Posted on 10/13/2007 4:48:31 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
Anybody remember “That’s What I Like about the South”? How about Phil Harris, who had a hit with that ditty in 1947? Let’s not always see the same hands. The point is I like the South. Born and raised here. Have relatives all over. But some folks actually fear the South. That got me thinking.
Last week staffers from the House Homeland Security Committee came to the Bank of America NASCAR race in Concord, North Carolina. It was a fact-finding trip about “public health-preparedness at mass gatherings.” Organizers of the trip advised the staffers to get vaccinated before they went – for hepatitis, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza.
The Democratic staffers took the shots. The Republicans didn’t. The local Congressman, Robin Hayes, wrote a blistering letter to the Chairman of the Committee asking “why the heck the committee feels that immunizations are needed to travel to my hometown?”
Whoever made this suggestion fears the South. Did they think we were going to bite the visitors? Force them to drink swamp water, or worse, moonshine? Did they think that Southerners are a lesser breed, like the inhabitants of a third-world country? Dumb as dirt, and contagious with every known disease including housemaid’s knee?
This incredibly stupid approach to the South caused a substantial reaction from members of the Highlands Writers Group at our meeting just after the story broke. Several of our group are doctors. Most are published authors. One with ample credits is a well-established travel writer from New Orleans.
I won’t give her name because she didn’t ask to be dragged into this spat. But she told this story. When she first began as a free-lance travel writer, she would send offers to cover events in her home town, New Orleans, and editors in New York would respond “if they wanted to cover that event, they would send a staff member down.”
Once she broke through and became published, she found that her inquiry letters were being dismissed because her return address was in Mississippi. And “everyone in New York knows that everyone in Mississippi is, at best, a functional illiterate.”
My fiancee had a similar experience when she told her co-workers at the bank in New York where she then worked, that she was leaving to move to North Carolina. “I hope you like NASCAR.” And, “You’ll miss indoor plumbing.” And generally referring to Southern males, including me, as knuckle-dragging uni-brows.
I’ve almost always lived in the South, but have traveled and worked across the country. I’ve never experienced anti-Southern bigotry. On reflection, there are two reasons why not. One is my accent. It’s from Baltimore, Bal-mer as the natives call it. My mother’s family is from Birmingham, Alabama, and have accents you can spread on toast. But my father and all of my classmates spoke Balmerese, so I did, too.
The other reason I didn’t experience anti-Southern bigotry is that most people I’ve worked with over the years either knew me or had direct experience with my work (law and journalism) before we met. Everyone who’s ever experienced bigotry on any basis, knows that personal knowledge is the antidote for bias.
The bottom line is, there’s still a great deal of anti-Southern bias. Southerners are as intelligent, and more sociable, more hospitable, and more dedicated to culture, food and music, than any other population group in the nation. So, what explains the bias?
It may be fear of Southerners as a political group. The national importance of the South as a political block has been growing steadily in recent decades. Census data explain why. The South and the West are roughly tied in top growth rates.
That means more Congressmen for the South, and more Electoral College votes. It means the national press will pay attention to the results in the South Carolina presidential primary, as a barometer of “how the South might go” in the 2008 election. But sadly, many of the press will be like the ignorant advisers who told staffers to get shots before coming to visit my state.
They will assume that we are a pack of Forrest Gumps, stumbling through life with marginal intelligence. Therefore, how we vote in national elections is merely an obstacle to get over or around, rather than in indicator of how pragmatic voters with a good dollop of common sense, figure out the candidates.
So, here’s my offer: I challenge the New York Times to send a reporter chosen at random, to spend a month here on our mountaintop in the Blue Ridge. We will take him/her everywhere we go, to meet everyone we know in this small town. We’ll feed and water that reporter handsomely. Most of all, that reporter will come away with a real knowledge of real people in the South.
It could be an eye-opening experience.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu He lives in the 11th District of North Carolina.
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John / Billybob
No need to fear me; I am your FRiend.
It’s not just a Dem thing, ya know......
they are not scared, just jealous that we have jobs, low taxes, nice weather and are not a bunch of uneducated union loving thugs
There is no need for liberals to worry about the South. It can be safely ignored, and it will be a liberal regions in the future too unless trends are remarkably reversed.
Southern People are very gracious and kind. There are bad apples and ignorant people in every lot. They treated me well and the only time that I experienced some unpleasantness was when some stated: girl, you Vietnamese??? To which I replied: No, My name is - an Irish-American name, they replied: adopted??? To which I replied: have a nice day./Just Asking - seoul62.......
No doubt, in this country, common sense has moved South.
Ha. A Balmer boy. Been there, done that. I'm a born and raised Cumberland boy. Mom's sister and family lived off Catonsville Road for over 40 years and were my second family when I was a 20-something slacker in Silver Spring. My current wife's family were all raised in Atlanta, and we're currently living down here on The Hooch, about 20 minutes from Auburn.
Here's to ya, lad.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
...Ah reckon.
My first thought was Jack Daniels. Does that make me biased?
Well, them darn Yankees are movin’ Sawth so common sense will flee somewhere else!
Unfortunately we are running out of somewhere else’s
Not us! We aim to send them packin’ ASAP. Lots of CAs moving into Texas, many moving back out because they realized that we were SERIOUS about our faith (this was told to us by a CA feller) and other matters, such as manners, our ladies and our MOMs. There are exceptions to be sure but we’ve always ignored them also.
