Southerners the only Authentic Culture of America?

[PeacefulCaribbeanDutch]

When you visit a country like England or Spain the most authentic culture is that practiced in the small towns, so I ask is the most authentic culture of America the southern village culture?

It seems like it to me, and I really don't understand what the hate from city folk towards them are.

Is it the same in europe? Do City folk hate town folk?

[Mechanolater]

City folk don't hate southerners. Maybe southern city folk hate southern rural folk, but northerners generally don't dislike southerners.

[Stefan]

I think it's the opposite. Country folk dislike city folk very, very much. I've seen it in my family, and I'm not a southerner. This happens in Pennsylvania. It's natural though. When it comes down to it, eventually these groups recognize the similarities and cooperate.

[PeacefulCaribbeanDutch]

I think it's the opposite. Country folk dislike city folk very, very much. I've seen it in my family, and I'm not a southerner. This happens in Pennsylvania. It's natural though. When it comes down to it, eventually these groups recognize the similarities and cooperate.

this is odd because the Pennsylvanians I have met seemed to have been the most mild mannered and naive people in america, they really don't know how fucked up the rest of the country is so they are really nice.

[Stefan]

this is odd because the Pennsylvanians I have met seemed to have been the most mild mannered and naive people in america, they really don't know how fucked up the rest of the country is so they are really nice.

They're nice as long as you plan to leave (the country folk.) They have very little patience with people from the cities, if there is constant exposure. There is a particular country lifestyle that can't be emulated by people with a city lifestyle without a lot of practice. On the other hand, people from the country can fit in fine in the city, or at least put up the pretense.

[Contra Mundum]

The South is no more rural than the Midwest or west. There really are cities in the South. I know, shocking.

[Contra Mundum]

City folk don't hate southerners. Maybe southern city folk hate southern rural folk, but northerners generally don't dislike southerners.

LOL, say what? The media in NYC despises Southerners. Even Bill Clinton was treated harshly in NYC during the 1992 Democratic Primary. The media there portrayed him as some ignorant hick.

[Leadchucker]

They're nice as long as you plan to leave.....They have very little patience with people from the cities, if there is constant exposure......

This is the case at the South Jersey Shore. All summer long there is a huge influx of city slickers,locally called shoobies, that pack the Shore towns. The name shoobie comes from the old day when day tripper tourist came by train and brought their lunches in a shoe box but has stuck to this day. It's a love/hate realtionship as the Shore economy depends on the money from tourist, but we don't want them here any longer than possible. We love September when most of them pack up and go back to the city giving our beaches and towns back and there are no more traffic jams

[Mechanolater]

LOL, say what? The media in NYC despises Southerners. Even Bill Clinton was treated harshly in NYC during the 1992 Democratic Primary. The media there portrayed him as some ignorant hick.

Media =/= average folk of the city. I haven't met anyone who takes the redneck stereotype seriously, and a lot of us have a romanticized view of the south. Large estates, old families, etc. May be as unrealistic as the redneck stereotype, but it isn't negative.

[Contra Mundum]

Media =/= average folk of the city. I haven't met anyone who takes the redneck stereotype seriously, and a lot of us have a romanticized view of the south. Large estates, old families, etc. May be as unrealistic as the redneck stereotype, but it isn't negative.

That may be true, especially with the older generation that grew up on 'Gone With the Wind'. People outside the South see it in extremes because of the media. Southerners are shown living on large plantations or dirt poor living in trailers, with the latter being the more common stereotype pushed by the media. The vast majority of white Southerners are just middle class.

Anyway, it's good to see that some people see through media stereotyping.

[Mechanolater]

That may be true, especially with the older generation that grew up on 'Gone With the Wind'. People outside the South see it in extremes because of the media. Southerners are shown living on large plantations or dirt poor living in trailers, with the latter being the more common stereotype pushed by the media. The vast majority of white Southerners are just middle class.

Anyway, it's good to see that some people see through media stereotyping.

I reckon the opinions can be divi'ed up by class. The majority of the people I know are lower to middle class folk. They work hard for what they've got, and so if people in the south who work hard for what they've got are rednecks, then what does that make them? City hicks?

Maybe the type found in uptown Manhattan, the full o' shit hyper-liberals, believe that all southerners are hicks, but the majority of them aren't even native to the city. And we don't like 'em much. :thumb001:

[Edelmann]

City folk don't hate southerners. Maybe southern city folk hate southern rural folk, but northerners generally don't dislike southerners.

Really? Generally there seems to be an unacknowledged prejudice against southerners from northerners. Maybe not 'hate', but definitely bias and disrespect. It's pretty funny how bigoted northerners can be.

To address the question: what do you mean by 'authentic'?

