Some Southerners trash both Garden and Gun and Southern Living (and a few other similarly targeted magazines such as Delta) as being “inauthentic.” Some seemingly jealous editors of other regional publications fan the flames. What they seem to mean is that since G&G and Southern Living may not appeal to the carpet-bag retirees, trailer park meth-cookers, liberal granola types, or blacks, their readers are racist neo-Confederates. Thankfully there are, generally speaking, enough traditional, educated, and upper middle class Southerners to form a reliable reader base.
Heh ... I’ve seen a few copies of these magazines. They’re not quite my thing, and I don’t subscribe ... but I’m glad to live in a world where they exist. Same thing with Italian super-cars and yachts.
I know the problem.
Texas Monthly is like you described. They are carpetbagging outsiders who present a Gucci version of Texas. And some city dwellers seem to accept it. I normally only see Texas Monthly in the Dr.’s office and the dental office.