Merry Christmas doesn't offend me, nor does Happy Hanukkah or anything else. Say anything you want where I live, which is in the deep south. We're polite, hold the door open for the people behind us, and say thanks for doing it. We get along so well. Too bad the rest of the country isn't as nice.

I live in Texas. Seriously, don't be proud of us. There are still confederate monuments all over the place, including the so-called "liberal" city of Austin. The state just now got around to admitting that maybe slavery had something to do with the civil war, and so decided to include it in textbooks. And by just now got around to it, I mean like two weeks ago. But those same textbooks still challenge evolution, 'cause let's not get crazy or anything. When I moved here 20 years ago, there were towns that still had businesses displaying "Whites Only" signs. And it's not like people were so outraged they forced them to take them down. There are places that still have segregated proms. I've found that the people who think Texas isn't so ass backwards are usually people who have never lived anywhere else. Or have never lived outside of the south.

My guess is that the good outweighs the bad, and a hurricane is a crapshoot. Like, the threat is always there, but *maybe* it won't happen. I'm from the Southern California coast but have been gone a long time, and am gearing up to move back soon. So many people are appalled. Earthquakes! Fires! Mudslides! Traffic! Yeah, I know, but it's my home state and I love it, and it's where my family and closest friends are. I can't wait to be home again.

Umm, I don't think they were calling you southern...

No shit. You’re completely missing the point which is not judging individuals based on things we are presented with in the media and the general opinions aimed toward certain groups of people. Denying that these are the portrayals we are presented with though news and popular opinion would be absurd. No shit, racists aren’t confined to the south, but read through some previous posts here and tell me the south isn’t “notorious for being racist”. It is not racist for me to point out that the news only shows black people looting stores. Whether that is the case or not, that is what the news shows us. It is up to US to see people beyond that. It WOULD be racist for me to assume that a black person will jump at the chance to loot a store, however I don’t think it’s a big leap to assume that some people here are jumping at the chance to be a jerk to people under the guise of being woke, hence this entire thread aimed at the south.

i'm black and i've spent considerable time in both the northeast and southeast. there's definitely racism in both areas but i prefer the racism of the south. it's more in your face and obvious. people down there tend to own their racism. up north it was more subtle or people were in denial about it. of course i'd rather not deal with it at all but i know that's a pipe dream.

The thing with the south is that the racism is institutionalized. There are racists up north, but they are not enough to support things like having confederate flags as pubic high school symbols, which still happens here. Have them on the football uniforms and everything. You can see confederate flags in the north too, but they're not flying over the state capitol. That's a pretty significant difference.

No shit. You’re completely missing the point which is not judging individuals based on what we are presented with in the media and general opinions aimed at certain groups. It would be absurd to deny that these are portrayals we are presented with. It is not racist for me to point out that the news only shows black people looting stores. Whether it’s the case or not, that’s what the news shows us. It’s uo to US to look beyond that and see people as individuals. It WOULD be racist for me to assume black people are jumping at the chance to loot a store. No shit, racists aren’t confined to the south, but read though some of the previous posts and tell me that the south isn’t “notorious for being racist”. I don’t think it’s a big leap to assume that some people here are jumping at the chance to be a jerk under the guise of being woke, hence this entire thread aimed at the south. Making assumptions about individuals based on their “group” is bad, mmmmkay?

Sex offenders are typically men.OK, TRUE Large scale terrorists are typically Muslim. UM,NO People who loot stores during a natural disaster are typically black. WTF Racists are typically southern. None of these behaviors are excusable. We are all presented with info. HATE TO BREAK IT TO YOU BUT RACISTS ARE NOT CONFINED TO THE SOUTH. Seriously- "People who loot stores during a natural disaster are typically black"? GTFO with this shit. Pot, meet kettle

Sex offenders are typically men. Large scale terrorists are typically Muslim. People who loot stores during a natural disaster are typically black. Racists are typically southern. None of these behaviors are excusable. We are all presented with information that indicates these things to be true. It’s up to us to think objectively. The ability to do that seems beyond the capacity of many in this group.