Southern

You can't be serious. Are you serious? Are you using "Southern" pejoratively, as though it were a slur? Are you serious? You have disdain for Southerners? REALLY?

That is so absurd. Why? Why do people think Southerners are... whatever the hell they think we are? No one yet has said what it is; the source and nature of the frustration is implied through the sardonic tone. I mean "Southern" is dripping with disdain as it rolls off the lips of folks up here. It's quite curious. There is no need to elaborate, or to specify what the nature of your frustration is; your listener simply infers exactly what you mean by saying Southern.

"I'm so frustrated with my insurance company. I called in about a claim, and I had to deal with this Southern woman!"

"Ugh!"

What the fuck are you people talking about? I'm serious, not indignant. What the fuck are you talking about? Are you thinking that Southerners are dumb? Do we speak with an accent that is hard to understand? Do we appear uninterested in moving with the efficiency that you want when you want your problems resolved the way you want them resolved, particularly when you're frustrated?

So, was this call center worker unable to solve your complex problem, and only capable of giving you scripted responses? What does being Southern have to do with anything? I'm not being pedantic, I really don't get it.

I mean, that may be because I'm a Southerner, but not because Southerners are dumb, but because this is a new experience to live somewhere that disdain for the South permeates the culture. It's brand new to live with this. It's a real oddity. And, when I tell people that I'm Southern, perhaps with my nondescript atypical "Southern" accent, they expect me to accept an invitation to disparage the South.

It's the craziest shit!

So, being reasonable, and "fair" with their prejudice:

What is there to dislike about the South? Racial prejudice? Oooh, honeychile! Folks above the Mason-Dixon line have NOT figured out racism. They are just as constrained by white guilt, blackaphobia, and a willingness to economically and legislatively segregate people of color. White folks in America are comfortable with some really heinous racist shit. The South has no monopoly on the absurdities of interpersonal and institutional racism. So, that's kinda dumb.

I don't think that Southerners are dumb. But, moreover, I don't think that Northerners are impressively intelligent. We're all about the same; kinda average. So, that's not it.

My best guess is that the disdain stems from the cultural distinctions that arise from an agrarian-based society versus and industry-based society, accumulated over generations of time and progress. We are culturally distinct. I think the agrarian basis of Southern life, as well as the oppressive heat that meant a pace of life that enabled you to slow down enough to notice and connect with other human beings- simply because it's good to slow down and connect with other human beings, has meant that Southerners have been able to hold onto our humanity in a way that industrialization and efficiency/productivity have droned out of Northerners.

We have porches!! We sit on them and expect other people to pass time with us. We say "hello" to people, even as we drive by in our cars. They may be people that we've never seen in our neighborhood before. The response is the same, slow down the car slightly and wave hello.

What is there to dislike about Southerners? Oh! Also, I've learned that many folks up here have never been to the South. Are you serious!?! Yeah- never been there.

So, what you know of the South is from the rehearsal of prejudice, and what you see on TV? It's like living in Germany and asking young people why they had prejudices against African-Americans.

"They're violent."

"What makes you think we are violent?"

"Boyz in the Hood."

"This is not a conversation worth having..."