chefhelen wrote:
>
> "Pete C." > wrote in message
> ...
> > Gregory Morrow wrote:
> >>
> >> 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...
> >
> > That is a function of the education and economic status for the most
> > part. Bad behaving parents produce bad behaving children who produce
> > more bad behaving children. I was addressing the human sub species
> > issue, not all bad behavior and ignorance.
> >
> >>
> >> 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...
> >
> > Well, when the tornados and dustbowl wipe everything out, it naturally
> > drives the intelligent, educated population to relocate to better areas,
> > leaving a concentration of the ignorant and superstitious.
> >
> >>
> >> 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...
> >
> > On one cross country trip, I specifically planed my fuel fill ups and
> > routes to eliminate any stops on my way through Alabama. I went through
> > at 4am, never leaving the major highways, and this was in 2004, I don't
> > have long hair and I drive a crew cab dually pickup too.
>
> Was this your attempt to be stealthy? You sound as though you'd fit right
> in!
>

No, actually it was the same truck I drove when I lived in CT. I was
happy I no longer had CT plates on it of course...

>
> Happy to be in Huntsville, Alabama. We have a 15 minute commute, live in a
> very nice area where the cost of living is reasonable, have great weather,
> aside from the occasional cold snap, and have great friends. Ok, there is
> the fact that it's a red state but I'm working on changing that!
>
>
> helen

Yep, certainly didn't mean to imply that there was no intelligent life
in Alabama. I've worked with a few intelligent folks from Alabama, and
notably they were also from the Huntsville area.