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RatBot wrote:

mattyrm wrote: This child makes me scornful of the mid-west.

Spoiler:

Has anyone encountered anybody who feels the mid west and south are backwards and useless?

I went from the past 13 years in Texas (Also my birth state) to northern Suburbia California. You might say I have encountered people. There are plenty of elitist snobs, plenty of good people, and a whole lot of human trash in both areas.

One thing I have noticed in Cali, and this is a very stark contrast to the areas like Alaska and borderline Gulf oil field area Texas...people here? Seems to be the most awful thing to happen to a good portion of them really IS that the starbucks wasn't correct this morning, and it seems like a lot of them lack a certain...perspective that one gets actually living in the sticks. Another thing is this immediate propensity to make something someone else`s problem. "Hire someone to do that." "The city takes care/should take care of that." to the point where it seems like its actually undesirable to get <CENSORED> done yourself.

This bled over into a very, VERY unexpected area when I moved in, when I had to rent a handtruck designed for moving coke machines/heavy equipment around to move my gun safe into the house, in Texas this is not a big deal, needing a 10 minute drive to a score of welding or construction equipment rental places/moving businesses. In California this requires calling about fourty five thousand different places until finally stumbling someplace that has one stuffed in the back corner that no one has touched since the bronze age requiring a multi-hour odyssey to reach. Now, during all this, you will be bombarded by a torrent of "Ugh, just hire a moving company to do it." which may just leave you mumbling about "Damned pampered Californians." or similar.

Other posters are right, it IS a Rural versus Urban situation, rather than a purely state vs. state outlook. In rural areas, there probably -is- no public transport. There is no police response time under 15 minutes (Granted, the 5+ minutes generally seen in urban areas is absolutely appalling and utterly worthless for any purpose other than to draw chalk outlines around bodies, but it won't stop people in the area for putting their total faith in the system and berating anyone "Insane, backwards, and rednecky" enough to take their own precautions additionally) There is no public sewer system, you have a septic tank...or an outhouse. There is no public garbage service. There is no recycling program. There are likely to be a grand total of 0 hospitals within 20+ minutes. (In my last rural location, 45 minutes is more likely with the winding two lane roads and traffic.) You will have comparitively frequent disruptions in both water and power, farther rural you may not have one or both of these at all. You will have a wide and varied selection of one, perhaps two public schools to attend, or home schooling.

Being one one side or the other of this kind of situation is going to promote a -vastly- different mindset, let alone all the other little details I haven't mentioned yet.

By the way, as a southerner: You yankees can't shoot...but good God you can cook.

SOFDC wrote:
This bled over into a very, VERY unexpected area when I moved in, when I had to rent a handtruck designed for moving coke machines/heavy equipment around to move my gun safe into the house, in Texas this is not a big deal, needing a 10 minute drive to a score of welding or construction equipment rental places/moving businesses. In California this requires calling about fourty five thousand different places until finally stumbling someplace that has one stuffed in the back corner that no one has touched since the bronze age requiring a multi-hour odyssey to reach. Now, during all this, you will be bombarded by a torrent of "Ugh, just hire a moving company to do it." which may just leave you mumbling about "Damned pampered Californians." or similar.

Speaking to this, it isn't necessarily a matter of being pampered. There's a reason people speak to the bustling lifestyle in cities like Chicago, LA, and NY. People are always in a hurry, and it isn't because they're impatient jerks. While they may act that way, they generally do so because they have reason to: they're busy, all the time. When you live in a large urban area your time tends to be in a high degree of demand, and therefore taking time to complete certain tasks yourself is expensive, often more expensive than hiring someone else to do it for you. This expense isn't necessarily monetary either, because the cost of canceling an appointment or missing a day of work is often losing out on a job, or promotion. And its important to note that nearly everyone has a life like this, which means everything is scheduled. If you've ever wondered why the job description for assistants and secretaries is basically "problem solver" this is the reason, they are essentially professional improvisers.

This isn't to say people in rural areas don't have busy lifestyles either, but there is a big difference between telling yourself that you need to, say, paint the house, and being told by an HR person that you need to show up to an interview at 9. Some people are socialized for one, and some the other, and some lie in between. Personally, I prefer having lots of independent time, but find rural America to be kind of boring, so I'm screwed either way.

