Reply #54: Hmm, actually it is the water.

[Believing Is Art]

Not from the tap, but glacial ice. The industrialized north paved the way for more urban areas while the agricultural south remained rural. That has been a huge cultural influence, one that has led to close-knit and religious communities in rural regions. It has its upsides - friendliness and hospitality, but its downsides are the reasons those areas remain red. The Republicans exploit this. They tell these rural Red voters that they are the real America, that they're good God-fearing patriots. Taxes and bogus wars don't matter when the party has won their hearts with the wedge issues and ego-petting.

I don't think anyone would argue that it helps when liberals make stereotyped jokes; it obviously doesn't. But it's not the main reason rural areas go red, and DU isn't trying to court rural Americans. It's not trying to court anyone.

You have every right to be upset at region-bashing humor. Some of it here is good-natured (or at least no malice intended), some if it isn't. I happen to be thick-skinned on this issue, but it's perfectly understandable that others wouldn't be. I'm admittedly thin-skinned on others and I tend to avoid responding on those subjects.

I agree that region-bashing is a bad idea when trying to convert voters. I don't see DU as a vehicle to change the minds of conservatives.