This happens so rarely that I thought it needed to be highlighted. We should defintiely celebrate with some old weller 107.

nah-uh, you wouldn’t. tennessee sour mash ain’t bad either. and not that jack daniels stuff. you can get better… and less expensive.

but despite our political differences i’d join you over an old weller 107 anytime!

I’d say that a good kentucky bourbon is a much more sophisticated and subtle drink than a Scottish single malt…but then I’d be Threadjacking.

b/c cosmopolitan implies an degree of sophistication, class, wealth, worldliness, and education. last time i checked the statistics, the south was at the bottom of the tier in terms of education and wealth.

well what do you mean by “the south,” my friend? downtown atlanta or birmingham? the research triangle of north carolina? hillbilly northern alabama, or creole mobile? is new orleans part of the south to you? what about nashville? and since when can you generalize from statewise averages in a country where there is so much inequality and demographic difference county to county?

Extrapolating from that, combined with my observations, the south is also in the pits for: - class (think confed*rate flags in car windows);

not sure what you mean by class here. bigotry and nativism come in all social segments, only the express themselves a little different sometimes.

- sophistication (still trying to think of the last time i heard anything sophisticated from the great state of Miss.);

how about cassandra wilson, just off the top of my head – proud native of jackson, mississippi?

and - worldliness (didn’t have too many southerners in my foreign exchange programs, if any, and there aren’t a lot of Ethiopian restaurants in Alabama).

well there sure is plenty of vietnamese food all along the gulf coast. nigerians in houston. every kind of african and latin american in the atlanta region. the food industry in birmingham was built by greeks. mississippi is famous for tamales. chinese immigrants landed all over the region. meanwhile, charleston and new orleans have 500 years of worldly history, port centers with creole cultures that have flourished to this day.

then add in the ever present and underlying racism (think of the black guy dragged behind the truck to death, never would happen in Vermont or Minnesotta or Chicago)

oh no you didn’t! the ku klux klan has deep historic roots in indiana and was once very powerful in the northeast. cities like boston, detroit or chicago are as segregated as any southern city, usually more. racist violence has a rich and varied history across the united states. you know that.

finally, didn’t the south go for bush in 2000 and 2004? the south chose a reta*ded hillbil*y as president, not a wordly person. bush couldn’t even name most world leaders (and still probably can’t without help).

uh, didn’t the entire country go for bush in 2004? right now, per the new york times a few days ago, the three states where bush is still above 50% approval are: utah, idaho, wyoming. which of these is part of the south? have a look at the red county/blue county maps from the 2004 election. you will see that whole swathes of the south went for kerry. a whole belt right across the middle of alabama – blue. the entire western fringe of mississippi – blue. and so forth.

yeah, i am stereotyping,

you don’t say.

i am sure there are some expatriates from developed nations living (temporarily) in atlanta,

you’re dripping with contempt there… watch out, you’re going to need a bib. besides, whatchoo know about developed nations?

but by and large, most southerners are not “cosmopolitan,” no matter how many times they watch sex and the city, eat fake chinese food, and collect Eiffel Tower statutes.

nobody said that MOST southerners or MOST americans or MOST humans of any category are cosmopolitan. what i did say is that the south is growing more cosmpolitan, in part thanks to the social and cultural input of people from world diasporas. feel free to ignore the party, there’ll be more gumbo and bourbon for the rest of us.

Regarding racism in the South. This is just my own personal observation and I’m in no way “married” the notions I’m about to expound but…at least in regards to white/black relationships I’ve found that:

Northeners always speak the right way and there is very little overt racism here, but whites and blacks rarely ever become good friends or intermingle much on a personal level. They live seperate lives. In the south however, whites and blacks seem much more familiar and comfortable with each other, even though there is a distinct increase in overt racism.

Strange.

last time i checked the statistics, the south was at the bottom of the tier in terms of education and wealth. Extrapolating from that, combined with my observations, the south is also in the pits for: - class (think confed*rate flags in car windows); - sophistication (still trying to think of the last time i heard anything sophisticated from the great state of Miss.); and - worldliness (didn’t have too many southerners in my foreign exchange programs, if any, and there aren’t a lot of Ethiopian restaurants in Alabama).

then add in the ever present and underlying racism (think of the black guy dragged behind the truck to death, never would happen in Vermont or Minnesotta or Chicago)

finally, didn’t the south go for bush in 2000 and 2004? the south chose a retaded hillbily as president, not a wordly person. bush couldn’t even name most world leaders (and still probably can’t without help).

yeah, i am stereotyping, i am sure there are some expatriates from developed nations living (temporarily) in atlanta, but by and large, most southerners are not “cosmopolitan,” no matter how many times they watch sex and the city, eat fake chinese food, and collect Eiffel Tower statutes.

and why not?

Are you f*&^ing kidding me? Cosmopolitan and South should not ever be used in the same sentence.

And those Baptist churches every twenty yards donÂ’t leave much room for masjids and mandirs.

I have lived in Dallas for 11 years and I see the Baptist Churches on every corner. I never saw these many “mandirs” or ‘masjid’s growing up in India. This region is definately more “religious” than any part of India. But then one thing I have noticed that in the pantheon of Gods the Americans have the “Almightly Greenback” preety much at the top. (Baptist may not admit to this but they know ) Money is a great level-er !!!

And since there is not a lot of space for ‘madir’s here, I all the more like the fact that more and more international businesses are coming down to the south. That is the only way the people here will get to interact with the world, get proseperous and that will automatically create space for those ‘mandir’s and ‘masjid’s.

So, I just love this development.