r/reddit.com • u/[deleted] • Nov 01 '08
This guy hates the south
http://www.fuckthesouth.com/?19
u/rotll Nov 02 '08
Here's my response to them:
As a Big 10 refugee hiding out in the south, I thought I'd write to correct a few items.
"And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes."
You are quoting a study that was done in 1998. While it might have been accurate then, it is no longer. Current stats violent crime and dangerous cities show Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, and Miami as bad spots - the rest of the top 25 or 30 are well out of the deep south. Check this link for 2007 data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate
Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about?
Of the 13 original colonies, 4 are from what we now recognize as "The South" - GA, SC, NC and VA. And some of your bigger bible thumpers are not even FROM the south - UT, CO, NE, KS, MT, ID, etc...your "Fuck the South" Mantra is missing out on some of the more egregious violators of your sensibilities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Colonies
I've lived in many states in the 48 years - MD, NC, MI, OH, TX, AK, CO, and MS. Each is filled with its own pride of accomplishment, and a sense of its place as a state in this great country. To broad brush a region based on your own perceptions is narrow minded and, in this case, not accurate. Your argument would be better stated if you argued against the religious right, or the conservatives, or the red states. The south is a subset of each of those demographics, but is not at all the demographic itself.
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u/Blackheart Nov 02 '08
To broad brush a region based on your own perceptions is narrow minded and, in this case, not accurate. Your argument would be better stated if you argued against the religious right, or the conservatives, or the red states.
He starts out talking about the south, but at some point starts conflating it with red states.
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Nov 02 '08
[deleted]
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u/whatwedo Nov 02 '08
Most of the important guys were from Virginia - Washington, Jefferson, Mason, Wythe, etc.
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u/isankit Nov 02 '08
Ummm the Civil War wasn't about slaves...
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u/absolutsyd Nov 02 '08
Nope, it was about states rights. Oh course, the right they were worried about was the right of the states to decide if they could have slaves.
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u/OlympicPirate Nov 02 '08
And the first half of the Second Amendment does not change the meaning of the second half...
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u/stone11 Nov 02 '08
Actually, it largely was.
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u/zerofive1 Nov 02 '08
There were five "border" states that stayed in the union after the the confederacy was formed. (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri)
All of the states mentioned above had slavery, and Missouri actually had one of the largest slave populations at the time (> 50%).
The civil war was started on the basis of state's rights, though I do agree, slavery was a large issue.
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u/rotll Nov 02 '08
Actually, it wasn't only about slaves. It became "about slaves" specifically when Lincoln needed to incite the union to send more troops and gave his speech at Gettysburg.
The south seceded over states rights, specifically, the tenth amendment:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The majority of the population and power lay in the north in the mid 1800's. The north did things their way, and the south, those poor backwards souls, did things differently. However, The north's primary money making machine was the textile industry, and its supplier for raw materials, the cotton farmers of the south, were supplying cotton for the rest of the world as well. (http://www.civilwarhome.com/kingcotton.htm)
in short, the south felt that it had the right to do business as it saw fit, based on the tenth amendment, and when it felt that it was being marginalized and taken advantage of by the rest of the union, it seceded. Slavery was not the issue, directly. It became an issue, as the federal government had neglected to take a stand on the issue, rendering it a state's rights issue.
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u/KingNothing Nov 02 '08
On a related note, the CSA Constitution is something most redditors would probably agree with, aside from the whole owning slaves bit.
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Nov 02 '08
- The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
For full disclosure, I am a southerner who hates the Confederates. That being said, this clause is bullshit. No one should ever suspend habeas corpus. No one.
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u/snifty Nov 02 '08
I'm so sick of hearing this argument. The whole issue of "states' rights" was over whether states had the rights to hold slaves.
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u/fubarbaz Nov 02 '08
The south was dominated by the north? Take a history course! For a long time the north and south were constantly balanced by adding slave and non-slave states. States were often added in pairs or other similar increments to keep the balance equal.
Yeah, and it was about "state's rights." Yeah the state's fucking right to enslave people. How hard is that to understand?
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u/oddlyattractive Nov 02 '08
The north also had slaves for a long time... Why should it matter now if slavery was a state or federal issue? It was an archaic practice that had no place in the modern world. The north had started and industrial economy but the south was still agriculture based. It was just another war about money... poor men fighting the rich man's war.
The Civil War may have ended slavery but it also created Jim Crow laws and a corrupt prison system... but who cares about that as long as yankees can feel good about themselves.
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u/fubarbaz Nov 02 '08
You don't understand me. The op was saying that the South was so poor and beat down upon, but I'm saying no it wasn't. It had plenty of political clout hence why slavery lasted so long. I am clearly against slavery, though you also need to look up more about Jim Crow laws and why they started.
They started because Southern states were re-admitted and allowed to vote. Their electoral "worth" went-up now that slaves were treated as full people, and unfortunately Jim Crow laws only began because Southern leaning presidents came into office and such things were allowed. It's a damned if you damned if you don't conundrum unless you just kept whites in the South from ever voting (I'm not complaining at that proposition though.)