[Mechanolater]

Really? Generally there seems to be an unacknowledged prejudice against southerners from northerners. Maybe not 'hate', but definitely bias and disrespect. It's pretty funny how bigoted northerners can be.

Really. That's all the response I can really give, since I just haven't met these bigoted, southerner disrespectin' folk you describe in the rest of your post. I'm sure they're out there, man, especially in the little CNN enclave of the busy borough, I just haven't met 'em. In addition to that, I just can't speak for all northerners, just my northern corner of my borough of NYC.

I don't know how people from Boston, or Pittsburgh view southerners. I would assume it isn't much different, which is why I used "northerners" instead of "people from the northern Bronx, and other lower to middle working class neighborhoods in the city."

[Osprey]

If you consider this country primarily English in origin.
If not, then i think quite a few Midwestern regions can lay claim to the title of "rural American culture"

[Balmung]

Define "Most Authentic Culture".

A lot of America's culture Music, Literature, Cuisine, Practices etc was developed in the North :/

HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, & Stephen King are all from the North. Suck it Southerners :P

All sides contributed to America's culture, how dare you see us Northerners as not authentic as if were fake and plastic. How dare you, and good day to you sir.

edit: Good day to you Mam.

[Osprey]

good day to you sir.

edit: Good day to you Mam.

:D

[Bobcat Fraser]

HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, & Stephen King are all from the North. Suck it Southerners :P

It's hard to place Poe in either region. Some folks consider Maryland to be part of the South while some folks see it as an Atlantic state. Twain, like Poe, also was from a border state, so both sides can likely claim them. The same can't be said for Faulkner and Williams, of course.

[Bobcat Fraser]

It likely makes more sense to divide our culture into rural and urban rather than northern and southern. You can find "rednecks" in Minnesota, as well as Mississippi. They would have more in common with each other than they would have with someone from a Blue enclave. Then, there are the rest of us, the forgotten suburban midwestern folks.

[Óttar]

The only authentic culture? :confused: My maternal side comes from the Mayflower. And one can't forget the Boston Brahmins.

[Stefan]

It likely makes more sense to divide our culture into rural and urban rather than northern and southern. You can find "rednecks" in Minnesota, as well as Mississippi. They would have more in common with each other than they would have with someone from a Blue enclave. Then, there are the rest of us, the forgotten suburban midwestern folks.

Nah, it's just that the urban culture is kind of artificial these days. There is still plenty of differentiation in the rural regions of the country [as well as the cities, if you look hard enough], most notable in language, but also ethnic history, regionalisms, and the structure of the small towns. It is continuous though; not discrete.

[Bobcat Fraser]

Nah, it's just that the urban culture is kind of artificial these days. There is still plenty of differentiation in the rural regions of the country [as well as the cities, if you look hard enough], most notable in language, but also ethnic history, regionalisms, and the structure of the small towns. It is continuous though; not discrete.

One can find American culture in all regions and all states. Authenticity is not limited to one specific area. The sum is greater than its parts in that varied places play their own unique roles in contributing to the complete picture. Many people, around the world, appreciate that variety.

[Stefan]

One can find American culture in all regions and all states. Authenticity is not limited to one specific area. The sum is greater than its parts in that varied places play their own unique roles in contributing to the complete picture. Many people, around the world, appreciate that variety.

Oh I agree about there not being an "authentic" American culture. I view "American" as a meta-ethnicity composed of various ethnic groups originating from Old-Stock Yankees, Germans and Southrons, but also other groups who have assimilated into these or the meta-ethnicity as a whole. Still, it is quite clear that the cities were once extensions of the cultures which surrounded them, or in many cases vice-versa, which isn't the case today, because of a process to generalize Americans and conglomerate us, but also because of urbanization and industrialization in cities. You can still find remnants of the cities and how they extended into their neighboring areas though. In those ways, the rural and urban environments are more similar than they are to other regions. It is all very complex.

[Bobcat Fraser]

I reckon the opinions can be divi'ed up by class. The majority of the people I know are lower to middle class folk. They work hard for what they've got, and so if people in the south who work hard for what they've got are rednecks, then what does that make them? City hicks?

Maybe the type found in uptown Manhattan, the full o' shit hyper-liberals, believe that all southerners are hicks, but the majority of them aren't even native to the city. And we don't like 'em much. :thumb001:

I think that it's a false dichotomy used by ideologues to divide people for political reasons. I live in the suburbs, but I appreciate and enjoy both rural regions and urban regions, as well as many of the people who live in them. My parents were raised in a rural region, and I enjoyed our visits there when I was a kid. I lived in an urban region for a while, and I felt like a fish *in* the water.