4 ms·

It's suspected that the entire stereotype of "lazy and stupid southerners" (in the US) was actually hookworm infections. This one not necessarily behavior alte

It's suspected that the entire stereotype of "lazy and stupid southerners" (in the US) was actually hookworm infections. This one not necessarily behavior altering, but just drastic malnutrition that eventually also affected brain function. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-south-a-bad-name/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-so...

drdeadringer 6y ago
I remember a RadioLab podcast episode related to this.
fnord123 6y ago
>It's suspected that the entire stereotype of "lazy and stupid southerners" (in the US) was actually hookworm infections. It's an interesting suspicion and cool in a Freakanomics way, but it apparently lends little predictability. From your article: > But the South continues to lag behind the rest of the nation economically, with seven out of the 10 poorest states in the U.S. located there. And while stereotypes are fading, many outside of the region continue to look down on it. “When I told my family I was moving to Houston, it was like I was leaving for a leper community—they wanted to have a funeral for me,” Hotez says. “My in-laws certainly have perceptions about this being a backwards place, not realizing that some of the most sophisticated universities in the world are located in the South.” They link to the bottom 10 states by poverty level. In fact the bottom 12 states for poverty level are in the South: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_poverty_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... If hookworm was the cause and hookworm was solved, why are the states still so poor? Or why don't they have University degrees? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_educational_attainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  > Or why don't they have University degrees? I'm reminded of Massachusetts's Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647. Which required cities and towns to fund public schools. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-deluder-satan-act-of-1647 https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-delude... My offhand thought is for long standing cultural and historical reasons the leadership in southern states doesn't care about poor and working class education. Primarily you don't need to read to able to pick tobacco and cotton. Quite the reverse. Some places it was illegal to teach black people to read and write. Where in the north the religious culture and industrial economy made it imperative that workers be able to read and write. Can't read, can't read the bible, surely will fall into the hands of Satan. And they'll use the wrong type of oil on a machine and wreck it.
- GoblinSlayer 6y ago
  Because other states already hogged all resources. Same reason why silicon valley isn't omnipresent.
- fredophile 6y ago
  > If hookworm was the cause and hookworm was solved, why are the states still so poor? Imagine you have two runners who are running a marathon. The first runner has to carry a 50 lb backpack for the first 10 miles of the race. If you check their times for the midpoint of the race would you say carrying the backpack can't possibly be the reason the first runner is slower than the second? They aren't carrying it anymore (ie the problem is solved) so why didn't they catch up?
  - fnord123 6y ago
    Or maybe the backpack was hot weather, religiosity, fervent individualism, and racism all along.

drdeadringer 6y ago

I remember a RadioLab podcast episode related to this.

fnord123 6y ago

>It's suspected that the entire stereotype of "lazy and stupid southerners" (in the US) was actually hookworm infections. It's an interesting suspicion and cool in a Freakanomics way, but it apparently lends little predictability. From your article: > But the South continues to lag behind the rest of the nation economically, with seven out of the 10 poorest states in the U.S. located there. And while stereotypes are fading, many outside of the region continue to look down on it. “When I told my family I was moving to Houston, it was like I was leaving for a leper community—they wanted to have a funeral for me,” Hotez says. “My in-laws certainly have perceptions about this being a backwards place, not realizing that some of the most sophisticated universities in the world are located in the South.” They link to the bottom 10 states by poverty level. In fact the bottom 12 states for poverty level are in the South: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_poverty_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... If hookworm was the cause and hookworm was solved, why are the states still so poor? Or why don't they have University degrees? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_educational_attainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Gibbon1 6y ago
> Or why don't they have University degrees? I'm reminded of Massachusetts's Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647. Which required cities and towns to fund public schools. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-deluder-satan-act-of-1647 https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-delude... My offhand thought is for long standing cultural and historical reasons the leadership in southern states doesn't care about poor and working class education. Primarily you don't need to read to able to pick tobacco and cotton. Quite the reverse. Some places it was illegal to teach black people to read and write. Where in the north the religious culture and industrial economy made it imperative that workers be able to read and write. Can't read, can't read the bible, surely will fall into the hands of Satan. And they'll use the wrong type of oil on a machine and wreck it.
GoblinSlayer 6y ago
Because other states already hogged all resources. Same reason why silicon valley isn't omnipresent.
fredophile 6y ago
> If hookworm was the cause and hookworm was solved, why are the states still so poor? Imagine you have two runners who are running a marathon. The first runner has to carry a 50 lb backpack for the first 10 miles of the race. If you check their times for the midpoint of the race would you say carrying the backpack can't possibly be the reason the first runner is slower than the second? They aren't carrying it anymore (ie the problem is solved) so why didn't they catch up?
- fnord123 6y ago
  Or maybe the backpack was hot weather, religiosity, fervent individualism, and racism all along.