn't going to make people believe that Arkansas is in the south, and it doesn't make anyone believe that being a southerner is somehow better than being anything else - especially when we have the last century that demonstrates that being a southerner is slightly embarrassing - ya know bigotry, hatred, fundamentalism and a general fear of science isn't something to brag about. It is shameful, it is horrifying, it is a disgrace and demeans humanity as a whole.

There are reasons why a southern accent is associated with perpetual stupid. There are reasons why people speak of Trailer Trash with a southern accent which everyone knows means 'stupid, backward, primitive, less than......'

Red necks are not heroes - they are the laughing stock of the USA, they are the objects of disdain and provide us with many hours of laughter over their stupidity. They are a symbol of what is wrong with humanity, not symbols of what is great and wonderful about the species.

You know if you are a redneck if.... Never ends with brilliant, living, kind, and good things it always ends with something far less desirable in a human being.

There are reasons why incest and the Old South go hand in hand in at least 50% of the jokes associated with southerns. The south isn't well liked - no Sir if anything the south is kind a hated because its the south....

People are so upset and terrified to be associated with the south they do a lot of hard work to drop the accent outside of the south because its embarrassing to be from the south.

https://www.google.com/#psj=1&q=The+sout...ce&spell=1 is a good place to get a real education about what being 'southern' is actually like.

Your perceptions about what it is to be 'Southern' is based on myth-perceptions, myth-conception and a lop-sided, romantic belief in notions which are not based in reality but based on what many people want to believe about the place.


There is a disconnect here. On one had we have the Reality you want everyone to believe in then we have the cold, harsh, bitter reality of what really is.

I strongly advise you to pull your head out of the clouds and actually go and study the history of 'The South'. The history of slavery, of segregation. I strongly advise you to seek out the hard statistical data on how LGBT are treated in the south. And while you are at it, Pull up the last half century of hard data when it comes to the Souths track record on education and economic policies. See how much taxes come out of the south and how much more is dumped into it.

https://www.google.com/#psj=1&q=Southern...statistics

[Drew]

When I was in Portland, Oregon, last month, I liked poking fun that the West Coast doesn't "get" pizza (or "apizza" if it's brick oven and thin-crusted) but we New Englanders don't "get" coffee (seriously, people on my Facebook page sometimes post things like "so happy I got my Dunkin' Donuts coffee this morning!" and I'm like, "for real?" >_< ; )

But seriously, why do you feel the need to assert where you're from so much on this board? And who doesn't know Arkansas is in the South? Stupid people who don't have access to a map?

[Sylph]

Omg BA - totally just shat everywhere 0.0



Although, I like some Southern[-ish] people, like Saint ^.^ His accent is so cute.

But yeah, I don't see the need to press it Arkansota? I'm just confuzzled T^T .

[nfisher1226]

After having lived in Houston for four years, Arkansas is just not all that southern to me. My ex in-laws who lived near Brownsville would say Houston just isn't very southern either.

I also had the experience of living in Arkansas for just over a year. And having traveled all over the country, including every state that made up the "old south", very extensively, I can tell you there's a huge difference between South Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Arkansas is, if anything, almost in the exact center of the country geographically. It's got more in common with Oklahoma and Texas than South Carolina overall. Not just geographically but culturally.

I saw cousin lovin' firsthand. And stepsister lovin'. No joke. I knew a gal pretty well who got knocked up by a guy from Arkansas who had his stepsister knocked up at the same time. Their family was, shall we say, interesting.

I lived with a guy while I was there. We didn't have problems, but then again we were both pretty burly men and had two pit bulls and he carried a gun on his hip. Sure we were gay, but we were either acceptable based on that macho image or our neighbors were just plain skittish to pick a fight. Either way I wasn't kidding myself. In spite of the cousin lovin', stepsister lovin', and general bad behavior of the hetero population, they get mighty fired up about gayness. Be careful. Better yet be prepared.

All in all, while I'm not going to go off like some have, I'd say I agree with the general consensus that it's a fairly non-useful thread. Sorry kid. We got the point a while back.

[southbiochem]

What I don't get, no matter who does it, is why several Americans are so damn fixated on isolationist views of their country...and this is (as I have perceived, mind you) a particular trait of Southern states, albeit present in other areas

Seriously guys, every country has a degree of sub-cultural divisions, geographical diversity, etc. That's normal.

But I haven't seen "separatist" tendencies and intra-antagonism at this level anywhere else besides former Yugoslavia...and those guys fought each other in 10 years worth of bloody wars to split into different States..

Someone please explain this to me...

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Fantastic post BA ever considered being a journalist or politician ? and I mean that as a compliment ....

I thought of becoming a politician, but my doctor advised against it, apparently (and don't tell anyone this) I have a heart. Yeah I was shocked to learn that myself.