Interestingly, this is also the source of the joke "Friends = needing to help someone move." To some of the people I know from rural areas this type of thing always just seems lazy, but its very different when you realize that helping someone move usually involves replacing precious leisure time with labor.

Of course, the suburbs can go either way on this, depending on where, and how long, a person works.

dogma wrote:
Interestingly, this is also the source of the joke "Friends = needing to help someone move." To some of the people I know from rural areas this type of thing always just seems lazy, but its very different when you realize that helping someone move usually involves replacing precious leisure time with labor.

Of course, the suburbs can go either way on this, depending on where, and how long, a person works.

This is probably why the payment for your friends helping you move is the same the entire country over: beer/pizza (or some other variety of takeout food)

I have often found that, ultra-urbanites have tended to "create" business for themselves as often as it is a "real" busy. For instance, getting nails or hair done is now a life or death thing; whereas those people who live on the outskirts of town, in the rural areas, or maybe even the suburbs will see it as a nice thing to have done once in a while. As parents, we also force this on our kids with afterschool soccer practice (until they reach an appropriate age for 'real' sports), music lessons, etc. So that eventually they just learn to be busy nearly all the time.

alarmingrick wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:I'm in SoCal and it was 110F at my house this week.

In Oklahoma, it feels as if it's been close to 110f almost all summer. i'm ready for it to change. been too hot, for too long.

Cry me a river; it's been 70F up here all summer. Needs to be colder, LOTS colder.....

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I have often found that, ultra-urbanites have tended to "create" business for themselves as often as it is a "real" busy. For instance, getting nails or hair done is now a life or death thing; whereas those people who live on the outskirts of town, in the rural areas, or maybe even the suburbs will see it as a nice thing to have done once in a while. As parents, we also force this on our kids with afterschool soccer practice (until they reach an appropriate age for 'real' sports), music lessons, etc. So that eventually they just learn to be busy nearly all the time.

I know a few girls working in the fashion industry for whom getting their nails done is about as important as showering before going to work. All professions have certain expectations of appearance, and some are more demanding than others.

One of things I learned from living on my own in Chicago, and even St. Paul, is that what is a luxury for one person is often a necessity for another.

Da Boss wrote:My dad says there's one thing you never need to pack, and that's a gobshite- because you'll find plenty wherever you go.

Whats a gobshite?

We had one kid in my highschool who said she was from some State in the South of America (the name escapes me), and might I just say I have never met a more ignorant, biased, socially out-of-touch person in my life. I am hoping there arn't many more of these people in the states and I'm sure there arn't.

I have no idea why her parents made her move to my country because she absolutely hated everyone and everything Australian. For one Australia is a very multicultural place, and since where I lived there was a large muslim and asian community. The very first day she arrived she spat abuse at nearly every kid who wasn't white, even resorting to the bible to 'convert' them.

I think she was suspended a number of times from school for fighting and dress code (every school here wears uniforms). I'm not trying to portray a stereotype or anything on Southerners, but geeze this kid was something else.

RatBot wrote:

mattyrm wrote: This child makes me scornful of the mid-west.

Someone should smack that kid in the mouth.


Figuratively, of course.

Personally, I would rather smack that nice tush that fine black lady has.

Private_Joker wrote:We had one kid in my highschool who said she was from some State in the South of America (the name escapes me), and might I just say I have never met a more ignorant, biased, socially out-of-touch person in my life. I am hoping there arn't many more of these people in the states and I'm sure there arn't.

I have no idea why her parents made her move to my country because she absolutely hated everyone and everything Australian. For one Australia is a very multicultural place, and since where I lived there was a large muslim and asian community. The very first day she arrived she spat abuse at nearly every kid who wasn't white, even resorting to the bible to 'convert' them.

I think she was suspended a number of times from school for fighting and dress code (every school here wears uniforms). I'm not trying to portray a stereotype or anything on Southerners, but geeze this kid was something else.

To be fair, she'd probably do just as poorly in any urban area in the U.S.


