Bias against Southerners misses the mark

Pasco Times ^ | July 11, 2005 | RICHARD COX

[robowombat]

Bias against Southerners misses the mark By RICHARD COX Published July 11, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does prejudice exist in Pasco County, an area with a very diverse population and seemingly very progressive?

I am certain that African-Americans, Hispanics and people from other countries, the poor and homeless, as well as members of certain religious faiths, experience treatment different from the mainstream populace. However, I am a member of a minority who has experienced attitudes and reactions from many individuals who assume that I am intellectually and socially challenged.

A very large percentage of the population of New Port Richey in particular is from the Northeast. I personally like the outspokenness, mince-no-words attitude, the ability to criticize as well as accept criticism without being offended, that seems to represent the culture in which Northerners grew up.

My family members seem to have the disadvantage of being born and living most of our lives in the South, in our case, Tennessee. I grew up in Knoxville, a city that many people seem to associate only with the fanatical behavior of our college football fans, and my wife is from a small city near Chattanooga.

There still seems to be a stereotype that some people associate with Tennesseans. When those individuals heard the distinct accent of my wife, my stepdaughter, and myself, it seemed to conjure up that redneck image one might associate with the humor of Jeff Foxworthy and other Southern comedians. That image is of a culture of ignorant hillbillies (certainly due to inbreeding!), barefoot, living in a shack with no indoor plumbing (but certainly an outhouse in back), having a dog living under the front porch, and owning an overgrown lawn populated with broken-down, dilapidated automobiles. And, yes, we all chew tobacco and sit on the front porch swing playing the banjo. Everyone also flies a Confederate flag and reminisces about the War Between the States.

I first noticed this attitude when my stepdaughter, an honor student, came home from middle school several days in tears because several other students harassed her daily, calling her an ignorant redneck and hillbilly among other derogatory terms. My wife and I have experienced the sudden change in facial expressions from many when they hear our accent. They seem to associate our accent with ignorance, and speak in simpler terms so that we can understand what they are saying. Telephone conversations often produce the same reaction.

I beg to differ. Tennessee is the home of several major universities, four major metropolitan areas with all the drug and gang problems associated with other large cities, and the most visited national park in the United States. Oak Ridge, in the Knoxville area, probably has as high a percentage of residents with doctorate degrees as any city in the United States. Tennessee has a musical heritage equal to none, and it is not exclusively country or bluegrass genres. Many nationally prominent politicians are from my home state, including three former presidents.

Tennessee has produced many famous musicians, actors, scientists and other intellectual and talented natives.

Well, to set the story straight, rural areas of most states have their own populace and dwellings that approach this stereotype.

My wife and I grew up in your average suburban neighborhoods, we both graduated from major universities and had successful professional careers, and, to risk seeming boastful, are probably as intelligent and knowledgeable, if not more so, than the average American. Believe it or not, East Tennessee, the section of the state we are from, fervently supported the Union during the Civil War.

I have noticed in the Pasco Times notices of meetings for various groups from areas of the Northeast and from other countries. Perhaps Southerners in our area should form a similar group. With apologies to an African-American group with a similar title, we could call our group the NAASF, the National Association for the Advancement of Southern Folks, Pasco County Branch. I hope there are enough local Southern residents available to attract to our organization.

--Richard Cox, a retired middle school science teacher and department head, lives in New Port Richey

[Modernman]

Godforsaken is in the eyes of those that forsake God.

Hey, my rejection of a Bronze-age deity is a discussion for another day.

[Wampus SC]

"There is a high level of paranoia in your fears of some sort of disaster that would disrupt civilization as we know it."

Thaaaat's right. Thaaaat's right. Just keep repeating the magic words over and over, like you've been doing all day. It's the process of repetition that makes you right - just like magic. Parnoid tinfoil paranoid tinfoil paranoid tinfoil. That's it. Since that's all you've got now, better keep on using it.

You're licensed to make psychiatric diagnoses, right?

