6 ms·

Thank God for Mississippi

22 points by 65 4y ago

jqpabc123 4y ago
Alabama is not the end of the world. The end of the world is actually somewhere over the state line in Mississippi.
euroderf 4y ago
"Thank God for Cleveland." -every Buffalonian
iancmceachern 4y ago
Jersey comes to mind
dctoedt 4y ago
Seems to be a human trait to want to look down on someone. Example: LBJ (former U.S. president) once said, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." [0] Example: There's a bit of doggerel in a best-selling book of miscellany, published in 1944 by publisher Bennett Cerf [1], that my dad had on his shelf: "My nose is flat | My skin is black | But I am still a man; | Thank God I am a Negro [sic] | And not a Catalan." [EDIT: This seems to have been from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls [2], which I've not read, which is set during the Spanish Civil War.] [0] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-white-man/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-wh... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_and_Stop_Me_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_and_Stop_Me_(book) [2] https://www.litcharts.com/lit/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/chapter-5 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/chapte...
- pencilguin 4y ago
  The GOP hype of crime in the last election was a desperate play of the old "southern strategy", race-baiting, that fell flat because crime rates are still way down, and most of the noted crime cases lately involve rich and extremely rich people.
gedy 4y ago
I did a driving trip through Mississippi a while back, and tbh people were much nicer and mannered than people in suburban California.
- FrontierPsych 4y ago
  That's probably the vibe you are giving off. We all have "micro" non-verbals that we give off all the time. If you feel generally uncomfortable in Southern California, or anywhere else, but feel "at home" and happy in deep south rural areas, you probably give off unfriendly or stand-offish non-verbals in California and more relaxed friendly non-verbal commumication in the deep south, and people respond accordingly in each place. I'm in Southern California and I get along great with people I meet. There's a convenience store clerk across the street from work, always have nice things to say with her - a couple of times their register went down, she said to take whatever I want and pay them back the next day, which is strange for a 7-11 big corporate-type organization. I hang out with my auto repair mechanic. People are people. You get back what you put in. People always repeat the trope that everyone in SoCal is "shallow" but I've never once had this experience, but I've had it a lot of other places I've lived around the country.
- daveslash 4y ago
  What color are you? That's partially snark, but mostly not. I, as an average looking white guy who lives in suburban SoCal visited some family in Alabama not too long ago. All my life I've travelled through some of the more rural & white parts of America (grew up in one!). Have always been able to strike up a friendly conversation with strangers. On this recent trip to Alabama, I took my Filipino stepdaughter. I've never gotten so many direct stares and ugly glares, from gas stations to grocery stores, in parking lots, etc.. It was actually quite shocking and eye-opening.
  - gedy 4y ago
    I (Caucasian) took my Asian wife with me, no issues
    - 4y ago
greenie_beans 4y ago
wow, didn't know this would have a wiki page. i'm from mississippi and live in alabama. this is true, people do say this.
xqcgrek2 4y ago
Better to say, Thank god for Europe. Mississippi still has higher GDP per capita and GDP PPP than nearly all of the EU and the UK despite its heavy minority population.
- hactually 4y ago
  The European Union's GDP estimated to be around $16.6 trillion representing around one sixth of the global economy. The GDP of Mississippi was $104.01 billion. Did you mean one specific state in Europe? Excluding the EU?
- ElfinTrousers 4y ago
  Anyone still bragging on the basis of GDP in the year of our lord 2022 can safely be disregarded.
- Aromasin 4y ago
  Where in the world are you getting this data from? I'm seeing just over $100B for Missippi. The UK is $3.18T. About 2/3rd of Europe have higher GDP's, and the bottom 1/3rd are almost exclusively micro-nations or ex-soviet states.
  - meany 4y ago
    I think the poster is referring to per capita. A quick search shows that Mississippi ($46.8k) has a higher gdp per capita then France($43.5k) but slightly lower than the UK ($47.3k). EU overall is ($38.2k)
bentley 4y ago
Living in New Mexico (which nobody would consider part of the South), I have heard this phrase all my life. NM tends to rank near the bottom of positive state rankings, and near the top of negative state rankings. E.g., two quotes from its Wikipedia page: > In 2021, the per capita personal income was slightly over $45,800, compared to $31,474 in 2007; it was the third lowest in the country after West Virginia and Mississippi. > Its poverty rate of roughly 18% is among the highest in the country, exceeded only by Louisiana and Mississippi.

