Culturally vacant... vacant of WHAT culture, exactly?
I am not out here trying to convince ANYONE that the South is better than any place where y'all live. After all, I don't want you here anyway
I enjoy living in the South, and generally would not choose to live in the "North". I hate cold weather and I have a distaste for strong Yankee accents. However, that doesn't mean that the South is the only place in the US worth anything.
I think you have to live here to appreciate some of the finer points of Southern living... and if you aren't from here, I'm sure the vast majority of our way of life would seem ass-backwards to you. But when I go other places, I feel the same way.
I don't expect you to bow down and worship the lower half of the country. Just keep in mind that we are not always who you THINK we are. I take offense to being swept into the corner with the rest of the bible-beating, racist, gun-toting, "culturally vacant" trailer trash that many people think characterizes the South. You can be progressive and Southern.