Southerners - what are your opinions?

raildogg

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
12,892
572
126
Hello, I am trying to get an idea about what you guys think of Southerners. Southerners can also offer opinions. This is a friendly conversation about the changing of the South.

To start off, I am an Indian (South Asia) who moved from the North to the South a couple of years ago with my parents. I have made some observations. One of them is that the areas down here are developing fast and many northerners are moving in. Imagine yourself as a Southerner who has lived there for many generations and all of a sudden, half of you city is populated by "outsiders." Anyway, I think in some parts it is more than half.

This post is not too coherent but I just wanted an opinion about what we all feel about each other. I saw a very interesting program last night on the History Channel about Hillbillies. Many misconceptions were covered on that program.

I believe that people in general are similar everywhere. The minor differences are cosmetic. One region may differ due to education and social upbringing but in the end, people want to do the best for themselves and their families.

Blah, sorry for this extremely unorganized post.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
The Northerners just need to realize one thing. They are moving down here because we have an economy and we have an economy because there are not as many liberals as up north. Wherever the liberals have controlled the local governments for decades you can see just how screwed up the local economies are....so don't move here and then try and change it to the shit hole you evacuated after you slowly destroyed it with your politics.
 

theblackbox

Golden Member
Oct 1, 2004
1,650
11
81
north, south, blah. it's the east coast. people from the north make fun of people from the south and say they are backwards, then move down there. go figure. people from the south make fun of people from the north, but don't move anywhere. pople from california think it's the best place to live but bitch about it all the time. texans make fun of everybody but all of them want to live in colorado, and we make fun of denver and wish the texans would find somewhere else to go.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,154
58
91
I AM a Southerner who has been here all my life, and is seeing my area being over run with yankees moving here. Raleigh, NC area.

There are pros and cons to the influx of people:

The pros are, the housing market has been ridiculous for decades now. Lots of new construction, since the early 70's. The area has been growing, and has consistently been one of the "best places to live or move to" for a long time.


The cons are, the yankees are driving up the cost of living. Without getting into a political debate, as this is a simple fact, they move here to get away from the high cost of living, plus the superior weather. Well, the reason the cost of living is high up north, is because politics up there tends to be liberal. They've voted in liberal politicians for years, and they've gotten liberal policies, etc, in return.
So they move down here to supposedly escape all that....and what do they do now that their numbers are large enough to make a difference in elections? Vote for liberal politicians, and now this area is starting to be more and more like the place up north that they left.


One of the funny by-products of all the northerners moving here is, we don't get much snow. When we do, it usually has an ice base underneath. It's not the same as the nice, fluffy snow they get up north, that gets scraped off the road in a pretty short time. We don't have the equipment to do it very fast, and it wouldn't be worth having it, as it'd hardly ever get used in the winter.
Anyway, when it snows, all the yankees think they know how to drive in it. We natives know not to. Or at least to go VERY slow. You can ask every body shop, and every tow driver down here...when it DOES snow, the overwhelming majority of calls/repairs they get are from northern transplants.
 

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,154
58
91
Originally posted by: Ronstang
The Northerners just need to realize one thing. They are moving down here because we have an economy and we have an economy because there are not as many liberals as up north. Wherever the liberals have controlled the local governments for decades you can see just how screwed up the local economies are....so don't move here and then try and change it to the shit hole you evacuated after you slowly destroyed it with your politics.
EXACTLY what I just posted while you were posting. They move down here, then start voting for the same crap that ran up the cost of living up north and caused them to move here.
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,111
926
126
raildogg, have you ever seen a grown black man naked?

Do you like movies about gladiators? :p
 

thehstrybean

Diamond Member
Oct 25, 2004
5,727
1
0
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
I AM a Southerner who has been here all my life, and is seeing my area being over run with yankees moving here. Raleigh, NC area.

There are pros and cons to the influx of people:

The pros are, the housing market has been ridiculous for decades now. Lots of new construction, since the early 70's. The area has been growing, and has consistently been one of the "best places to live or move to" for a long time.


The cons are, the yankees are driving up the cost of living. Without getting into a political debate, as this is a simple fact, they move here to get away from the high cost of living, plus the superior weather. Well, the reason the cost of living is high up north, is because politics up there tends to be liberal. They've voted in liberal politicians for years, and they've gotten liberal policies, etc, in return.
So they move down here to supposedly escape all that....and what do they do now that their numbers are large enough to make a difference in elections? Vote for liberal politicians, and now this area is starting to be more and more like the place up north that they left.


