To: combjelly who wrote (249204 ) 9/4/2005 3:42:59 PM From: tejek Read Replies (1) | Respond to "You wouldn't think regional differences were so pronounced in the US but its very hard for me to understand the culture of the South." Ted, it has only been a few decades that most of the country has been in constant contact with the rest. It has only been since the late 50s that pretty much all of the country has had electricity, paved roads and telephone service. To top it all off, the South experienced a devastating war, an onerous occupation and lacked the economic development to put it behind them until relatively recently. Add in the fact that the large landholders encouraged a feeling of alienation from the rest of the country, any all differences in culture is likely to be magnified. Racism, of course, is part of it. For one, to define any group there is an instinctive need to have those that are in and those that are out. It never hurts to have a group that you hold as your inferiors. The lower your socio-economic status the stronger this need is. The wealthy are lucky, pretty much everyone are their inferiors, they don't have to be aggressive about it. All poor white Southerners had were blacks. Any attempt to level the playing field had to be fought, tooth and nail. But this only applies to the groups in the abstract, once they get to know each other individually there is often acceptance.
