Pete C. wrote:

> cybercat wrote:
>
> > As with every area,
> > education level and economic status has a lot to do with behavior and
> > attitudes.
>
> Absolutely, but PC or not, there are areas that are predominantly in the
> south, but not exclusively, where there is effectively a regressive sub
> species of human developing due to the lack of branches in the family
> trees. This is biological fact, not any sort of prejudice.



It's not the South, it's poorer US rural areas in general, from Maine
to California, from Washington state to Florida.

I grew up in west central Illannoy, when I read the area noozepapers
online I see the very same family names committing the same trashy
stuff they were doing 40 years ago. LOTS of meth busts, whole
extended families making meth in fact. On the state sex offender
registry site I see their mugs and go, "Ah, I went to school with that
guy's parents, they were pervs too...". Loads of DUI's, domestic
abuse, etc...

But socio - politically speaking, there do seem to be some
"backwaters", e.g. parts of Kansas, Missouri, etc. At least Illannoy
is a blue state (Chicago helps), we've got stuff like protection for
gays, etc.

An anecdote: A good friend recently moved from DC to Denver, he drove
through Kansas and had to call me several times as he traversed the
state, excitedly telling me about all the stuff that was "Christian -
themed" and redneck - ish. He'd say, "God, there are even Christian -
themed MOTELS in this place...!!! There are bible verses on the truck
stop menus...!!! A waitress asked me what CHURCH I went to...!!!
There are anti - abortion messages on the SUGAR PACKETS...!!!". I
said, "Hey, settle down, you're just passing through, lol...". He is
an East Coast urban guy, *** and Jewish and very well - travelled/
educated. But he'd never seen anything like Kansas - and he'd lived
in both St. Louis and Virginia (Alexandria, suburban DC) for periods
of years. Maybe what got him was that the conservative fundamentalist
culture that he encountered was *all* that was there in Kansas...

As for myself, the only time I really felt scared in my life was off
the interstate in rural Georgia to fill up my car whilst passing
through. They did NOT like Yankee hippies (I had long hair) in
1974...

"YMMV", as the auld saying goes...


--
Best
Greg