[Modernman]

keep repeating the magic words over and over, like you've been doing all day.

I'm not sure what else to say to you on this topic. You seem to be heavily invested in your fears. Nothing is really going to bring you back to reality, I fear.

[Wampus SC]

"scavenging for rotted swamp plants, while being bitten by vicious attacking ants, half nuked alligators & various venomous snakes."

You sure sound scared.

Bitten by vicious attacking ants?

And half nuked alligators?

You've been watching too many grade C horor movies.

ROFL again.

[Wampus SC]

"The only problem is the dummies falling into a pre-set trap. You do realize once they figure out you sold them a pile of junk, the geographic location & the ones who lied to them only serves to reinforce the existing image of the deceitful redneck types?

Wrong again. To these people, these rusted out piles of junk are treasures to be coveted. They covet old swamp junk trucks so much that they bid each other up just to what to them is a treasure. When they get back, the word gets around about what a great low coat deal they got from me, and send more customers my way. I even get repeats. South Carolina gets rid of unsightly scrap metal, and money comes into the local economy. I use that money to create jobs by hiring people to scour the swamps for old abandoned trucks to bring in. Everybody wins. Everybody is helped. It's just patriotic capitalism. And you've still got a problem with it?

"How can you then squawk when labeled such?"

I didn't squawk. I defy you to find anyplace I complained about it. You can't, because you're just plain wrong. So either admit you're wrong right now - or produce such a reference. Failure to produce such, or failure to answer at all will be seen for what it is - admission that you've been caught again in devious rhetorical trickery. So go ahead, post your evidence NOW! Go ahead, for once in your life be a straightforward man. It's in you, isn't it?

"Even if I may not like someone I do not believe being a deliberately deceitful and dishonest. Those rats are on the corner with their five card Monty cons. What one dishes out someday is dished right back."

Oh, I like my customers. I'm very honest with my customers. I take a picture of the burned and rusted out hulk of a swamp truck and place an ad. I say right up front that the engine and transmission are seized up, the rubber is rotted, the axle is cracked, the frame is bent, the seats are gone, and the body is mostly powdery rust and barely fit for scrap metal. They know exactly what they're getting and they still want to buy. Where's the deceit there? The Deliverance accent is just to make them be more willing customers. That's advertising. And advertising is just business as usual, just part and parcel with capitalism. And you've still got a problem with that?

"totally dependent for every need.." in terms of what food, clothing, transportation, medical? How is a "mark of superiority"

Yes. Those things are good examples. Ask modernman how being dependent is a mark of superiority. It's his premise, and the mark he applied to himself. Just read upthread.

"That's pretty quick on those closing costs! You have to be kidding? For a swamp? I am not buying it."

Well, you bought all that stuff about the swamp junk trucks, didn't you! Guess I pressed my luck on the swamp thing. BTW, I hope you remember that it was you who originated this swamp junk stuff. When you made that comment based on your ignorant stereotypes, I decided not to contradict you on it - since you obviously know everything, right? Remember how I said that feeding the customers' stereotypes turns them into willing customers? Yep, it sure does. Yep.

"It looked like a creepy looking swamp to me, not a pond. Ponds are for swimming, maybe fishing, canoing, boating, picnics, kids playing - not being eating by prehistoric monsters! "

Don't be afraid. I know it's terror producing simply because a swamp is a natural places, but really, try to work on not being afraid of the natural, OK? And ya know, I don't think I'll hold it against you that you don't know the basics.

Prehistoric....... monsters....... Ohhhhhhh Kay.... Didn't anyone ever tell you that there aren't any prehistoric monsters in the swamps? Or anywhere else? Really now, you've got to stop taking those horror movies so seriously!

"One's "basic needs" may not be the same as another man's."

Food, clothing, shelter is what you need to stay alive. In a natural disaster anything else may be nice, but not mandatory. All right, I'll acknowledge that there are a few people like modernman who probably couldn't survive without toenail polish and caviar enemas, but fortunately they're rare. Might just be one.

