Reply #249: Thanks...

[misanthrope]

M: ...You know, you can read books by all those authors without being in the South, you can get Southern food and listen to Southern music outside the South?

Not the same. -How? How is it not the same? The words, the notes, the flavors are all the same. The sweet tea I had in New Mexico was as good as much that I've tasted in Dixie.

M: I've lived in Alabama all my life and I fucking hate it. I don't like the people I meet, the music that's available, the landscape, the oppressive weather, the fear-based culture, etc. I'm sick of it. However, I can't leave without sacrificing my marriage.

Your point being...? -That not everyone here likes it. Some of use are "trapped" for various reasons. It alludes to your argument with the other poster about how and why people can't escape.

M: Now firmly in middle age, I won't go to a general practitioner for regular check-ups because I just plain don't give a damn how long I live if this is where I have to do it.

Why do you hate your wife so much that you're willing to risk putting her through the unspeakable hell of watching to slowly die from an illness that could have been caught early and prevented? -Why did she "hate" me so much that she lied to me about her intentions in life, her religiosity, her willingness to seek help for her anxiety disorder and neuroses, her desires to relocate?

And for the record, I do have a terminal disease that sucks up my resources but will take a while to do me in. My pulmonologist has suggested relocating to another region that would be better for my health. My wife doesn't seem to let that influence her decision to stay here so she can be under her family's wing.

M: Tell you what, I'll trade places with you. You can have my nowhere life in a hotbed of conservatism and xenophobia and I'll take yours in a town considered one of the most beautiful and livable in the Western Hemisphere.

I suspect you'd be just as miserable here in San Francisco. -You're right. Why would I want to go somewhere with all types of art, theater, museums, music, restaurants you name it when I can sit here in Bugtussle and listen to people try to "out-conservative" each other? Just because this little town has three talk radio stations filled with right wing vitriol and the local Tea Bag Party (which might as well have been titled the "outraged we have a darkie in the White House march") drew more people than towns twice its size, why should it dissuade me from enjoying all of that wholesome, red-blooded American goodness? Just because the locals want to dismantle the public school system because it's only for poor whites and blacks, why shouldn't I have faith in it?

Just because the emissaries of this place are women dressed in "Scarlett at the barbecue" attire, because I pass antebellum mansions festooned in Confederate decorations or because one of the most celebrated historical figures is an unrepentant Confederate admiral or because, as I type, there are government-sponsored banners waving from the light poles downtown with the "rebel flag" on them declaring this Confederate History Month, why should I think about all of that?

Why should I care that I am effectively disenfranchised? My votes for POTUS have never counted as my electors have always voted for "the other guy." I've never voted for a winner for the U.S. House or Senate as they are always the most rightward candidate? My appearance at the polls has become little more than a charade, but still I go.

Tell me, if the South is so wonderful, why did you ever leave?