Louisiana

Stereotypes of the south date back to pre-Civil War days and are more fiction than fact, as any careful look at the old confederacy will demonstrate. But myths die hard, especially if they sell. And the "old south" makes a good story.

Myth number one is the Bible Belt. The south is widely perceived as a land of decent people who don't drink, smoke, lie, or cuss. To miss church is unthinkable, and sex before or outside marriage is unforgivable. The southern baptist believes that catholics are on a spiritual par with heathens, and the two don't mix if they can possibly avoid it. Teenagers are home by ten after a Saturday night date of holding hands and sarsaparilla.

The reality is the south has no patent on piety, sobriety, or just goodness in general. A telling statistic is that 45% of babies are born out of wedlock in the south, about the same as other regions. And those who wait for marriage to have children didn't necessarily wait to have sex. They just got lucky or took oral contraceptives. About 10% of females claim to be virginal until marriage, regardless of where in the country they lie from.

A second myth is that the south is the birthplace and exclusive home of the redneck culture (using the term loosely), where they shoot first and never ask questions. The redneck drives around in a pickup truck adorned with a gun rack, rebel flag decal, and God Bless America bumper sticker. Movies such as Deliverance foster the mythology of the southerner as a toothless and incestuous grammer school dropout who lives with head lice in a tapewormy town and stalks the Cahulawasee backwoods in search of human prey.

This too is mostly fiction. In my travels around the U.S. I have found hard drinking, pistol packin', narrow-minded bigots from Maine to California. The chief distinction between the southern variety and the others is, of course, the rebel flag decal.

Lastly, there is the southern belle myth, as perpetuated by Margaret Mitchell in Gone With the Wind, and similar others. This myth would have us believe that a drive around the south today will pass plantations with stately oaks and broad magnolias, bedecked with Spanish moss. Strolling the lawns will be belles in billowy dresses, twirling parasols, while their silver-haired gentlemen friends sip bourbon and discuss politics on the veranda. In nearby fields are descendents of former slaves, picking cotton to the tune of Stephen Foster. It's all very gentrfied. And very false.

The only plantations in the south today are the ones you pay admission to see. And slavery, though not necessarily bigotry, was abolished long ago with the Emancipation Proclamation. And shocking though it may seem to some, the south does not have a lock on racial discrimination, as shown by riots in Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit during the bloody struggle for civil rights in the sixties. Seems people are about the same everywhere, just a tad friendlier in the south. Or is that myth number four?

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Stereotypes of the south date back to pre-Civil War days and are more fiction than fact, as any careful look at the old confederacy will demonstrate. But myths die hard, especially if they sell. And the "old south" makes a good story. Myth number one is the Bible Belt. The south is widely perceived as a land of decent people who don't drink, smoke, lie, or cuss. To miss church is unthinkable, and sex before or outside marriage is unforgivable. The southern baptist believes that catholics are on a spiritual par with heathens, and the two don't mix if they can possibly avoid it. Teenagers are home by ten after a Saturday night date of holding hands and sarsaparilla. The reality is the south has no patent on piety, sobriety, or just goodness in general. A telling statistic is that 45% of babies are born out of wedlock in the south, about the same as other regions. And those who wait for marriage to have children didn't necessarily wait to have sex. They just got lucky or took oral contraceptives. About 10% of females claim to be virginal until marriage, regardless of where in the country they lie from. A second myth is that the south is the birthplace and exclusive home of the redneck culture (using the term loosely), where they shoot first and never ask questions. The redneck drives around in a pickup truck adorned with a gun rack, rebel flag decal, and God Bless America bumper sticker. Movies such as Deliverance foster the mythology of the southerner as a toothless and incestuous grammer school dropout who lives with head lice in a tapewormy town and stalks the Cahulawasee backwoods in search of human prey. This too is mostly fiction. In my travels around the U.S. I have found hard drinking, pistol packin', narrow-minded bigots from Maine to California. The chief distinction between the southern variety and the others is, of course, the rebel flag decal. Lastly, there is the southern belle myth, as perpetuated by Margaret Mitchell in Gone With the Wind, and similar others. This myth would have us believe that a drive around the south today will pass plantations with stately oaks and broad magnolias, bedecked with Spanish moss. Strolling the lawns will be belles in billowy dresses, twirling parasols, while their silver-haired gentlemen friends sip bourbon and discuss politics on the veranda. In nearby fields are descendents of former slaves, picking cotton to the tune of Stephen Foster. It's all very gentrfied. And very false. The only plantations in the south today are the ones you pay admission to see. And slavery, though not necessarily bigotry, was abolished long ago with the Emancipation Proclamation. And shocking though it may seem to some, the south does not have a lock on racial discrimination, as shown by riots in Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit during the bloody struggle for civil rights in the sixties. Seems people are about the same everywhere, just a tad friendlier in the south. Or is that myth number four?

© Danny Kimberlin 2015