"Seriously, I do not comprehend the line of thinking presented"

Well duh! We figured that out long before you told us, and you've amply demonstrated that inability many times. Clue: don't for one moment assume that you were more than incidental to anything that's been said here.

Would you like your bedtime story now?

[Wampus SC]

"The ability to use Google Images search gets you all you need in about 15 seconds.

I wouldn't know, since I've never used Google to search the net to satisfy my need to see that kind of picture. Nor am I motivated by racism to have them or post them.

But I'll assume you're speaking from experience and take your word for it on how easily you satisfy that need.

[Good Lord above! Do ALL of the racist, clueless, south hating bigots have a fetish for that kind of picture? Sure looks like a pattern. First wlat, then zarf, then the false prophet, then modernman, then.... Yep. Must be it.]

[Wampus SC]

"He bought a house in your town or nearby. He asked you local guys for advice about what to plant as ground cover. Rather than helping the new guy out, you decided to mess with him. Very neighborly. I guess those are the Southern values and friendliness you neo-Confeds are always harping about. "

From day one, he was snotty and condescending to everyone, about everything. Without exception. And with everything he said, he made a crack about how inferior southerners were to him. He expected that the mere fact that he said, over and over, that we were an "inferior race" would make us see how clever and wonderful he was, and *stated* that the reason we didn't immediately accept our inferiority on his say-so was simply because we were Southerners. Thus, too stupid to get it. He knew how to do absolutely nothing for himself, and was proudly arrogant of that fact. "Sophisticates pay menials to do everything they need. Doing anything for yourself puts you in the menial class, just like you Southerners". He repeated this behavior all day, every day, without exception, without variation, and without letup. He was just like you - exhibiting those presumed northern virtues you neo-nothings are always chattering about.

"Yeah. I guess he's lucky you and your redneck buddies didn't gang-rape him or something"
We're not attracted to males, not even admitted "proud metrosexuals" who try to affect that drag queen look and persona. Hey, it's not my problem that you have fantasies of homosexual gang rape by rednecks racing though your head. It's yours. There's a pattern here. Yep. There is. Somehow it fits with that proclivity for South bashers to collect, search for, and post racist pictures of lynchings of African Americans. Their version of the snuff film. It fits very well with you having gone into the law as second choice, right behind being a pornographer.

[Wampus SC]

"Now you find the word "locals" upsetting? Man, you neo-Confeds are sensitive."

I'm rather thick skinned, or I wouldn't be here, huh? Simply showing another example of how your patronizing attitude knows no bounds, and is continuous. Those who are the most patronizing have the least to be patronizing about. Thus, those who are patronizing continuously have nothing at all.

"Speak for youself. These guys seemed pretty cool. Might've been the women we were with, though. Two redheads and a blonde make guys friendlier, I guess."

You GUESS? Don't you KNOW? Amazing - but I guess total cluelessness would have to include a total lack of knowledge of male-female dynamics. OK, I understand how being an admitted "proud metrosexual" would have precluded your having any meaningful interaction with women. Women will put up with metrosexuals sometimes if they're desperate or mercenary, but they don't really like metrosexuals. They like men.

"A store that sells beer. Not a difficult concept, for most. I guess, for accuracy's sake, I should also mention that they sold various and sundry other items, such as chips and snacks"

That you *still* can't come up with the word to call that kind of store is yet another example of how your clulessness extends to the simplest, smallest of things. Some people would be proud of being like that. I wouldn't. But I'm not you.

"Reading comprehension is your friend: I wrote that the house was "outside of Lynchburg." I think the town in question was called Lynch Station."

In common English, "familiar with Lynchburg" implies familiarity with the Lynchburg area. Reading comprehension is your friend, but after all I've seen from you, I no longer expect you to have a grasp of common English. You THINK you know the name of the town? Aren't you CERTAIN? Gee, where have we seen that before? Oh, yeah, it was you. [Boy wasn't even sure what town he was in. Whew! Sure is consistent though.] OK, so what body of water was this alleged marina on? You were there. Yeah, right. Sure you were. Uh-huh.

