[heminasti]

+1

When you live in the South and see yourself as a good person and surround yourself primarily with liberal types, I think it can be easy to miss how pervasive the behavior you associate with "the hicks and rednecks" really is.

Especially if you are a little bit redneck yourself. When you're white and haven't lived anywhere different it's hard to imagine how it would feel to live in the South under other circumstances.

It hurts a little if you love your friends and family and hometown. But the South is a racist place; so is the US, but there's a particular character to and acceptance of it in the South that I think one might accurately describe as "worse."