idea on the south

[freepcrusher]

the south is an area that has taken a while to conform to the rest of the country on societal change. My idea is that for the culture to change, one has to drown it out. What do you think would happen if a lot of jewish and/or secular liberals from NY, CT etc started moving to areas like the northern Atlanta suburbs or the DFW exurbs? I almost think about starting a website on this. It could be called "Blue State Project".

[smoltchanov]

I fear - some would be lynched first. And all the positive change, that would happen after, would be irrelevant for them. I don't want to risk human lives such way...

[Sibboleth]

Social. Not 'societal' which is a stupid word. Social. Social. Social. Social. Pertaining to Society. Social. Social. Social.

[Nutmeg]

jewish and/or secular liberals from NY, CT etc started moving to areas like the northern Atlanta suburbs

Already has happened.  Maybe not "a lot", but it certainly is a small trend or at least was about 10-15 years ago.

[ModerateCoward]

It's been tried before - see carpetbagging.

[Communists For McCain]

Fact check:

More latee liberals down south equals less latee liberals up north.

Sure, you could bring "societal change" (man some of you guys just love using douchey sounding terms) to maybe Virginia and North Carolina...but beyond that?  A lot of these states don't even bother looking for remotely liberal candidates to run for Governors or Senators.  You'd have to use half of NYC's population to affect real change down here.

Trust me, there are a lot of social liberals down here who think they can CHANGE the rural plains bumpkin.  It just ain't happening bub.  The South has hated the North for generations.  A "SEND IN THE JEWS!!!" plan isn't going to do jack diddly sh*t.

[Link]

the south is an area that has taken a while to conform to the rest of the country on societal change. My idea is that for the culture to change, one has to drown it out. What do you think would happen if a lot of jewish and/or secular liberals from NY, CT etc started moving to areas like the northern Atlanta suburbs or the DFW exurbs? I almost think about starting a website on this. It could be called "Blue State Project".

People from the coasts are not exactly gems either.  I enjoy going to the South for it's simplicity.  When someone in the South asks me what I want for dinner I can say steak or barbecue or fajitas and they will take me to a good straight forward place.  Someone asks you that in New York they will try and talk you into tofu or raw fish or vegan or whatever their favorite performance artist friend is into at the moment.  We really don't need the South polluted with that type of pretentiousness.

[Senator Napoleon]

the south is an area that has taken a while to conform to the rest of the country on societal change. My idea is that for the culture to change, one has to drown it out. What do you think would happen if a lot of jewish and/or secular liberals from NY, CT etc started moving to areas like the northern Atlanta suburbs or the DFW exurbs? I almost think about starting a website on this. It could be called "Blue State Project".

We still need them. CT has some nutty conservative social policies still, especially on alcohol and marijuana.

[Invisible Obama]

There already has been some change in demographics in those suburbs mentioned, which is responsible for some of those counties voting less Republican. At some point, it's going effect some offices.

[dead0man]

wow..just...wow

[Senator Snowstalker]

If we want the South, it would be better to adopt/emphasize economic populism (and wait until social issues become less volatile). Would it cost us New England and a good chunk of the Northeast and West? Probably. But our economic policies, not our social policies, define us. I wish we had more people like William Jennings Bryan in our party (minus the Scopes thingy)

[Progressive Realist]

Great Atlas thread. 5 stars.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I fear - some would be lynched first. And all the positive change, that would happen after, would be irrelevant for them. I don't want to risk human lives such way...

There are white liberals in the South. Not many of them, but they're there. Now it's true that many people in the South hold intolerant, closed-minded, outdated views, but the stereotype that all White Southerners are fanatically hateful and racist reflects a certain prejudice in and of itself.

[realisticidealist]

I wish we had more people like William Jennings Bryan in our party (minus the Scopes thingy)

He might be my single favorite American politician.

[Yelnoc]

this is a stupid thread

[TJ in Wisco]

We could use a little more political mixing in this country. Way too many people live in little secluded bubbles and rarely talk to those on the opposite side of the aisle. It's practically impossible to find a conservative Republican in the city I live right now. I wish they would intermingle with some backwater southern place that hasn't seen a liberal Democrat. We'd all be better off that way.

[Reginald]

I fear - some would be lynched first. And all the positive change, that would happen after, would be irrelevant for them. I don't want to risk human lives such way...

There are white liberals in the South. Not many of them, but they're there. Now it's true that many people in the South hold intolerant, closed-minded, outdated views, but the stereotype that all White Southerners are fanatically hateful and racist reflects a certain prejudice in and of itself.

Yeah, this. Most of the more conservative people I know have certainly gossiped about people who look a little "alternative," but that's been pretty much the extent of their behavior (it's all bizarrely "high school" really, which is hilarious in itself).

[Vote UKIP!]

this is a stupid thread

[bgwah]

the south is an area that has taken a while to conform to the rest of the country on societal change. My idea is that for the culture to change, one has to drown it out. What do you think would happen if a lot of jewish and/or secular liberals from NY, CT etc started moving to areas like the northern Atlanta suburbs or the DFW exurbs? I almost think about starting a website on this. It could be called "Blue State Project".

People from the coasts are not exactly gems either.  I enjoy going to the South for it's simplicity.  When someone in the South asks me what I want for dinner I can say steak or barbecue or fajitas and they will take me to a good straight forward place.  Someone asks you that in New York they will try and talk you into tofu or raw fish or vegan or whatever their favorite performance artist friend is into at the moment.  We really don't need the South polluted with that type of pretentiousness.

Caring about what is in your food isn't pretentious.

Now, copying articles and underlining certain parts, on the other hand...

[Californian Tony]

It's been tried before - see carpetbagging.

Damn, you beat me on this.

[pbrower2a]

The South has alternated between reactionary phases in which the political life exists almost entirely to endorse the will of the dominant elites (slavemasters at one time, post-Civil War landowners another, sweatshop exploiters, and now corporatists of no regional or even national loyalty). Then you have Reconstruction, the Populist movement, the New Deal, and the Civil Rights struggle.  The reactionary phase in the South may have peaked.

The Reactionaries promise security and then give repression and the shaft. Security always comes with a strong dose of nostalgia for delights that the always-small middle class finds comforting for itself but that depend upon the exploitation and immiseration of the masses. Eventually the masses incorporate material increasingly subversive of the old order and nobody catches on.

This time the Reactionaries depend upon pie-in-the-sky religiosity as a salve for economic distress. It can't work forever.     

[CathKhan]

this is a stupid thread

[a Person]

this is a stupid thread

[smoltchanov]

I fear - some would be lynched first. And all the positive change, that would happen after, would be irrelevant for them. I don't want to risk human lives such way...

There are white liberals in the South. Not many of them, but they're there. Now it's true that many people in the South hold intolerant, closed-minded, outdated views, but the stereotype that all White Southerners are fanatically hateful and racist reflects a certain prejudice in and of itself.

It was, obviously, an irony. I spent some time in the South myself, so i know it rather well. Nevertheless - an irony always reflects some truth too