Am I allowed to say I get really tired of South bashing?

[carolinayellowdog]

33. only those of "us" who are ignorant or malicious enough to allow it

In some ways I'm barely a southerner-- lifelong Virginian, siblings all in the Northeast or West. Seeing Virginia turning "blue" in presidential elections, the Senate, and now the governor's mansion, has been wonderful in the years since I joined DU. And yet the expressions of hate, categorical sweeping hate, of everyone south of the Potomac here have only increased steadily over those same years. But then expressions of all kinds of other divisiveness and hate have likewise increased.

What I've noticed, though, is that those who are most subject to manipulation by those divisive forces, who can be readily encouraged to two-minute-hatefests against a hundred million fellow Americans based on geography, don't tend to be Northeasterners. Virginia and Maryland were the first two states to formally apologize for slavery-- but the next two were Connecticut and New Jersey. Northeasterners generally understand history in enough depth to refrain from shallow generalizations, in my experience. This "our shit doesn't stink" Othering of the South that I see online tends to come mostly from the West and Midwest. Why? I suspect it's historical ignorance among some Westerners, who may be sincerely unaware that there is any difference between say Virginia and Mississippi. But with the Midwest, say Ohio, Indiana, or Michigan, Illinois or Missouri, I suspect that it's deflection from their own problems that motivates malicious regional antagonism. There is a long history of bias against black AND white migrants from the South, which seems more socially acceptable to express openly in the Midwest than the Northeast. The electorates of those states seem generally more susceptible to divisive manipulation, keeping the working class divided. In my observation, of course, your mileage may vary.