Thanks billybob, for your hard work and constant vigilance.
Oh, ho. You must be one a-them diseased NASCAR varmints, huh? :-)
Watch Fox News on a non-breaking news day and hour after hour it is about New York City. Even the baseball playoff reports on Fox news, now that the Yankees have been eliminated, is simply mentioned in passing.
The Times looks down its nose at all other cities, regions, and “fly over country”, as if we did not exist. It is even reflected in attitudes of NYC based conservatives like Hannity, who is VERY NY biased. You can see his bias in his worship of Rudy.
If I were NASCAR, I would make anybody from NYC and DC sign a liability form that absolves NASCAR if they contract any disease. BTW, the only exception I would make, as NASCAR, is rabies. NASCAR fans ARE rabid about their sport, their cars, their drivers, and their races).
More importantly, I would like to know why the staffers are forced to visit a NASCAR area the week of a big race. EMS people will be too busy to talk to them that week, let alone show them around. Wait, I just had a thought.... Could it possibly be that they want to see the races? I must be way off base on this, because everybody knows that has the appearance of evil. I bet they find a real need to investigate the Super Bowl the week of the big game.
The NASCAR Immunized Dimwits are just following Plantation Hillary’s game plan to slap down the South, and you know what I mean.
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys - 1942
Phil Harris - 1947
Also recorded by: Nolan Bruce Allen; Buddy Blue;
Cliff Bruner; Moon Mullican; Red Stick Ramblers;
Rollin’ In The Hay.
Won’t you come with me to Alabamy
Let’s go see my dear old Mammy
She’s fryin’ eggs and boiling hammy
That’s what I like about the South
Now there you can make no mistakey
Where those nerves are never shaky
Ought to taste her layer cakey
That’s what I like about the South
She’s got baked ribs and candied yams
Those sugar-cured Virginia hams
Basement full of those berry jams
An’ that’s what I like about the South
Hot corn bread, black-eyed peas
You can eat as much as you please
‘Cause it’s never out of season
That’s what I like about the South
Aahhh, don’t take one, have two
There’s dark brown and chocolate too
Suits me, they must suit you
‘Cause that’s what I like about the South
Well it’s way, way down where the cane grows tall
Down where they say “Y’all”
Walk on in with that Southern drawl
‘Cause that’s what I like about the South
Down where they have those pretty queens
Keep a-dreamin’ those dreamy dreams
Well let’s sip that absinthe in New Orleans
That’s what I like about the South
Here come old Bob with all the news
Got the boxback coat with button shoes
But he’s all caught up with his union dues
An’ that’s what I like about the South
Here come old Roy down the street
Ho, can’t you hear those tappin’ feet
He would rather sleep than eat
An’ that’s what I like about the South
Now every time I pass your door
You act like you don’t want me no more
Why don’t you shake that head and sigh
And I’ll go walkin’ by
On, on, on and on and on
Honey, when you tell me that you love me
Then how come you close your eyes
Did I tell you ‘bout the place called Doo-wah-diddy
It ain’t no town and it ain’t no city
It’s just awful small, but awful pretty
That’s Doo-wah-diddy
Well I didn’t come here to criticise
I’m not here to sympathise
But don’t tell me those no-good lies
That a lyin’ gal like you can devise
You love me like I love you
Send me fifty P-D-Q
Roses are red and violets are pink
If I don’t get all fifty, I don’t show
She’s got backbones and turnip greens
Ham hocks and butter beans
You, me and New Orleans
An’ that’s what I like about the South
I was.
I am an old-school, pre-lunacy Californian. I’ve lived in the South (Camp LeJeune and now Northern Virginia)and have traveled through much of it. I’ve found that:
1. Don’t get into a conversation unless you *have* an hour and are prepared to be invited to a social event.
2. Don’t walk into someplace like Cracker Barrel and casually mention that you’ve never been to one before (as in, do I pay at the table, or a register somewhere?).
You get the visiting rock star celebrity treatment.
3. You will get some friendly ribbing at the local gun shop, from the regulars that hang out there, when they hear you’re from some hoplophobic state. Take it with an understanding smile, and you’ll make good friends.
Southerners are fantastic people. Friendliest people on the planet. They’ll kind of sound you out a little at first to make sure you aren’t a jackass- if they think you’re OK, you have fast friends in about twenty minutes.
Maybe this odd perception of Southerners works to their advantage. I doubt that they’d want some of these Northern nitwits who think you need shots to visit the South moving down there.
Favorite area, so far: Charleston, SC.
I like chicks with southern accents. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
“I am certain that all FReepers who caught the story about congressional staffers getting shots to visit a NASCAR race, were both amazed and apalled.”
Nooooooo...no no no.
Those northeastern liberals need their shots, in fact, they might catch something incurable if they come down here...better if they stay put, keep as much distance between the south and and themselves.
I wouldn’t even visit if I were them, as knuckle-dragging southern males might use one of the many firearms they always carry around with them, or in the gunrack in the back window of their big-tired trucks to threaten them on account of Sherman’s march and all that.
Yes, their bigotry is well founded and intellectually reasonable......please, get the word out....they are right about the South.....
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