[Wampus SC]

"I've been meeting lots of African-American people who have come to SC from up north. Wanna guess why? To a man, and to a woman, they say it's to escape racist persecution."

"Now you're just entering stand watie delusion land."

Really. Do you live here? How many black people do you know who live down here? One? None? So that's how you see black people - you see them as people who lie about their own lives. Figures! How about you come on down here and tell some of them to their faces what liars they are. While you're at it, you can use your omniscience to explain to them why they would lie about their lives like you imply they do. It can be arranged. You up for it? You're not a coward too, are you? Come on.

[Wampus SC]

"My diagnoses are purely that of a layman. But some things are clear even without a medical degree."

Perhaps some things are clear sometimes. However you must be licensed to make an unequivocal statement in the form of a psychiatric diagnosis. Which you did. And now you've verified that you are not licensed to be allowed to do so legally. You claim to be a lawyer, and if that were really true you would have known better than to do what you did. And understood the ramifications of doing so. Well, that cat's sure out of the bag now, isn't it? Check that.

[Wampus SC]

"instead, i get to hear all the latest "n!gger jokes", "jew-jokes" & "redskin/blanket@ss jokes", as soon as they hear i'm from the southland. (fwiw, cyborg has the SAME PROBLEM!)"

I have no doubt that she does. I do too, and my actual race isn't even immediately apparent to some. It's their upbringing and traditions to be that way.

[Wampus SC]

No. Stand watie addressed #976 to modernman. In that post he asked modernman:

"i didn't know you are as big a fool as "m.eSPINola". are you also a RACIST like him/her/it too?"

And I'm the one with reading comprehension problems. Uh-huh.

[Wampus SC]

"I'm not really sorry I didn't. It might have been fun at the time, but it probably would have been a bad idea in the long run."

When asked if you're the one who was sorry he didn't go into the porn business, you said you were.

Now you say you're not sorry.

You're so intent that everyone except you is wrong about everything, all the time, that you simply rush in and dispute whatever's said to you. Without ever thinking that with everything you say, you completely contradict yourself. Every single time.

Sorry... not sorry... sorry... not sorry... flip... flop... flip... flop... flip... flop... flip... flop...

[Wampus SC]

"imVho, "modernman" is trying to become KNOWN to be as big a DUNCE as "m.eSPINola".

it's a race to the BOTTOM!

LOL! imho, he doesn't have to try very hard. He's very talented in those areas. "Superior", even. :)

I'm betting on modernman in that race.

[Wampus SC]

"That sure was quick. A few posts ago rural bunkers were the province of the paranoid and tinfoil. "

They generally are. Government does a lot of pretty whacky things, such as building giant bunkers so that Congress can keep legislating while the rest of us are dead. That doesn't mean the rest of us should buy into that mindset. But, hey, if you want to build a bunker, nobody is stopping you."

First you say it's a crazy idea - and when I agree with you, you say that means I want to build a bunker.

And when I say what a stupid idea bunker building is - you repeat those magic words - and say it means I want to build a bunker.

Then you say bunker building is a great idea when the government does it.

And now you say it's a whacky idea when the government does it. And of course the fact that I agree with you can only mean one thing - you guessed, that you'll say it means I want to build a bunker. Thaaaat's right. That's it. Repetition... magic words... repetition... it is the repetition that proves you right about everything.... it's all you got... it's all you need... so do it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again!!

Remember how it's been shown how you're so intent that everyone must be wrong that you just rush headlong and dispute everything that's said to you - even when you're being agreed with? And ending up contradicting everything you say, every single time you say anything at all? Well, this, like everything else you do, is another example. Bunkers are tinfoil. No, wait! Bunkers are a good idea! No, wait, bunkers are whacky! Flip flop flip flop flip flop. Why, son, you're arguing with yourself! And losing both sides of the argument!

