Saturday, November 07, 2009

More that's good/bad about the South

More goods/bads about the South as a region:

Positives:
Diversity
Fried Chicken
Livermush (OK, I confess, I didn't call that out. But I should)
Politeness
Plenty of land and opportunity to learn from others' mistakes
Friendliness

Negatives:
Racial attitudes impede progress.
"Race" is still black and white, ignoring other ethnicities.
Xenophobia
Retributive justice is expensive (we put a lot of people in jail)
Unusual resistance to change
Poor reputation, and we live up to it sometimes
Sahara of the Bozart
Patronizing attitude toward woman
Kudzu (OK, I added that one myself, too)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's another negative for you: Plenty of idiotic newspaper columnists who think the South should be as effed up as the North is. Why don't you follow up these posts with similar positive/negative posts about the North, and we can compare them and see which is better?

Put more simply: I don't see a whole lot of people moving up North, but there are plenty of Northerners moving South. Ask yourself why.

Anonymous said...

"Put more simply: I don't see a whole lot of people moving up North, but there are plenty of Northerners moving South. Ask yourself why."

So what do you have to say about all the Southerners who moved and continue to move out West?

Seems you slipped on your slope there. Now how about getting up and helping the whole South face today and tomorrow instead of what you think was in yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Negatives:
Racial attitudes impede progress.

Tell me of a region of the country where this is not a problem...

"Race" is still black and white, ignoring other ethnicities.

You're right. For example, up north, they've taken the time to splinter into even more groups that hate each other.

Retributive justice is expensive (we put a lot of people in jail)

This is not a region specific problem.

Unusual resistance to change

What is 'unusual' about resistance to change in ths region in particular?

Poor reputation, and we live up to it sometimes

From whom? Let me guess, from people like the writers of 30 Rock, who portray Stone Mountain, GA as a backwater hick town and fail to acknowledge it as a suburb of one of the largest cities in the US.

Patronizing attitude toward woman

Only when they write lazy, fallacious drivel like this...

Sure the south has its problems, but pretending that the ones listed here are region specific is just lazy and irresponsible.

Anonymous said...

"So what do you have to say about all the Southerners who moved and continue to move out West?"

Considering what people like Mary are turning the South into, I'd say anyone who moved out West probably made the right call.

Typical liberal mindset: "I am unhappy and since I'm incapable of being happy, I want you to be unhappy, too."

Anonymous said...

"Unusual resistance to change"

The most resistance to change that I have seen in the 15 years I've lived here is the efforts of a small group who desperately want this city to return to busing, no matter what proof is offered that citizens do not want it and that the state of education has improved since its demise.

And guess what--it's the liberals who continue to cling to the past on this one.

Anonymous said...

"Considering what people like Mary are turning the South into, I'd say anyone who moved out West probably made the right call.

Typical liberal mindset: "I am unhappy and since I'm incapable of being happy, I want you to be unhappy, too."

Typical wrong jump to a conclusion. Who said I was a liberal and who says anyone was unhappy - though you certainly imply it about yourself.

The point you miss is that the South is not an island onto itself and believe it or not those you consider outsiders whether Northerners, liberals, people of different races or beliefs happen to be your fellow citizens.

In other words... get over yourself. It's not your south but the southern part of the United States where all have a right to be here. Something a true patriotic American would get.

Anonymous said...

Mary, Mary, you cannot seriously call this an article. It is a list. To become an article, you should expand on the subject of each topic. I recently read your article about the outcome of the mayoral election. It was uninspired as well. I hope, for your sake, that you can find some passion in your work.

rick b said...

Do any of you commenters, particularly you "Anonymous" ones, even bother to learn what a particular blog entry is about before you go running off your ignorant e-mouths?

Let's see: no, this is not an article, it is a list. That's what it's meant to be.

No, it's not Mary's opinion (although, on her blog, her opinion would be welcome and appropriate); it's an intentionally brief summary of some findings by an entire group in which she's participating.

No, it's not some Yankee-inspired "bash-the-south" conspiracy; the conference (for those of you with the intellect to follow the whole series of blog entries) is being attended by lots of "real" southerners and conducted by "Center for a Better South"; that organization is based in Charleston, and I can't think of many places more "southern" than Charleston.

For those of you too simple to grasp the basic concept of "The Naked City": don't waste your time reading it, and, above all, don't waste our time commenting on it. Set yerself back down in yer La-Z-Boy, turn Fox News back on, and enjoy seeing your own ignorance reflected on the TV screen.

Sorry to hijack the blog entry, Mary, but I'm just so sick of the idiocy so often manifested here. Disagreement is one thing; complete lack of understanding of the subject matter is quite another.

Anonymous said...

rick b - Bonnell? Is that you? You see, I would be able to tell who the hell you were if you there weren't so many Rick B's and Richard B's and Rich B's and Ricky B's and so on and so forth.

Long story short, as much zeal as you have for the commentors not understanding the asinine plot line of this blog, you should figure out that "rick b" is only marginally less anonymous than anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Were you born and raised in the South Mary?

If so, how long have your ancestors live here?

Anonymous said...

With regard to politeness, I would list that as both a positive and a negative. Southerners are very polite, but if they hold something against you, once your back is turned they will stick a knife in it as fast and hard as any Northerner could.

You need to add sweet tea to the positives list also.

Anonymous said...

Fried chicken - the Chicken Coop - best fried chicken in charlotte.

Stacy
Amazing cooking recipes and more