HuffPo hates the South (with maps)

[Del Tachi]

The South's problems are the nation's problems.

Of course, the "non-South" is full of problems, but the kind of people who write for HuffPost do not see them as problems - similarly to how Southerners don't see the kind of issues depicted by these maps as "problems" or they would have eradicated them a long time ago. 

Our current popular culture is very "Yankee-centric" and does not characterize social phenomenon that occur in the North as "problems" but only rather just the "facts of life".  However, the same popular culture derides the South for its "problems" which, in the South, do not seem out-of-place or evenly problematic a lot of the time.

[Del Tachi]

The South's problems are the nation's problems.

Of course, the "non-South" is full of problems, but the kind of people who write for HuffPost do not see them as problems - similarly to how Southerners don't see the kind of issues depicted by these maps as "problems" or they would have eradicated them a long time ago. 

Our current popular culture is very "Yankee-centric" and does not characterize social phenomenon that occur in the North as "problems" but only rather just the "facts of life".  However, the same popular culture derides the South for its "problems" which, in the South, do not seem out-of-place or evenly problematic a lot of the time.

So, poverty and teen pregnancies aren't issues, but Southern facts of life?

I think I finally understood GOP platform!

My point was that there is a certain amount of social conditioning that goes on in both the North and South that desensitizes people to certain social issues.  Moreover, it is a somewhat interesting to pose the question of "by what criteria do we judge certain social phenomenon as 'problems' while others are simply the result of 'human nature' or 'bound to happen'".

Gentrification displacing racial minorities and other forms of housing discrimination continue to be huge problems in the Urban North, yet the writers and readers of publications such as the HuffPost are quick to sweep these issues under the rug of "it can't be helped", "its good in the long-run" or "who even cares"?

[Del Tachi]

But the main issues that I raised remain standing.

Why is gentrification seen as "good" by liberal elites and high-rates of tobacco usage or teenage pregnancy seen as "bad"?  This dilemma becomes extremely perplexing once one considers that the constant strain that gentrification puts on the urban working class contributes, probably in no small part, to the viscous cycle of generational poverty we see among urban racial minorities.

The only reason that gentrification is seen as "good" is because yuppies "like it" and stand to benefit from it whereas teenage pregnancy, gang violence, and urban poverty seem alien to a world seen through lily-White glasses.

Likewise, the yuppies at HuffPost are completely aghast at the "derelict" conditions present in the American South.  However, Southerners see issues such as high obesity, teenage pregnancy, and high school dropout rates through the same lens that that the yuppie sees gentrification or any other problem plaguing the urban North (i.e., traffic congestion, high costs of living, low rates of religious adherence) - not as spirit-crushing social ills, but only as ever-present parts of the social background.


Also, where do you get the idea that gentrification is a more complicated problem than teenage pregnancy or generational poverty?  Complicated only in the sense that its "solution" would prove undesirable to you? 

[Del Tachi]

Also, where do you get the idea that gentrification is a more complicated problem than teenage pregnancy or generational poverty?  Complicated only in the sense that its "solution" would prove undesirable to you? 

Complicated in the sense than finding a solution isn't an easy task. You have a solution, Del Tachi? And, no, I'm not corcerned at all by gentrification, I live in a rural city (through we have housing issues, because regional economy (gold extraction) is going well due to the crisises and housing isn't built quick enough for people moving in).

I never said I would offer a solution.

And I would challenge the assumption that teenage pregnancy and generational poverty are not "complicated" issues.  All issues are complicated or else they would be solved by now.   

[Del Tachi]

Also, where do you get the idea that gentrification is a more complicated problem than teenage pregnancy or generational poverty?  Complicated only in the sense that its "solution" would prove undesirable to you? 

Complicated in the sense than finding a solution isn't an easy task. You have a solution, Del Tachi? And, no, I'm not corcerned at all by gentrification, I live in a rural city (through we have housing issues, because regional economy (gold extraction) is going well due to the crisises and housing isn't built quick enough for people moving in).

I never said I would offer a solution.

And I would challenge the assumption that teenage pregnancy and generational poverty are not "complicated" issues.  All issues are complicated or else they would be solved by now.   

Sexual education has been shown to be very efficient to lower teenage pregnancies, and it's known since a couple of decades. As for generational poverty, the issue is more lack of political will and a low-quality education (which is a complicated issue, true, because the causes aren't the same everywhere and they are usually multiples).

If sex education is a simple fix for teen pregnancy than rent control is a similarly simple solution to gentrification.  In the South there are many social factors in play that encourage teenage sexuality and pregnancy, and least among them is lack of knowledge or access to contraceptives.

As for there being a "lack of political will", I think that only goes-on to support the claims I made earlier.  There is no political will to seriously tackle the teenage pregnancy issue in places like Mississippi because such issues are taken as "given" by voters and politicians there.  This doesn't represent anything wrong or broken with the political or economic system, but rather reinforces the idea that what makes a particular issue a "problem" has very little to do with how it actually impacts those affected.