That is really a laugh. I thought the South gave us Clinton. In fact, the first time I ever saw the man, I thought to myself, There goes a white trash, trailer park, cornpone, mayonnaise-sandwich eatin', sister-f**kin' cracker to beat any I ever saw.
My ancestors were Yankee abolitionist ministers, humane and devout, who preached against the evil slave-holding culture of the Old South. They were right and you were wrong. Anyone who defended the Old South deserved to be killed, and many were, and the South was smashed and will never rise again. Good riddance.
-ccm
Gee, where to start.
The Old South was definitely wrong not to embrace more modern ways of thinking and they clung to slavery to the degree they were willing to rend the Union to protect it.
But I think the society is a lot more homogenized now than you would credit. The south -has- largely risen. There is a good deal of heavy industry in the south. In my home town of Chattanooga, they used to make nuclear power plant containment vessels. They'd barge 'em out on the river. There are BMW plants in South Carolina and Nissan plants in Tennessee. There is even a new plant building in LINCOLN, Alabama!
There is a lot of tolerance in the south. A 12 year old vietnamese girl from Chattanooga won the national spelling bee a few years ago.
There are some old fashioned things about the south I like quite a bit. If a perp comes in your house and you shoot him, you don't have to much worry about being prosecuted in the south, because they can't empanel a jury to convict you, even if the DA wanted to charge you, which they don't.
There is a great stereotype that I think has a lot of currency here. If you slide off the road in one of the very infrequent snow storms we have down here, don't worry. Before too long, a 4-wheel drive vehicle with four good ol' boys will appear with a chain and pull/push you out of the ditch. They will even offer you a beer before they go off looking for someone else to help. It's that kind of spirit that made southern soldiers so feared in the late unpleasantness.
The south is a great place to live, and there are only fringe element vestiges of its benighted past.
Plus, we have Southeastern Conference Football!
Walt