Southerners Know How to React

NewsMax.com ^ | 07/30/03

[Phantom Lord]

Southerners Know How to React

Watch out who you call a nasty name - he might be a Southerner, and y'all will be in a heap o' trouble.

Southerners, it seems, are brimming over with cortisone and testosterone, and they tend to be quick on the trigger. That's according to eggheads at the University of Michigan, where shrinks wandered down corridors bumping into students and calling them names.

Students from the South reacted far more violently and aggressively than those from the North, and "in tests regularly suggested more belligerent solutions to problems," writes Britain's Spectator magazine.

At the root of it all is the nearly vanished concept of honor, which appears to be thriving south of the Mason-Dixon line.

The Michigan experiments demonstrated that Southerners "retain two vital aspects of the old honour system: a high degree of sensitivity to insults and a tendency to respond with violence and aggression," according to Spectator.

That sounds reasonable - except how does it explain Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards and Jimmy Carter?

[Little Bill]

Tom Petty is a communist!

[stand watie]

WELL SAID!

[Little Bill]

The South is a great place, people have manners and it is easy on your nerves, the ahole factor is low.

[semaj]

I guess that makes me an honorary Southerner? Who woulda thunk it?

[honeygrl]

"We also say "thank you", "you're welcome" , hold doors open, and help little old ladies across the street..............."

That's because us southern ladies demand to be treated like the ladies we are. The southern men are getting lax though. I was shocked at how many doors were NOT held open for me when I was 8mths pregnant with my daughter and trying to carry my toddler into a store. I was ready to use my 10Lb purse on some ungentlemanly men who would just let the door swing back into my face after they walked through ahead of me. Maybe they weren't real southerners.. I do live in a college town that draws a lot of non-southern guys.

[Ditto]

I'm not sure what you were looking at (the 2002 UCR is still preliminary and there is no detailed data yet,) but if you go to the 2001 UCR at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_01/01crime2.pdf , you will see that the South is by far "leader" in both violent and property crime, and the North East is the lowest with the West and Midwest following. It's a pdf file, so I can't grab it and post it here, but use the link and go to page 9 of that section.

For the year 2001, violent crime in the Northeast was 429.7 per 100,000 of population and property crime was 2577 per 100,000 (that doesn't count the criminal tax rates of some states ;~)

In the same year, the South saw a violent crime rate of 579.9 per 100,000 and a property crime index of 4281 per 100,000. That's 26% and 40% higher respectivly than the Northeast.

By pure statistics, the South has far more crime than the Northeast. It could be a factor of better reporting but I would doubt that would account for all of the difference. I would say that there are some social-economic factors that drive those numbers higher in the South.

[Labyrinthos]

My understanding of the crime stats is the same as yours both on a regional and city by city comparison.

[honeygrl]

"You can keep your "first class cities", thank you very much. "

Yep, I enjoy our first class country roads in the south.

[honeygrl]

"With the exception of Buckhead, try getting a decent meal after midnight."

The small towns roll up the sidewalks around 6pm. :) It's nice and quiet and you can hear the crickets chirp. Some of us also like to eat at home. If you get really hungry though, Waffle House is always open. Oh yeah, and you can keep all the artsy stuff up north. We like to play outside.

[Ditto]

You make it sound as if there is no "Rural" in the North. Do you really think that it is one big city --- That there are no farms, no small towns and villages, no unpopulated wilderness? If so, you have been watching way too much TV.

[honeygrl]

" there are no plays, restaurants, or nightlife to speak of, the hospitals suck, the public transportation sucks, the museums suck,"

Who are all these wussy guys wanting to go to plays and museums? They would have much more fun at a baseball or football game.

[sarasmom]

Southern men are indeed apt to be more physically violent,when violence is actually called for.
What makes a Southern Man the preferred form of "USA, Grade A Choice" to almost all the women I have ever known, is they are not generally verbally abusive, and tend not to create confrontational "situations" where violence is expected.
Put more simply, they wont start a fight, but they will end one.
Yankee's just dont know when to shut up.
I, along with most women, get extremely nervous when men go into confrontational mode with each other.That old saying, "do you want to step outside", probably originated in the south.
OTOH,I much prefer a man like my former husband, who rarely raised his voice in anger, and the few times he did react to male provocation, dropped the antagonist with one well placed lightning fast punch, and kept a polite smile on his face throughout the exchange.
That may be where the confusion comes in for Yankees.They seem to prefer shouting matches and threatening postures, as opposed to true civility.
I will always choose to be around men who feel no need to prove their testosterone levels to lessor males, but who, if pushed, do not hesitate to end the "unpleasantness" quickly, quietly and efficiently.
Long live Southern men!

[Conservababe]

Maybe they weren't real southerners.. I do live in a college town that draws a lot of non-southern guys.

I agree that southern men are getting way too lax in their manners. And their mamas should give them a good swack upside the head.

My pet peeve is those who keep their ballcaps on in restaurants. If they do not have enough energy to wash their hair to be presentable in public, they should just order in.

[4CJ]

For Honour! ;o)

[Labyrinthos]

Who are all these wussy guys wanting to go to plays and museums? They would have much more fun at a baseball or football game.

We need plays and museums so that our wives and girlfriends have something to do while were are at Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium, and the Continental Arena, watching big-time, major league sports, and I don't mean the demolition derby and sack racing contests.

[Labyrinthos]

The small towns roll up the sidewalks around 6pm.

So do the big towns like Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte, Orlando, Richmond, Houston, Norfolk, and Dallas, which is probably the result of the relatively high crime rates in those cities (as compared to NYC and Boston) and the lack of anything meaningful to do after 6:00 p.m.

[Dan from Michigan]

They would have much more fun at a baseball or football game.

Football I agree with, but baseball??? We have the DETROIT TIGERS....nuff said!

[billbears]

Some people don't work 9 to 5 jobs or depend upon "Wheel of Fortune" for their nightly entertainment.

Don't do either as a matter of fact. But I've also got the God given sense when it's late to go to bed instead of rustling around town looking for somewhere to eat. If I was 18 or 19 it'd be different, but I'm not. The only possible exception to this rule would be a run for Krispy Kreme doughnuts at 2 when they make them fresh. You see the other difference is that we know bread was meant to be fried, not boiled into chewy day old bagels

[Labyrinthos]

You see the other difference is that we know bread was meant to be fried, not boiled into chewy day old bagels

I never eat donuts and rarely eat bagels or bread. But I will admit that I once made the mistake of eating a bagel in one of your southern second-class cities and almost gagged to death. That was not a bagel, at least not one that I recognized.

[TaxRelief]

...shrinks wandered down corridors bumping into students and calling them names.

Perhaps, Southerners were more offended than Northerners by the deliberate insults. Y'all up north don't seem to realize that we are not used to hearing cursing in public or private conversation, nor are we used to having rude gestures tossed our way. When someone in the south starts insulting us and deliberately bumping us, it means a serious situation is brewing that requires self-defense. We are not quicker to anger, we just don't recognize the casual aggressiveness of the north.