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.