22 points by 65 4y ago

jqpabc123 4y ago

Alabama is not the end of the world. The end of the world is actually somewhere over the state line in Mississippi.

euroderf 4y ago

"Thank God for Cleveland." -every Buffalonian

iancmceachern 4y ago

Jersey comes to mind

dctoedt 4y ago

Seems to be a human trait to want to look down on someone. Example: LBJ (former U.S. president) once said, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." [0] Example: There's a bit of doggerel in a best-selling book of miscellany, published in 1944 by publisher Bennett Cerf [1], that my dad had on his shelf: "My nose is flat | My skin is black | But I am still a man; | Thank God I am a Negro [sic] | And not a Catalan." [EDIT: This seems to have been from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls [2], which I've not read, which is set during the Spanish Civil War.] [0] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-white-man/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-wh... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_and_Stop_Me_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_and_Stop_Me_(book) [2] https://www.litcharts.com/lit/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/chapter-5 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/for-whom-the-bell-tolls/chapte...

pencilguin 4y ago
The GOP hype of crime in the last election was a desperate play of the old "southern strategy", race-baiting, that fell flat because crime rates are still way down, and most of the noted crime cases lately involve rich and extremely rich people.

gedy 4y ago

I did a driving trip through Mississippi a while back, and tbh people were much nicer and mannered than people in suburban California.

FrontierPsych 4y ago
That's probably the vibe you are giving off. We all have "micro" non-verbals that we give off all the time. If you feel generally uncomfortable in Southern California, or anywhere else, but feel "at home" and happy in deep south rural areas, you probably give off unfriendly or stand-offish non-verbals in California and more relaxed friendly non-verbal commumication in the deep south, and people respond accordingly in each place. I'm in Southern California and I get along great with people I meet. There's a convenience store clerk across the street from work, always have nice things to say with her - a couple of times their register went down, she said to take whatever I want and pay them back the next day, which is strange for a 7-11 big corporate-type organization. I hang out with my auto repair mechanic. People are people. You get back what you put in. People always repeat the trope that everyone in SoCal is "shallow" but I've never once had this experience, but I've had it a lot of other places I've lived around the country.
daveslash 4y ago
What color are you? That's partially snark, but mostly not. I, as an average looking white guy who lives in suburban SoCal visited some family in Alabama not too long ago. All my life I've travelled through some of the more rural & white parts of America (grew up in one!). Have always been able to strike up a friendly conversation with strangers. On this recent trip to Alabama, I took my Filipino stepdaughter. I've never gotten so many direct stares and ugly glares, from gas stations to grocery stores, in parking lots, etc.. It was actually quite shocking and eye-opening.
- gedy 4y ago
  I (Caucasian) took my Asian wife with me, no issues
  - 4y ago

greenie_beans 4y ago

wow, didn't know this would have a wiki page. i'm from mississippi and live in alabama. this is true, people do say this.

xqcgrek2 4y ago

Better to say, Thank god for Europe. Mississippi still has higher GDP per capita and GDP PPP than nearly all of the EU and the UK despite its heavy minority population.

hactually 4y ago
The European Union's GDP estimated to be around $16.6 trillion representing around one sixth of the global economy. The GDP of Mississippi was $104.01 billion. Did you mean one specific state in Europe? Excluding the EU?
ElfinTrousers 4y ago
Anyone still bragging on the basis of GDP in the year of our lord 2022 can safely be disregarded.
Aromasin 4y ago
Where in the world are you getting this data from? I'm seeing just over $100B for Missippi. The UK is $3.18T. About 2/3rd of Europe have higher GDP's, and the bottom 1/3rd are almost exclusively micro-nations or ex-soviet states.
- meany 4y ago
  I think the poster is referring to per capita. A quick search shows that Mississippi ($46.8k) has a higher gdp per capita then France($43.5k) but slightly lower than the UK ($47.3k). EU overall is ($38.2k)

bentley 4y ago

Living in New Mexico (which nobody would consider part of the South), I have heard this phrase all my life. NM tends to rank near the bottom of positive state rankings, and near the top of negative state rankings. E.g., two quotes from its Wikipedia page: > In 2021, the per capita personal income was slightly over $45,800, compared to $31,474 in 2007; it was the third lowest in the country after West Virginia and Mississippi. > Its poverty rate of roughly 18% is among the highest in the country, exceeded only by Louisiana and Mississippi.