[2014-02-26]

[Georg]

Ahh,
now I understand why Hermann Göring comitted suidide.
Regards
Georg

[Kaharz]

The South is a region, which is primarily an English-speaking area with a moderate to high number of Evangelical Christians.

I've spent a good deal of time in the southeast US and I'm not terribly convinced about the primarily English-speaking part.* Although no one ever evangelized to me either. There was a very awkward silence when my girlfriend exclaimed "god damn Christians" after being told she could not buy alcohol on a Sunday in Gadsden, Alabama. But no one actually said anything. I've had friends who lived in some small bible belt towns that were occasionally harassed by evangelicals though.

The only time I've ever had a problem in my area was at my first college with one of the bible study group recruiters. Most were pretty respectful and backed off quick after I told them I was raised catholic, was familiar with the bible, and was not interested. But one guy actually blocked the door I was trying to go through after harassing me for a couple of minutes. I shouldered past him and he got very offended, but didn't follow. I think it was more a personal issue than a religious one with him.

My current school is almost entirely black and the only religious recruiters I've seen are Nation of Islam. I'm white, so they don't proselytize to me.

*This is meant as a bad joke, just in case anyone does not realize that.

[Lethal Interjection]

But even honkies need Allah... don't they?

[blaine]

blaine, you were lucky to be born in the South ... of Australia?

I assume the same, but I like to remind USians that they are not alone on the world. Which, evidently, they assume, as they never specify the country when they speak about the US.

As another has noted, I used a capital "S" when listing my region. To my knowledge, there isn't another region in the world that is widely recognized simply as the "South," without some other qualifier. A quick Google search for "what region is known as the south" returns as the top result Wikipedia's entry on The Southern United States. That's not really American elitism, or an indicator that I believe America exists in a vacuum (thank God!). I'm well aware that the rest of the world is on the same internet as me (well, except for China, and sometimes Egypt...). I think the very nature of my original post shows that I've no great love for the piece or earth I presently call home. And in case it wasn't evident, the parenthetical inclusion implying that I measure good fortune in my birthplace was, in fact, meant to be conveyed with sarcasm.

[noone]

A quick Google search for "what region is known as the south" returns as the top result Wikipedia's entry on The Southern United States.

That doesn't sound like a very good way of figuring that out as you probably used US Google.

[blaine]

The only time I've ever had a problem in my area was at my first college with one of the bible study group recruiters. Most were pretty respectful and backed off quick after I told them I was raised catholic, was familiar with the bible, and was not interested. But one guy actually blocked the door I was trying to go through after harassing me for a couple of minutes. I shouldered past him and he got very offended, but didn't follow. I think it was more a personal issue than a religious one with him.

It's not always an "in your face" offense, but the influence of religion is really harmful in this region. To give you just one example, when I was in high school (or "secondary school" in other parts of the world), there was a group called "First Priority." They held assemblies for which classes were put off, and made daily announcements via the school's intercom loudspeaker system during class hours encouraging students to join them for their daily prayer around the flagpole, which happened at 7:45 AM (classes started at 8AM), and was located directly in front of the main building entrance. They came into classrooms and handed out pamphlets, and were generally permitted to push their religion on the entire student body. If you don't understand why this was a problem, please understand that it created a culture of shame for anyone who didn't attend their gatherings. Even I knew it was wrong, and I was, at the time, a self-identifying Christian. I even carried a Bible in my backpack. Once, while at lunch, the leader of First Priority came to me while I was reading the Bible, and told me that if I truly loved God, I would show it by joining First Priority. The fuck?!

Oh, and I forgot to mention, this was a public school (American). Our school's operating budget was entirely made up of Alabama state funds (much of which were actually federal funds passed through the state). So, we are talking about institutionalized religion, funded by tax monies, in America, land of the free. But of course, this was over a decade ago. Surely things have improved since then, right?

Nope. Just two days ago, my state's House of Representatives passed a bill making it mandatory for public school teachers to start each day with a prayer selected from the record of commencement prayers given before Alabama's congress. The logic here is that, since it's okay to have an official prayer in Congress (which has been happening since, I guess, forever), it should be okay for schools, too. They're actually calling it "civics studies." The bill still has to go through the Senate, where people are saying it will be defeated, but who can be sure? It's getting scary over here. Pray for us!

[blaine]

That doesn't sound like a very good way of figuring that out as you probably used US Google.

Fair enough, except that I checked Google UK and Australia as well, with the same result. Well, okay, Australia's Google returned "South Australian wine" as the first result, but since that wasn't an article describing a geographic region specifically, but rather a celebrated product of a certain region, I didn't think it was applicable. On a side note, I'm not much of a fan of South Australian wines. Argentinian or South African are more my taste.

[Astrogirl]

I've already noticed a big difference in how self-identified "very religious" people respond to one's non-religion here and back in the US. Here, a girl I was talking to asked if I was, I said no, she said she was, and that was that. There wasn't any hostility or judgement in the tone at all. Whereas in the US, old men would chase me around my university campus with little pocket Bibles.

Yeah, when I was new in the US (I'm an atheist) at first I was like: Why are American atheists so aggressive? After a short while: Oh that's why.

Ed is awesome.