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Cheesecat wrote:

RatBot wrote:

mattyrm wrote: This child makes me scornful of the mid-west.

Someone should smack that kid in the mouth.


Figuratively, of course.

Personally, I would rather smack that nice tush that fine black lady has.

Indeed. Smack that tush for great justice!

Private_Joker wrote:We had one kid in my highschool who said she was from some State in the South of America (the name escapes me), and might I just say I have never met a more ignorant, biased, socially out-of-touch person in my life. I am hoping there arn't many more of these people in the states and I'm sure there arn't.

I have no idea why her parents made her move to my country because she absolutely hated everyone and everything Australian. For one Australia is a very multicultural place, and since where I lived there was a large muslim and asian community. The very first day she arrived she spat abuse at nearly every kid who wasn't white, even resorting to the bible to 'convert' them.

I think she was suspended a number of times from school for fighting and dress code (every school here wears uniforms). I'm not trying to portray a stereotype or anything on Southerners, but geeze this kid was something else.

Some people don't like to conform to the society that they now live in and adhere to the "When in Rome, make the Romans do as I do." approach. Unfortunately it happens everywhere, but Australia is too expensive for my taste, that and hot. I mean its so hot that some of the sand looks red, and man when the Earth begins to get a sunburn then you know its hot. I may be a southerner but I'm a yankee by blood, I prefer the Mid-West(Wisconsin) side over the North Eastern(Rhode Island) side in terms of food and atmosphere. Unfortunately my family in the mid-west is mostly comprised of racist pricks so I usually tend to stay with my mom's adoptive family which is comprised of kind souls who actually do things with their lives(let's just say that my mom's adoptive mother was more missed by us than my mom's biological mother).

There's all sorts out in the world no matter where you go, its just that those who give bad examples of their areas are easily remembered compared to the good ones who fall in between the cracks of memory.

Private_Joker wrote:We had one kid in my highschool who said she was from some State in the South of America (the name escapes me), and might I just say I have never met a more ignorant, biased, socially out-of-touch person in my life. I am hoping there arn't many more of these people in the states and I'm sure there arn't.

I have no idea why her parents made her move to my country because she absolutely hated everyone and everything Australian. For one Australia is a very multicultural place, and since where I lived there was a large muslim and asian community. The very first day she arrived she spat abuse at nearly every kid who wasn't white, even resorting to the bible to 'convert' them.

I think she was suspended a number of times from school for fighting and dress code (every school here wears uniforms). I'm not trying to portray a stereotype or anything on Southerners, but geeze this kid was something else.

I'm not trying to portray stereotypes here, but let me tell you a story about the only Southerner I ever met and how backwards and ignorant she was...

Ah well, when the Chinese finalise buying out your country I'm sure you will all have more to worry about than "those guys in other states" and more about having to work in sweat shops making cheap electrical and clothing items to ship over to China and delivering take away American food to your new Chinese overlords

I'm reminded by a sketch by (I believe) Jason Manford about people hating each other until someone from slightly further away comes along

I was lucky enough to get out to FL this year for a few weeks and although we did a lot of the tourist stuff, we also did a lot of day to day type stuff and i have to say the vast, vast majority of people i spoke to were extremely polite and friendly. I did encounter a couple of donkey caves passing through airport security (one in Newark, the other in Atlanta). I understand and approve of the job they were doing but the attitude stank! Not the welcome i expected from my first encounter with an American on his home turf.

mattyrm wrote: Speaking from a European pov, I think the hate for the perceived "red necks" is entirely reasonable.

When you see some douchebag saying grossly offensive things about "oversea's folks" Its never a nice liberal from San Fransisco is it?

As you all know, Ive lived and worked with Americans for years, and my missus is one. No other country is as close to my heart, and I met some proper good lads in the USAF, but I did meet a few truly idiotic, ignorant, bigoted individuals, and they were almost always deep accented Southern blokes who think that "Europeans are all queer" or some such nonsense.

Those bible bashing deep south passportless types give my American chums a bad name. I lived in CA for two years and I didn't meet a single person that was as annoying as several members of the Oklahoma national guard. And according to those lads, Arkansas is even worse if your not into going to Church like me.

