I've lived in the North and the South. I much prefer the North. I would much rather dig out of snow a few times a year than deal with sweltering heat for months at a time. Yes, people have heart attacks shoveling snow, but people die from the heat down south all the time too. Not to mention the monumental floods we get all. the. time. Oh, and tornadoes, those are fun. So you wonder why people deal with winter weather and northerners wonder why southerners deal with those things.

Why is it snarky to wonder why people live where they have to deal with winter weather for several months out of the year? It's curiosity. If you see people year after year shoveling out and having heart attacks from doing so and sliding off the roads, and you don't have to do any of that, you might like to know the rationale for putting up with it. Especially if you're an ignorant southerner who wasn't born to the misery.

The main thing I noticed that was different about the south (and the only southern place I've gone is to Florida once) was the vegetation.. there were some really cool looking trees and plants! That, and it was damn hot. DAMN hot. I wasn't used to it and it made me feel pretty sick to be out in it, especially in mid-day. But man was it beautiful there. I saw a dolphin swimming while I was sitting on the beach early in the morning. It was truly awesome.

I live in the deep south and guess what, I'm not Christian, don't fly the Confederate flag and don't use the n-word. And guess what, neither does anyone else I know.

I like visiting the south, but I couldn't live there. I'm not a Christian for one thing and I also can not physically say the n word. I've literally never said that word. If I hear people say it I politely say I don't think it's appropriate and I would prefer if the sayer doesn't say it in front of me. I'm a liberal progressive feminist that abhors the Confederate flag and what it stands for.

One of my experiences in the south involved being in a van with a bunch of southerners (my mil and her church friends) who were discussing how much they loved the Confederate flag. I asked to stop at a nearby Walmart and was told I shouldn't shop at that Walmart because that's where all the *insert horrible n word* shop. Lovely people. Not saying all southerners are like that but I've never had an experience like that up north. Ever.

Shortly after we got married (we eloped), my husband took my ds and I to his hometown down South to meet his family. My ex actually sent ds a text asking if he'd seen any "mutant hillbillies." I wanted to punch that pos in the mouth! So glad I was given custody so I can raise this kid without ignorance! And yes, I saved that text just in case I need it one day.

As a Southerner, I do get weary of northerners thinking they are superior. It's not okay to denigrater races, genders or ethnic groups, but it's fine if you want to take a whole group of of people in a geographical region and say they are ignorant. Let's substitute (and I don't think this, BTW) "Blacks are ignorant." "Muslims are ignorant." "Hispanics are ignorant." "Women are ignorant." Everyone would be up in arms if people said these things. But "Southerners are ignorant" is fine with everyone?

No I think the geography drama started with the snarky southerner wondering why anyone would live where there was snow.

The public schools in the south have their problems and so do those in the north. (Detroit, New York, etc. etc.) All schools continue to produce many fine students who are successes in their lives. And some abysmal students who fail at everything. Intelligence rises to the top. Insulting a person's intelligence is not a good way to win an argument and only resorted to when the person arguing can't muster any other persuasive points. (Logic class, an elective in my southern school, guess they don't have that in the north.)