[chasing]

Stereotypes are fun. Stupid Southerners with their bibles and guns. See: That was fun. I'm glad we could share this moment.

Anyway, yeah, there's plenty of lunacy in the South. Which is something that could probably be said of any part of the world with ~100m people. And it contains some depressed and poverty-stricken areas which deserve help rather than derision. But I think it's lazy thinking to believe that they're "dragging down the rest of the nation."

Sorry.

It's cool, though. You'll one day meet a Southerner and realize that, for the most part, they're just like normal people!

[Fej]

I'm sorry, I don't think I was clear. For the record, I've met Southerners and they're all nice and reasonable people. (You know what they say about Southern hospitality.)

I was referring to each state as a whole, and especially those politicians at the top. My post did not indicate that, and I do apologize if I offended.

[chasing]

I'm not offended, I just don't think it's useful to think of even states as monolithic blocks, even if prominent politicians hailing from there are sacks of shit.

(Actually, I think it's useful for entertainment value and that's about it. Fuckin' Florida, amirite?)

I'm actually more annoyed by the us-versus-them-ism. "'Those People' are nutty and bad. Dragging 'Us People' down." It's dismissive.

And the United States is unlikely to break up any time soon -- and unlikely to start kicking out states with weak economies like Mississippi. So if you really think some things about those areas are, in fact, dragging down the country, maybe a helpful action would be to support policies that would help people in those areas. Or take direct action via an organization like Teach For America. A lot of the stereotypes you list stem from a mix of lack of education and general fear about getting by. Those things are correctable.