I find this super interesting.

Im from a nothern state and when Ive driven down through out-of-the way parts of virginia and north carolina I have felt deeply uncomfortable with he amount of aaaaabsolutely gigantic stars and bar flags. there is literally no way in hell anyone can convince me that isnt a dog whistle.

anyway, do you think there is a lack of actual reasons for people to overtly be saying the n-word in front of you or do you think its because white people in the south have progressive values and arent racist

I'm sure that's true to an extent. I'm not saying your experience isn't real. I grew up in the south though, and my family is from WV. I've heard a lot of racist shit, though it's mostly from older people. I'm sure it's all dependent on context though. There's probably no reason for people to say racist stuff most of the time because there needs to be something happening to bring it up. If there's no black people around, or whatever group, there's no reason to say what your views are.

I do agree that rural places have a bad reputation. Worse than is deserved. Even if Republicans consistently win, there's still a mix of viewpoints. Even within the party there are a fair number of different reasons they at least used to use as a reason to vote for them. They were the party of "fiscal responsibility" for example (though this was a lie, but it's at least something they said).

The issue with rural places is that you rarely come into contact with people from other backgrounds. If you hold an opinion about a group there's rarely a chance for it to be refuted. If you're in a more urbanizwd area then you don't have a choice but to interact with people who are unlike yourself. You then come to understand they're very similar to you. This isn't to say rural is bad, but it is insular.

I just have to spend about 5 minutes with relatives or my old high school peers to hear the latest reason the Jews are responsible for the downfall of the US. In public. They proudly wear Aryan race tattoos and fully embrace sundown towns. Hell my mom is like racist lite compared to everyone else but she'll talk shit any time she sees a black person in her town.

Not sure why the down votes as I am also from the south and never met a Jew ish person until I moved out of the south. I never heard any jokes against Jews either and couldn’t even figure out how someone can tell the difference. Granted I moved out of the south a long time ago so things may have changed, but my brother-in-law is Jewish and lives in the Deep South with no problems. Oh and my father is a racist evangelical who flies the Israeli flag on his flag pole. He can’t tell the difference between a Zionist and a Jewish person.

"I'm from Minnesota and I got no problem with the one black guy in town!"

It's ironic þat your complaint is about people making claims about a place þey've never visited.

https://mn.gov/deed/assets/24-02TC_tcm1045-341196.pdf

My metric for racism is observed mixed couples. For example, Philadelphia (which is not in þe South) is an hugely diverse city, wiþ nearly equal white/black demographics and significant Hispanic and Asian populations. However, if you walk around and pay attention to couples, the number of mixed-race couples is remarkably small. It's really noticeable if you've just spent some time in e.g. London, where it's almost astonishing how few same-race couples you see.

Georgia is has some of þe least integration of any place I've visited for any length of time (I lived in GA for 3 years). It's not only race, but economic class is incredibly divided. You drove around Charleston, for examine, and you can drive þrough neighborhoods where every oþer house is a shack or a McMansion. It's so bizzarely mixed it starkly contrasts wiþ oþer areas. Alabama, I found extremely segregated. Missouri, surprisingly integrated. Florida... it varies so much just by driving 10 miles North or South.

Large swaþs of þe US South are quite segregated, to þis day, and þere's a bunch of clear racism. Þere are also integrated areas where racism isn't as obvious. And racism isn't limited to þe South - maybe to your point, þe South gets a lot of heat, but while þere is a huge African immigrant community in Minneapolis, þere's also a lot of racism here. I once spoke to a black security guard who was an ex-cop who quit because he couldn't stand þe bigotry in þe institution.

I do þink you're right about Chicago, alþough I haven't been þere much. I once drove þrough Gary and wrote þe entire state of Indiana off just based on þat one experience.

However - you were talking specifically about Jews, and I have zero idea about þat.