Truth b told wrote:
sweet home wrote:
In Birmingham they love their guv'nor
The skies are so blue
Does your conscience bother you?
That's exactly what came to mind when I read the subject line.
Although that line never seemed to fit. Nixon is ok because none of us are perfect?
Nixon didnt do nuffin
I tried living in AL for a year. Hated it. Never again.
And I've lived in the South before (Arkansas and South Carolina). I kind of liked those places. But not AL. The whole state is dysfunctional from top to bottom, so that anything you want to do takes 3 times as long as it should and ignoramuses treat you like crap the whole time. The culture is very conscious of status, and if you're not the boss, you're treated like dirt.
Every time Skynyrd comes on the radio, I switch stations. I can't even listen to that song anymore.
One of the worst days of my life was the day I moved to AL, and one of the best days was the day I left. I didn't even have a job lined up when I left. I just knew that my family couldn't take it anymore. In all seriousness, survival wasn't guaranteed if we had stayed longer.
The thing is, there are people who are happy to live in AL. We met nice people, and had some good food, and our neighborhood was downright gorgeous in the spring when the flowers were in bloom. The summer heat and humidity was awful, and the local running scene (in a large city) was pathetic, but having all those hills to run on was good for me. Someone else might move to AL and love it.
But not me. I'd go back to Arkansas. But to AL? Only at gunpoint. And I'd think long and hard about telling the dude with the gun to just pull the trigger.
Truth b told wrote:
sweet home wrote:
In Birmingham they love their guv'nor
The skies are so blue
Does your conscience bother you?
That's exactly what came to mind when I read the subject line.
Although that line never seemed to fit. Nixon is ok because none of us are perfect?
It means don't blame all Alabamians for their scandals if you don't blame yourself for watergate
If you cant be happy in Alabama then you won’t be happy anywhere.
Csljforbia wrote:
I would like to be informed
...because they're dumb and their sisters are dumb and they'd like to make dumb kids together who also hate science and math but fear a hateful god that is as small-minded as them. Next question?
Bad Wigins wrote:
Truth b told wrote:
That's exactly what came to mind when I read the subject line.
Although that line never seemed to fit. Nixon is ok because none of us are perfect?
It means don't blame all Alabamians for their scandals if you don't blame yourself for watergate
Spat between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd aboot Young's songs Southern Man and Alabama. But it weren't nuthin really. They respected each other.
Nobody wants to live there.
But some live there and can't get away.
To each their own.
I have family who can't fathom moving every 2-4 yrs like I do or living outside the 50 square mile radius from where they grew up.
Most people never move that far from where they grew up so they can be close to family.
I know tons of people who couldn't stand living in big cities or even small cities.
Let people live their own lives while you ruin yours with your pompous snobbish attitude :)
Alan
S-Town podcast is pretty good.
Heinenkleisner wrote:
S-Town podcast is pretty good.
The north part is ok. Little River Canyon is a decent national park with really good rock climbing.
The south in Gulf Shores is pretty nice as well.
Wolf's Bane wrote:
Huntsville has the 2nd largest technology and research park in the nation and ranks the 25th most educated city in the nation. Not bad. Rest of the state isn't that great.
i've been to hunstville many times and there is no way in hell they have the 2nd largest tech center in the country. not even close. its a tiny town. spend some time in silicon valley, in austin, in NC, in boston, huntsville isn't even close.
Ebusika wrote:
People still have manners and are polite and respectful.
I'm a northern woman who has lived in the south for four years. I think something is lost in translation culturally, because I've often found people in the south to be so overly friendly that it comes off as passive aggressive.
Like the women who say "well bless their heart" when they mean "what a loser," and who are super polite to someone's face while vicious behind their back.
Like when I'm out running and men start yelling "good evening" to me when I'm still a block away, and if I don't acknowledge them, keep saying it as I run by. Lots of people are polite, but some of them are obnoxious and aggressive like this under the guise of being polite. The south is the only place where I've had a stranger scream at me in the street for not acknowledging his hello.