One of the funny by-products of all the northerners moving here is, we don't get much snow. When we do, it usually has an ice base underneath. It's not the same as the nice, fluffy snow they get up north, that gets scraped off the road in a pretty short time. We don't have the equipment to do it very fast, and it wouldn't be worth having it, as it'd hardly ever get used in the winter.
Anyway, when it snows, all the yankees think they know how to drive in it. We natives know not to. Or at least to go VERY slow. You can ask every body shop, and every tow driver down here...when it DOES snow, the overwhelming majority of calls/repairs they get are from northern transplants.

Chattanooga, TN here. Same thing.
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
If I was to generalize, and I'm not saying everyone is like this, it would be that southerners are slow, closed minded and intellectually inferior.

If I was to move south, and I have seriously considered it, it would be because of the weather. If global warming keeps up I won't have to so keep driving those big trucks if you want to keep me out. :)
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
Southerners seem to be very friendly and hospitable. I think southern accents are kind of hot as well. :p
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
71,370
30,969
136
Originally posted by: Ronstang
The Northerners just need to realize one thing. They are moving down here because we have an economy and we have an economy because there are not as many liberals as up north. Wherever the liberals have controlled the local governments for decades you can see just how screwed up the local economies are....so don't move here and then try and change it to the shit hole you evacuated after you slowly destroyed it with your politics.

Them liberal states is propping up youse conservative states federal tax money-wise so WTF are you ranting about?
 

Babbles

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
8,253
14
81
I grew up in the DFW area but three years ago I moved to central Pennsylvania. From my experience for living most of my life in Texas, I think a big difference is that - at least in the area I lived in - people were more pragmatic and wanted to take care of things at the local, or if need be, at the state level. Essentially shit gets done because people want to things to get done - up here things just get dragged on and on and on.
 

mxyzptlk

Golden Member
Apr 18, 2008
1,888
0
0
Originally posted by: raildogg
I believe that people in general are similar everywhere. The minor differences are cosmetic. One region may differ due to education and social upbringing but in the end, people want to do the best for themselves and their families.

This is the truest thing I've ever read anywhere, thank you for posting it! [/hyperbole]

People are the same no matter where you go. If more people could wrap their stupid little heads around this instead of falling back on the near instinctual Us vs Them dynamic, I think the world would be a much nicer place.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
71,370
30,969
136
Originally posted by: mxyzptlk
Originally posted by: raildogg
I believe that people in general are similar everywhere. The minor differences are cosmetic. One region may differ due to education and social upbringing but in the end, people want to do the best for themselves and their families.

This is the truest thing I've ever read anywhere, thank you for posting it! [/hyperbole]

People are the same no matter where you go. If more people could wrap their stupid little heads around this instead of falling back on the near instinctual Us vs Them dynamic, I think the world would be a much nicer place.

Screw that.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
0
Originally posted by: Ronstang
The Northerners just need to realize one thing. They are moving down here because we have an economy and we have an economy because there are not as many liberals as up north. Wherever the liberals have controlled the local governments for decades you can see just how screwed up the local economies are....so don't move here and then try and change it to the shit hole you evacuated after you slowly destroyed it with your politics.

someone from the south complaining about other peoples economies being bad :roll:
 

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Originally posted by: Babbles
I grew up in the DFW area but three years ago I moved to central Pennsylvania. From my experience for living most of my life in Texas, I think a big difference is that - at least in the area I lived in - people were more pragmatic and wanted to take care of things at the local, or if need be, at the state level. Essentially shit gets done because people want to things to get done - up here things just get dragged on and on and on.

Central PA is pretty much hickville, just a different kind that Georgia or SC.
 

Descartes

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
13,968
2
0
Most of the country is hopelessly ignorant about anything outside of their town or state, so you'll find a lot of stereotypes. If there's one sad fact about Americans, it's that too many are xenophobic almost down to the neighborhood.

Let me also point out that the program you watched on the History channel reflects a very tiny demographic. This is not a reflection of the south at any time; rather, it's a reflection of the Appalachian area, and if you go there you'll still find very much the same mentality. You'd be hard-pressed to find it anywhere else.

I live in Atlanta now, but I've lived in every other major area of the US except for the west coast. I love the south, but as you mention it's hard to find any real impression of what the south is at this point. Atlanta, Charlotte and even Raleigh are becoming more gentrified by the day, and you really have to look for those pockets of southern influence. Hell, I think out of my entire neighborhood maybe one person is actually from the south.