:rolleyes: (I couldn't help myself!)

You're inferring things from my argument that weren't there. People in Wisconsin do stupid stuff all the time too, like stuff themselves into vending machines and stand in shorts for four hours in -20* weather to watch a football team, and shoot each other while they're hunting, and if you guys want to make fun of that, it's fine. Nowhere did I say "every single person from the south ever is stupid." I have a lot of relatives in the south and they make fun of people like this just as much as I do.

Stupid people are everywhere. As much as some people would like to believe the South has the market on stupidity, it just isn't true.

As do I because they are funny. I love the South, but it does have it's fair share of wackos, just like everywhere else. I just choose to look at it a lot like Jimmy Buffett...

"With all of our running and all of our cunning, if we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."

I like to call things as I see them.

There is a difference between all Southerners are racist and there is a lot of racism in the South. This isn't about racism but I just wanted to point that out.

My personal opinion about the South can be brought down to one damn experience: People use their freedoms to the point where it can upset someone else - for example smoking.

-Rudey

Very funny story that speaks volumes about regional bias:

We were travelling through upstate New York on a family vacation when I was probably 11 or 12. Had just visited Lake George and were on our way to somewhere else. Pulled off and got gas at some hicksville gas station.

The attendant who must have had two teeth in her smile actually said to us (imagine the worst possible hick drawl) "Oklahoma? We know all about y'all" -- as if she because she was in New York was some kind of blue blood.

The fam had a good laugh pulling away from that gas station -- and it's something that has stuck in my mind ever since.

Somehow, I think where we are we always picture our region as having the best and brightest -- especially on somewhere such as GC. Typically, we, as GLO members associate with only the best and brightest and therefore have a somewhat insulated view of what the world is like where we live. I was shocked when I checked the FBI crime data base statistics and found that Oklahoma City outranked Compton, California in all crime statistic areas except for murder.

Everywhere you go, you'll find the dregs of society and you'll find the best society has to offer. I don't think that any region or area has a monopoly on this.

No, no we make fun of people from upstate NY too. I would stay they are just as much hicks as any place in the South.

-Rudey

And people from upstate NY make fun of you as well :D

Anyone that makes fun of someone because of the area that they come from without knowing a damned thing about who they are -- for example, this upstate hick had no idea that the people they were accusing of being ignorant okies were a lawyer and someone who has an MA in French Lit.

It's ignorant, generally speaking, to make fun of anyone because of where they're from -- unless that's southeastern Oklahoma ;).

I didn't say you did, GP. Nor did you say that all southerners are racist. What you did say was that you're trying to quit making fun of the south. I'm simply trying to point out that making fun of an entire group of people, as you're trying so hard to quit doing, is wrong whether it's based on race or geography. If you had said that you're trying to quit making fun of Asian-Americans, you would be flamed endlessly and possibly banned from GC.

Is Ron Wilson an idiot? Yes. Are the midwesterners who wear shorts when it's 20 below outside idiots? Yes. Is it because they are from a particular place? No. (Okay, maybe the place is relevant because of the weather, but you get the point ...) There are idiots everywhere, but for some reason people think they can magnify the idiocy by emphasizing that a particular idiot is from the south. I think we can both agree that it's not relevant.

Am I the only southerner secure enough to take a joke?

Re: “Confederate Southern Americans” a minority like hispanics and african americans?
 

I'm sure my brother would be interested in this as well as most of my family. They still use the levels of southernness:

1st level - "Civil War" - You're not from the South
2nd level - "War Between the States" - You're a Southern sympathizer.
3rd level - "War of Northern Aggression" - You're Southern!

Most of the neo-confederates that I've had the...umm...displeasure of dealing with have been low down folks. My brother, though he loves his history, doesn't even deal with these groups and most likely wouldn't fight for southern minorities.

I believe these people are mistaking the impetus behind classification of minorities. Of course there are different groups of people, in some sort of minority, who aren't "recognized" as minorities. For the confederate americans, those who are euro-american are still benefitting from being white in the South and, therefore, shouldn't be asking for extra privileges!!!!

Just my $.97.

Yep.

hey wait here, while I go find links

http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm

check out the Southern Party and the Southern Independence party.

I really can't think of anything more unpatriotic, but whatever.

Some of those third parties (Including the SP and SIP) are REEEAAALLLY SCARY!!!

Yeah they are. I'm glad that they're all angry at each other and don't join forces. That would be insane.

I agree. I am the first generation of my family born outside of the South. However,I spend a great deal of time down there. I feel more comfortable there. Also, I would somewhat agree with the person that stated that race relations in the South are better than in the North. Southerners, of all races, are friendly. ALL of my negative racial encounters occurred outside of the South.