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I grew up in the South (South Carolina), and I was born in 1955. Even during the 50s, 60s, 70s, Southerners still had great antipathy to the North. I used to wonder, before I moved to the North, how "Yankees" (we still called them that) could even have friends, because my parents' generation painted them as being so cold, mean, uncaring, inhospitable, etc.
These days, what with smartphones and social media and forums like this, there is less ignorance and prejudice. But there is still a giant divide politically and racially between the North and the South, as news headlines of the most police shootings of black men should reveal, and the red/blue states or Trump/Clinton states should reveal.
As far as unreconstructed rebels, they have mostly died out LOL -- but there are certainly pockets of such idiocy, and yes, the rebel flag is treasured by some people even though, or sometimes because, it is a symbol of racism. The South is dualistic and contradictory -- but then so is life.
I suppose there is some analogy with the divide between the North and South of England -- but in the reverse. In England (in broad terms), the North is the area that is hard-done-by and downtrodden and working-class, whereas the South is prosperous, educated, and sophisticated.
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tonycarr
8 years ago
Although my wife was born in the south of England her mother was a staunch Protestant Ulster woman. Every year when they went back to visit on holiday and Helen could never understand why she could play with some of the children but not others. She grew up half believing Catholics ate their own babies. I actually work for a catholic order of nuns and Helen is very glad the her mum died before she had to tell her that.
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