Ed just said German is a lesser language . He shall go to hell for this sacrilege!

Theres a city I visit a lot that has a 'North', 'South' and 'East' part (no west apparently). Except when standing at the centre of the town it makes no sense. It took a long time to figure out, but none of them are in relation to the town itself. They are in-fact related to the juncture in the river where all the boats came in. So when standing on the bridge to leave town they all make sense, but otherwise they seem arbitrary.

What was my point? Nothing. I wanted to talk.

Cool. Can we has drawing/map?

I'm well aware that the rest of the world is on the same internet as me (well, except for China, and sometimes Egypt...).

Very good *patpat*

Just two days ago, my state's House of Representatives passed a bill making it mandatory for public school teachers to start each day with a prayer selected from the record of commencement prayers given before Alabama's congress. The logic here is that, since it's okay to have an official prayer in Congress (which has been happening since, I guess, forever), it should be okay for schools, too. They're actually calling it "civics studies."

Oh my fucking god.

The bill still has to go through the Senate, where people are saying it will be defeated, but who can be sure? It's getting scary over here. Pray for us!

I will pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for you.

A quick Google search for "what region is known as the south" returns as the top result Wikipedia's entry on The Southern United States.

That doesn't sound like a very good way of figuring that out as you probably used US Google.

It's top on German Google, too. South Asia is directly behind it.

[Kimra]

Still all fairly western centric googles.

But you are right Blane (whatever your name is, I'm going to assume it's Blane), no one else in the world is so full of themselves to just call their locality 'the South'. Hell even Antarctica has it's own name, and that's as south as it gets. But lo, America *waves patriotic flag* nothing exists beyond it's borders. All hail the president and shoot some guns in the air.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

Yeah, when I was new in the US (I'm an atheist) at first I was like: Why are American atheists so aggressive? After a short while: Oh that's why.

Yup. I learned not to mention it quite a while ago. One of my best friends even told me that she thought we were put together so she could save me. I told one of the old Bible guys "I'm heathen scum!" when he accosted me* outside the the science buildings. We also get Baptist proselytisers** coming to our door pretty often. If we got Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses come knocking, it'd at least be entertaining.

*as much as a geriatric can accost
**I think this would imply they're successful. They are not.

and shoot some guns in the air.

So many people (Australians and other foreigners) have asked me about my opinion of US gun laws. At least I can let a few people know that not all Americans are total gun nuts. Sure, 80% of my extended family is...

I do get the impression that a lot of Australians don't know how divided the US is.

[Apocalyptus]

I do get the impression that a lot of Australians don't know how divided the US is.

Ah, the good old out-group homogeneity effect. I guess in this case it's exacerbated by most of us having seen a lot of American television and movies and so assuming we have a pretty good idea of what it's like based on that and the news articles we've seen.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I do get the impression that a lot of Australians don't know how divided the US is.

Ah, the good old out-group homogeneity effect. I guess in this case it's exacerbated by most of us having seen a lot of American television and movies and so assuming we have a pretty good idea of what it's like based on that and the news articles we've seen.

Yeah, definitely. To add to it: I took a comparative government class a few years ago that looked at Russia, the UK, Iran, Mexico, and Nigeria. When on the UK, we were shown this neat study that looked at the spread of political opinions on various issues in the two countries. I think for every one, the US was at least 2-3 times more spread out from Left to Right than the UK, with the mean of the UK usually a bit to the Left of the US on most issues (things like abortion, military spending, social support, etc.). I've been looking for the study but haven't been able to find it. I did find this though, which is pretty interesting. I hadn't seen most of them.

[Kimra]

So many people (Australians and other foreigners) have asked me about my opinion of US gun laws. At least I can let a few people know that not all Americans are total gun nuts. Sure, 80% of my extended family is...

I do get the impression that a lot of Australians don't know how divided the US is.

Well clearly they know there's a divide, because they are asking your opinion rather than assuming you miss petting your guns at night before going to sleep. But way to assume we're all just dumb people who assume you are all the same rather than semi-intelligent people trying to form our own opinions of you based on your thoughts on pertinent topics in your country.

*hops away on the back of a kangaroo drinking a VB*

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

So many people (Australians and other foreigners) have asked me about my opinion of US gun laws. At least I can let a few people know that not all Americans are total gun nuts. Sure, 80% of my extended family is...

I do get the impression that a lot of Australians don't know how divided the US is.

Well clearly they know there's a divide, because they are asking your opinion rather than assuming you miss petting your guns at night before going to sleep. But way to assume we're all just dumb people who assume you are all the same rather than semi-intelligent people trying to form our own opinions of you based on your thoughts on pertinent topics in your country.

*hops away on the back of a kangaroo drinking a VB*

I accept your criticism. But when I said "ask my opinion" I meant, "assume I agree with US gun laws". I did give them a balanced view though, telling them that there were plenty of gun crazies in my own family. But if someone asked my opinion, they might just be being polite.

[Kimra]

To be fair, I know for a fact that all Americans have six machine guns under their bed, all Canadians pee maple syrup, all Germans shout while eating sausages, all New Zealanders are in the Lord of the Rings, and all Australians wear cork hats.

(Did I miss anyone? I think I covered every major representative on the board.)