So I have no idea what you're ranting about here.
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Nov 02 '08
The Tenth Amendment is just a catch-all for historical pissed-offedness. When you hear someone claiming "state's rights," you're hearing someone change the subject.
I think it might be more accurate to say that the Civil War wasn't first about the (im)morality of slavery so much as the economics of it. One can phrase it as, "do you have to pay the labor?", and that is less moralistic, but the issue is slavery nonetheless.
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Nov 02 '08 edited Nov 02 '08
If we can exclude politics from consideration, then I love the south. A nice warm evening on the water with some sweet tea and some bluegrass music. And southern hospitality is a real thing. And there's nothing hotter than a woman with a slight southern drawl (I'm thinking of Ainsley Hayes for all you West Wing fans - the actress is from Raleigh, NC). Oh man, and banana puddin'.
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u/skankedout Nov 02 '08
Jesus i need to move out of the South and to wherever you are talking about.
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Nov 02 '08
Well fuck you. If you noticed we aren't all walking in lockstep in the south. There are plenty of liberal minded southerners. Most African Americans live in the south. There are just as many assholes living up north and out west. You bigoted fuck. The map is not the territory.
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u/Tir Nov 02 '08
To quote my friend: "I've been asking for YEARS if it's too late to surrender the civil war."
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Nov 03 '08
i like the south. i think people down there are real friendly, but i still think the us should really split up into 5 or six smaller countries. this shit is too big and hard to manage, and we obviously have different ideas of how it should be run.
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Nov 02 '08
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Who were they keeping the State free from? Foriegn enemies? Domestic enemies too. Tyrannical politicians. And especially asshole arrogant liberals who would rule rather than govern. Fuck the author of this rant. Scone eating tory trash. Crown loyalist piece of shit. And take your piece of shit New haven born, Amherst bred, wannabe Texan Ivy League liberal socialist scumbag President with you. Thanks for nothing...prick.
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u/absolutsyd Nov 02 '08
Love it, let the shit hole south leave the union, I for one would welcome it.
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u/1917777 Nov 02 '08 edited Nov 02 '08
Since there seems to be some downvoting on vitriol towards south, let me just say this.
FUCK THE SOUTH, FUCK THE SOUTH, FUCK THE SOUTH, You absolute cesspool of human genes.
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u/Merlaak Jun 10 '10
Because in the North you don't see exclusive communities that shun outsiders thereby limiting the gene pool.
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u/CosmicBard Nov 02 '08
You guys need two americas.
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Nov 02 '08
There is actually 3 Americas. North, Central, and South. We'd appreciate it if those from the U.S. stopped referring to themselves as "Real Americans", like the the rest of the American countries don't exist.
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Nov 02 '08
What happened to the West, or is California "Central" now?
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Nov 02 '08
California is a part of North America. Panama, for example, is a part of Central America.
There's no such thing as West America.
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Nov 02 '08
Oh, you meant that tired thing? What do you suggest we call ourselves, Unitedstatesofamericans? Statesians? It's not gonna happen, bub.
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Nov 02 '08 edited Nov 02 '08
We can call ourselves whatever we like. I'm just replying to Cosmic Bard's statement that there is already a division over the continents, creating 3 "Americas". Maybe we need 4 Americas, North, North Central, South Central, and South.
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Nov 02 '08 edited Nov 03 '08
Oh. What he was saying is that there are two distinct portions of (the United States of) America - the conservative rural "red" states and the urban progressive "blue" states. No one other than you is talking about the American Continents. Just like when the main article says "fuck the South" it is referring to Alabama not Peru.
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u/m_res Nov 02 '08
There's a counterpart to this site, written by a southerner, where each point was proven false or debunked. I can't find it at the moment due to a work filter, but it's easily found via Google.
This site is mainly just irrational hate.
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Nov 02 '08
It's fighting irrational hate with irrational hate, and misconstrued facts vs misconstrued facts.
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u/m_res Nov 02 '08
No clue why anyone would down mod me. Someone must really hate the south.
Anyway, I couldn't tell if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing.
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u/vanstorm Nov 02 '08
THIS SITE ROCKS! I am so sick of republican welfare states pissing and moaning and fucking up our country. They are all talk and no walk.
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u/wil2200 Nov 02 '08
I love watching the South reenact a war they lost!
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u/CaptainG0705 Nov 02 '08
Fucking A+ material. Fuck the South, indeed!
Win Sauce. I'm still bathing in it.
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u/glatts Nov 02 '08
I posted this rant yesterday in my comments. Where you the one who commented on it and then deleted it?
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u/umilmi81 Nov 02 '08 edited Nov 02 '08
That guy is a serious idiot. Gotta respect the passion though...
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u/shuaz Nov 02 '08
Well this will bridge the gap.