AHC: Wank the best traits of the South, along with the worst traits of the Northeast/Midwest.

I think of Atlanta as a poster child of urban sprawl and nightmarish traffic which I'm witnessing my own city (Nashville) gradually adopting. I don't think of much positive about that. Miami isn't even a southern city--they don't call it the "capital of Latin America" for nothing. Plus there's always the talk of splitting Florida into two states--that part of Florida is simply not southern in culture.

But I see your point--most all of those are cultural, aside from Martin Luther King who had to exist because of a very, very negative thing existing in the south which to this day lingers on. I suppose if you wanna turn the South into the North with associated immigration and industry you might be able to continue that. One thing I find very interesting about parts of New England (like Western Massachusetts/Springfield area) is you have a "Polish town", "Portuguese town", "Irish town", "Italian town", usually right next to each other. If you had that in the South, you'd no doubt see some very interesting cross-cultural fusions, interesting foods, interesting music, etc.

Wisconsin is like that too Pulaski is a Polish town, New Glarus Swiss, and we even have a city called Germantown. It has a lot to do with immigration patterns. These were mostly farm settlements that grew . New Glarus was settled by the Swiss fleeing a famine and was sponsored by the Canton of Glarus government.
 
How come that part of Florida isn't considered Southern in culture? It's still in the South and that is it's culture. I don't, to me it sounds like someone saying a person isn't this or that, because they aren't a walking stereotype/caricature of the people they come from. Also I would think Mexico city is called the "capital of Latin America" since it's the largest city in Latin America, depending on how you measure it.

"Capital of Latin America" has been Miami's nickname for a good while, apparently, thanks in part to the people (both Univision and Telemundo are based there for a reason) and in other part due to the commerce it carries on with that region. And look at Miami's demographics--the city itself is mostly Cuban, and the metropolitan area is still mainly Hispanic. I'm not the one who defines what is "Southern" or not (I'm not even from the South, nor is my family, even if I've lived in the rural South for the majority of my life), but it's obvious that South Florida is far different than the rest of the South. I think I've heard I've heard a saying somewhere that goes something like "the farther south in Florida you get, the less southern it is", which to a certain extent, seems pretty true. That part of Florida might as well be Southern California on the East Coast. Between the people (an extremely diverse mix including people from all over Latin America and the Caribbean--far more diverse than any other region of the South, really), the architecture of buildings/businesses (literally looks like that part of California with that sort of Spanish-look), the accent, the regional traits. If Florida in general seems a bit less Southern than the rest of the South (outside of many rural areas/Florida Panhandle) since there's all the people moving there, then South Florida is even more different than the rest of the state.

Chicopee, Ludlow, Holyoke... I'm trying to think of a town that is very Italian in that neighborhood, but I'm coming short. However, aside from sports (basketball and hockey, along with important contributions to golf), and the literary culture associated with the universities just a few towns north, there really isn't much cultural flowering over there. Everyone just assimilated to generic New England American. Hell, Chicopee was a French town before it was a Polish town.

Yep, exactly the ones I was thinking of. Throw in Holyoke as being a Puerto Rican town nowadays. Now just have "generic Southern American" bring different things to mind than it normally does thanks to immigrants.
 
Which region is responsible for the mindset of thinking that the term 'south' automatically means the United States, without specifying? People thinking you mean Wessex or Patagonia might be puzzled. ;)
 
How come that part of Florida isn't considered Southern in culture? It's still in the South and that is it's culture.

South Florida has a very different population than the rest of the South. It doesn't have lots of families of old colonial roots like other Southern areas. Its population is dominated by two groups: those of Caribbean/Latin American origin, and those who have moved there from the Northeast, especially New York.
 
South Florida has a very different population than the rest of the South. It doesn't have lots of families of old colonial roots like other Southern areas. Its population is dominated by two groups: those of Caribbean/Latin American origin, and those who have moved there from the Northeast, especially New York.
And old people immigrating for retirement. Loooooots of old people.
 