Wanna know something? It's too damned easy. Yep, it's too easy to get you to say anything we want, and get you chasing your tail and flip flopping about anything desired. That is what has been done with you. ?Comprende?

It's OK. Everything that you are has been exposed now. The intrinsic ultimate wrongness that is you has been opened for examination. And examined it will be, by those who will see what kind of person -you- occupies a (probably imaginary) position of influence inside the beltway, and why that kind of person is responsible for so many problems.

"But I'm still going to call you paranoid.

Then I'll have to talk about your apparent practicing of medicine without a license on a public forum.

You consider me pointing out that I'm close to ground zero in DC to be name-dropping?"

No, you neutron star. When, over the course of several days, several times a day, on multiple threads - most of which having nothing to do with nukes an such - you post again and again about your proximity to the White House / Capitol, it's name dropping. So OK, WE SEE YOU MODERNMAN! See? All better now? Here's a pat on your l'il head.

[Wampus SC]

"Hey, my rejection of a Bronze-age deity is a discussion for another day."

Noted that you didn't say you don't believe God exists, but that you say you reject Him.

No further discussion needed. That explains everything about you, right there.

[Wampus SC]

Well, you could try repeating your little mantra about fear again, just like you did then. I'm really sad that's all you've got, so I'll give you some suggestions about what you could do. You could have the last word. That, more than anything else always proves you're correct about everything and refutes everyone else in the universe. Our you could have a petulent little snit your kind is so fond of affecting and say "I'm through talking with you". That has the same effect.

Lets talk about what you call my heavy investment in my fears, shall we?

First, please try to comprehend this time that the word "hurricane" is not the word "nuke". And try to understand that the word "hurricane" is not the same word as "apocalypse". I predict you still won't be able to, and we'll see, but I hope you can at least try.

In a natural disaster such as a hurricane, or tornado outbreak, or earthquake, I'm prepared to provide myself and several others with food, clean water, and heat for up to several months if needed. I have the knowledge and ability to get more if that isn't enough. I have no need to fear natural disasters like this, so I don't.

You, on the other hand, are not prepared for anything. Nor would you condescend to be, or even deign to know the first thing about how to go about it. You try to justify this lazy neglect with an air of it all being so very far beneath you; and screaming "paranoid" and "fear fear fear" over and over again.

I say I'm prepared and ready, and you always chant "fear". Yes, with you, a hurricane is a nuke, an interruption in services is the apocalypse, and there's always you saying "fear".

Hmmm. Could it be? Thinking aloud now -- Well, you've shown that your kind always inverts everything real or true. In this case, it's saying that anyone who is prepared and ready and resourceful is "fearful". Could it be that this another of his inversions - this time about *who* is fearful? And it's really modernman who is fearful? Hmmm... well, he's the only one mentioning fear, and always does. Every single time. And calls only people who express none "fearful". Yep, no doubt it's another modernman inversion of fact. Oh, I'm praying so hard that it's only because he can't help it...

[M. Espinola]

"You sure sound scared. Bitten by vicious attacking ants? And half nuked alligators? You've been watching too many grade C horor movies."

I have never really liked horror movies, that description was a brief overview of experiences when once making the gigantic & risky mistake of exiting I-95 somewhere in South Carolina -- to get some gas.

[M. Espinola]

"No, it all makes perfect sense. Upper case letters are called "Capital letters" Lincoln lived in the Capitol. Well, in the White House, but he visited the Capitol. And you can see the Lincoln Memorial from the Capitol. Therefore, capital letters are symbolic of the persecution of the south. That, or capital letters killed all his ancestors."

A perfect examination of the neo-confederate brain when deterioration begins taking its toll.

Stand's favourite monument

[M. Espinola]

"Godforsaken is in the eyes of those that forsake God."

Only those who knowing sell worthless rubbish and deceitfully abuse their neighbors are the only ones who really know God? How hypocritical.

When your on the receiving end, with interest, will you blame God or 'Yankees'?