You should have went to Compton. Oh wait then you would be dead.


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Cheesecat wrote:I feel this poster is an accurate representation of the "Deep South". Any attempt to oppose my view points will be met with harsh retaliation in the form of snow balls, wild moose and hockey pucks.

Just remember, Tim Hortons is owned by an American Company. HURR!


(PS can you send me some maple glazed donuts? I've had Horton's donut DTs for about two years now).

Frazzled wrote:
You should have went to Compton. Oh wait then you would be dead.

I've been to Compton, and I used to regularly go to Long Beach for Chicken and Waffles at Rosco's. They aren't as bad as I expected from all the Snoop Doggy Dogg when I was a teenager.

In fact, Compton is way nicer than Middlesbrough. I was the only guy in my unit who wanted to stay in Baghdad after we invaded Iraq.

Why, we would eat Snoop and Doctor Dre for breakfast!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204127/Middlesbrough-really-worst-place-live.html

remilia_scarlet wrote:I know, I love the DFW area, but, I live in north texas, where things aren't as nice, and many people aren't as understanding. Just the other day, I went to get gas and asked my fiancé if she wanted anything, and some guy asked why am I in this country, nothing really gets to me, except those kinds of statements.

"Cause I likes your wimminzz." Just start running.


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rubiksnoob wrote:Honestly, I would never live further north than NC, where I currently reside. First reason being that I can't stand anything under 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Second reason being that I find the south to be a more vibrant enjoyable place to live. The people are nicer, the climate is nicer, everything is just more cheerful down here. As for us being uneducated backwards conservatives, well, yeah. Some of us are. But you damn yankees have your fair share of donkey-caves as well. I also have a dislike for the large cities up north. I much prefer cities like Charleston or Savannah.

It really comes down to personal preference, neither region is necessarily 'better' than the other. I just prefer to live somewhere where people smile and wave and hold the door for you and where life is happier and more vibrant. That's just my personal preference. It's all fine by me if you damn yankees enjoy being masochistic sad sacks.

Steroetypes of the South being the only region to have rednecks were so destroyed by this series:




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mattyrm wrote:

Frazzled wrote:
You should have went to Compton. Oh wait then you would be dead.

I've been to Compton, and I used to regularly go to Long Beach for Chicken and Waffles at Rosco's. They aren't as bad as I expected from all the Snoop Doggy Dogg when I was a teenager.

In fact, Compton is way nicer than Middlesbrough. I was the only guy in my unit who wanted to stay in Baghdad after we invaded Iraq.

Why, we would eat Snoop and Doctor Dre for breakfast!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204127/Middlesbrough-really-worst-place-live.html

Long Beach is not bad, just industrial.
Did you walk through Compton or drive?
EDIT: PLease tell me you went to Venice Beach. Everyone should take the Hajj to Venice Beach at least once in their life.

dogma wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I have often found that, ultra-urbanites have tended to "create" business for themselves as often as it is a "real" busy. For instance, getting nails or hair done is now a life or death thing; whereas those people who live on the outskirts of town, in the rural areas, or maybe even the suburbs will see it as a nice thing to have done once in a while. As parents, we also force this on our kids with afterschool soccer practice (until they reach an appropriate age for 'real' sports), music lessons, etc. So that eventually they just learn to be busy nearly all the time.

I know a few girls working in the fashion industry for whom getting their nails done is about as important as showering before going to work. All professions have certain expectations of appearance, and some are more demanding than others.

One of things I learned from living on my own in Chicago, and even St. Paul, is that what is a luxury for one person is often a necessity for another.

That's the fashion industry. It's not lthe people who work at wal-mart

Frazzled wrote:

Steroetypes of the South being the only region to have rednecks were so destroyed by this series:

CT, that was such an awesome picture, I saved it.

Commisar Von Humps wrote:Hey guys, this is more posed towards Americans on the forum, and the question is, Has anyone encountered anybody who feels the mid west and south are backwards and useless? I live in NY and i know many people who feel that way, one of which goes on to declare that the only states worth anything are California, NY, and D.C.(which i went on to explain was not a state....). He says that because to him the entirety of the south and mid west is backwards, Conservative, and stupid.