Like the men who hold doors for eons while I'm walking up, or jump in front of me when I'm reaching to open a door, or insist on me walking down the plane aisle ahead of them (as in: I'm in the middle seat and the man in the aisle seat gets up to deplane, but prefers to stand in the aisle and make me squeeze by him and walk ahead of him, instead of just getting off the plane and out of the damn way), like other men on other flights insisting on helping me get my overhead luggage down, etc. Do southern women like that stuff? It does not read as polite to me, it reads as men going out of their way to point out that I'm a woman and thus apparently need constant special attention.
You want actual nice without the condescension? Try the upper midwest.
No one wants to live there.
You live there because your parents were poor. They lived there because theirs were also.
There'll never be any good schools
There'll never be any cops that are any good.
The hospital is a great place to go to die
Real estate's cheap let me tell ya why?
The man's got a sure fire system, an economic prison.
Minnesota nice wrote:
Ebusika wrote:
People still have manners and are polite and respectful.
I'm a northern woman who has lived in the south for four years. I think something is lost in translation culturally, because I've often found people in the south to be so overly friendly that it comes off as passive aggressive.
Like the women who say "well bless their heart" when they mean "what a loser," and who are super polite to someone's face while vicious behind their back.
Like when I'm out running and men start yelling "good evening" to me when I'm still a block away, and if I don't acknowledge them, keep saying it as I run by. Lots of people are polite, but some of them are obnoxious and aggressive like this under the guise of being polite. The south is the only place where I've had a stranger scream at me in the street for not acknowledging his hello.
Like the men who hold doors for eons while I'm walking up, or jump in front of me when I'm reaching to open a door, or insist on me walking down the plane aisle ahead of them (as in: I'm in the middle seat and the man in the aisle seat gets up to deplane, but prefers to stand in the aisle and make me squeeze by him and walk ahead of him, instead of just getting off the plane and out of the damn way), like other men on other flights insisting on helping me get my overhead luggage down, etc. Do southern women like that stuff? It does not read as polite to me, it reads as men going out of their way to point out that I'm a woman and thus apparently need constant special attention.
You want actual nice without the condescension? Try the upper midwest.
Hello hillary lover. Still butt hurt?
Nothing better than watching hillary lovers continue to have meltdowns.
People in the south have one speed: REVERSE.
That's my impression too. The politeness is pretty fake and it comes across to non Southerners as an ugly facade.
The worst in my opinion is, that they think the South is great but the problem is that they have not been anywhere else, except Las Vegas maybe.
>Implying that Alabama actually exists
Yep its totally fake, the "how are you?" and they walk away before you can respond, they don't actually care. And the fake small talk, everywhere.... I much prefer the head nod we do in the north east. Also they drive ridiculously slow and don't use turn signals.
Tom Sawyer wrote:
That's my impression too. The politeness is pretty fake and it comes across to non Southerners as an ugly facade.
The worst in my opinion is, that they think the South is great but the problem is that they have not been anywhere else, except Las Vegas maybe.
I went to all 4 years of high school there. The cultural shock was quite jarring, having moved from south Florida. My parents, native midwesterners, moved two years later.
People who live there remain for the same reasons people all over the country stay where they are. Usually family connections, and sheer geographic force. Most people in general end up living in the same state where they are born. Southern culture encourages this dynamic more so than in northern or western states, in my opinion.
Now, why would you want to live there if you're not from there is a completely different question, and I'd argue most people who aren't from the deep South would not enjoy living in Alabama.
Pros: Winter weather is good in most of the state. BBQ is amazing, as are many other regional dishes. if you're a foodie, you'll enjoy some time there. Low cost of living. If you're a college football fan, there's no better place (I didn't understand this at all until I went to college up north).
Cons: Beyond the surface level, southern hospitality is for natives only. Racism. Most communities are still 100% segregated, not legally of course, but culturally. If you are a white Democrat, you'll be very lonely, politically speaking. Schools and health care lag behind the nation as a whole. Debutant culture. Good ol' boy culture. Summer heat is unbearable. Birmigham city government is corrupt and bankrupt. Montgomery and Mobile not much better (Huntsville has a little different flavor due to the many transplants there working in the aerospace industry).
"You want actual nice without the condescension? Try the upper midwest."
^the TRUTH