newsflash: not all Southerners are dumb hicks

[marta_bee]

Apparently ignorant people are saying idiotic things on the internet. In YouTube comments, no less. Stop the presses!

People in the South are trying to prove that snow is actually fake because it’s a government conspiracy

Normally I’d go on about the stuff I need to get through after taking most of yesterday and today off from getting things done.

Comments

[alexcat]

Television has everyone else in the US convinced that we are all like those horrid southern themed reality shows. I am not and have never been anything like Honey BooBoo's family. Hell, I'd never met any people like that until I was in my 30s. The south does have its fair share of morons but that doesn't seem to be regional.

I went to UNC-G as well. BA in English.

[marta_bee]

Hearing that you're a fellow UNCG alum gave me a real smile. Love those kinds of connections. On your larger point, I quite agree. We're not perfect as a region, but the way people act like every person living in this quarter of the country is as bad as the worst stereotypes seriously wears on my last nerves sometimes.

It's been a rough few days for me, so this hit me hard. It's particularly nice to know that other people have noticed the same trend.

[dreamflower02]

Years ago there was a study that showed someone's perception of another's intellect automatically dropped drastically if that other person spoke with a Southern accent!

One of the big problems is that many Southerners go out of their way to reinforce this stereotypical image. Look at comedians from the South whose stand-up routines rely on redneck humor; country-music singers whose videos feature busty women in cut-offs and cowboy boots, pick-up trucks, beer and mud; movie-makers and novelists who draw on the tropes of corrupt sheriffs and inbred families; and the aforementioned "reality" shows like "Honey Boo-Boo" and "Duck Dynasty". It's like many Southerners want people to believe they are like that--even though they know better themselves.

[vulgarweed]

And...that just found my berserk button. I have nearly punched out the lights of many a smug Northern liberal in my day...or at least fantasized about it real hard.

[azalaisdep]

It probably wouldn't help at this point if I assured you that plenty of educated liberal Northern Europeans assume that level of scientific illiteracy is the norm in the States, would it?... ;-) [ducks'n'runs]

Overgeneralising prejudice is everywhere, basically. But from a non-US perspective, it's really interesting to see the evidence that every country has its own regional stereotypes (the equivalents here might be the West Country "Mummerset" local-yokel stereotype and the assumption that everyone in Norfolk is inbred and has webbed feet ;-)