Sure is, the midwest is a collection of backwards dirt farmers who just recently discovered them magic talkin' boxes with the real culture like Jersey Shore and 'dem 'dere other reality TV shows. The southern states are similar to this, except that think they won the war, and are even more into guns and Christianity. They claim that the world is flat and 6000 years old, also.

Of course, this doesn't change the fact that the west coast is full of the most unreliable people I've dealt with that weren't drug addled hobos, based upon personal interaction. When saddled with the decision of whether to spend money to improve curriculum or have a architect design a super-trendy NEW school, with the same broken curriculum in place, they'll go for the school. Oh, and iPads. Those where the reason the kids weren't learning.

Now, this sounds bad, but then we have to turn to the fact that the East Coast is full of donkey-caves. Literally, full of donkey-caves. There isn't room for one more without stacking them, and you're all as bad as the next. You all would stab your mother for a dime and drag the body through the street for a promotion. I mean, it's the East Coast, it's that place that's renown for such amazing things as: Wall Street, Washington, and Jersey Shore. That should read like a list of war crimes, not accomplishments. And I'm just talking about the northern portion of the east coast. The southern portions resemble some bizarre amalgumation of the South and the East Coast, with toolbags and people who can't figure out how to vote all over. I'm looking at you Florida.

----

Or, on the other hand, stereotypes exist everywhere. Your friend is being a judgmental donkey-cave, and probably hasn't even left the comfort of his surroundings to come here and see it and develop reasons to hate it like those of us who have been living here have. It happens. We've a transplant from Connecticut we play D&D with who rants and raves about how much better things are back in the East, especially when some Midwesterner does something stupid (which happens a lot, don't get me wrong), and then I YouTube 30 seconds of Jersey Shore. It's the only counterargument needed.

Private_Joker wrote:We had one kid in my highschool who said she was from some State in the South of America (the name escapes me), and might I just say I have never met a more ignorant, biased, socially out-of-touch person in my life. I am hoping there arn't many more of these people in the states and I'm sure there arn't.

I have no idea why her parents made her move to my country because she absolutely hated everyone and everything Australian. For one Australia is a very multicultural place, and since where I lived there was a large muslim and asian community. The very first day she arrived she spat abuse at nearly every kid who wasn't white, even resorting to the bible to 'convert' them.

I think she was suspended a number of times from school for fighting and dress code (every school here wears uniforms). I'm not trying to portray a stereotype or anything on Southerners, but geeze this kid was something else.

I'm guessing that this girl's behaviour was probably most likely down to anxiety at having been uprooted from her home, friends, family and school against her wishes, and moved to a different country a few thousand miles away, as opposed to being from the American south.

But hey, what do I know? I'm only an adult.

CT GAMER wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Steroetypes of the South being the only region to have rednecks were so destroyed by this series:

Never been there, what's wrong with Six Flags?

Slarg232 wrote:
Never been there, what's wrong with Six Flags?

Outside of the fact that there's states you can go to Six Flags in that aren't Jersey, it's kind of the McDonald's of amusement parks. There are better, and it's vastly overcrowded.

I also find it interesting that there are lots of bands that come out of Jersey, and I've heard plenty of songs talking about how they never want to go back, but never a single one about how they miss it or can't wait to go home.

Albatross wrote:I'm guessing that this girl's behaviour was probably most likely down to anxiety at having been uprooted from her home, friends, family and school against her wishes, and moved to a different country a few thousand miles away, as opposed to being from the American south.

But hey, what do I know? I'm only an adult.

Truth.

If, of course, that story even actually happened.

Wait... are you implying that someone could post something untrue on the internet? Preposterous; what would a person gain from posting anything but the considered, unbiased truth? You sir, are ridiculous.

I must weigh all possibilities, regardless of their likelihood.

Up until now, everything I have ever read on the internet has been true. At some point this trend must cease.

Albatross wrote: I'm only an adult.

Until the test results return I wouldn't go making such bold claims.

Frazzled wrote:

Just remember, Tim Hortons is owned by an American Company. HURR!
.

HERESY!