  1. "Capital of Latin America" has been Miami's nickname for a good while, apparently, thanks in part to the people (both Univision and Telemundo are based there for a reason) and in other part due to the commerce it carries on with that region. And look at Miami's demographics--the city itself is mostly Cuban, and the metropolitan area is still mainly Hispanic. I'm not the one who defines what is "Southern" or not (I'm not even from the South, nor is my family, even if I've lived in the rural South for the majority of my life), but it's obvious that South Florida is far different than the rest of the South. I think I've heard I've heard a saying somewhere that goes something like "the farther south in Florida you get, the less southern it is", which to a certain extent, seems pretty true. That part of Florida might as well be Southern California on the East Coast. Between the people (an extremely diverse mix including people from all over Latin America and the Caribbean--far more diverse than any other region of the South, really), the architecture of buildings/businesses (literally looks like that part of California with that sort of Spanish-look), the accent, the regional traits. If Florida in general seems a bit less Southern than the rest of the South (outside of many rural areas/Florida Panhandle) since there's all the people moving there, then South Florida is even more different than the rest of the state.

I tend to define "Southern culture" as the culture that exists within the states of the former CSA. I don't define "Southern culture" and then apply it to states that fulfill the criteria. Like I wouldn't stop calling Georgia a southern state if it were to become a liberal strong hold. But those are just my opinions, and this isn't the place for this kind of debate, so I encourage the next responder to address the prompt, if you would be so kindly.
 
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With the North, there won't be too many laws that try to regulate safety in factories due to a weaker US government. The wealthy will frequently use Pinkerton detective agencies to stomp out labour and state laws, being written by plutocrats, won't be able to stop them. Stuff like Gangs of New York will be a common scene across Northern industrial cities, which will become as polluted similarly to Victorian London and modern day Chinese cities. New York will be seen as the "storm before the calm" by immigrants, as they travel to New York only to get to the rest of the US, especially in the Southern industrial cities, where European immigrants are treated better, regardless if they're Southern abd Eastern Europeans, as their won't be any immigrant restrictions due to ,again, a weaker US govt. In the North, the American dream of working yourself to become rich( legally anyways...) doesn't exist as the WASP elite do they're best to stay dominant and prevent new money from moving in. In this world, any Henry Fords would want to move to the South, as in the industrial North, people like the Roosevelts, Vanderbilts, etc, would have that person shot as soon as they're innovation took off, and then patent and sell it themselves, after stealing the idea. Wages are suppressed and child labour lasts into the twentieth century. Wealth inequality is very high. Gated communities are a common sight in the suburbs as the people who are wealthy enough to live in northern suburbs are wealthy enough to have private communities, away from the poor and angry masses. Government bribing is very common.[/QUOTE
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Thinking of this perhaps?
 
That's most likely because pop media shows almost nothing positive about the South. The point of this thread is to create a world where people would have positive associations with the South. Also, you really associate nothing positive with the South. When I think of positive things in the South, I think of Atlanta, Miami, Elvis, New Orleans, Jazz, cornbread, southern hospitality, Martin Luther King and other stuff/people/food that's from the South.


Don't forget "The Waltons"

Regards,
John Braungart

P.S. Sorry about the previous post, I don't come here as often as I'd like and am still having trouble with the formatting.
 
That's most likely because pop media shows almost nothing positive about the South. The point of this thread is to create a world where people would have positive associations with the South. Also, you really associate nothing positive with the South. When I think of positive things in the South, I think of Atlanta, Miami, Elvis, New Orleans, Jazz, cornbread, southern hospitality, Martin Luther King and other stuff/people/food that's from the South.

How come that part of Florida isn't considered Southern in culture? It's still in the South and that is it's culture. I don't, to me it sounds like someone saying a person isn't this or that, because they aren't a walking stereotype/caricature of the people they come from. Also I would think Mexico city is called the "capital of Latin America" since it's the largest city in Latin America, depending on how you measure it.

I tend to define "Southern culture" as the culture that exists within the states of the former CSA. I don't define "Southern culture" and then apply it to states that fulfill the criteria. Like I wouldn't stop calling Georgia a southern state if it were to become a liberal strong hold. But those are just my opinions, and this isn't the place for this kind of debate, so I encourage the next responder to address the prompt, if you would be so kindly.

I will agree with you here. First Florida is south of the Mason-Dixie line so it is Southern . It is either part of the old CSA or not. Since it is, it is part of Southern Culture. I also agree the media tends to be one sided in its view of the South which is talked about here. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeepSouth
 
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