Religion in the South – Carter Owens

Religion can be a powerful tool for good and bad. Religious fanatics usually get a bad rap because they use religion as an excuse to do unconstitutional and illegal things. Much of southern culture and how they acted was based on how they interpreted their religious teachings. These religious fanatics, mainly Southern Baptists, used religion as a basis to justify slavery and discrimination(Article & video below). This is why the media portrays them negatively, because what they were doing in the name of ‘religion’ was actually unthinkable.

Religion in the South --Jungyeon Alice Lee

Just believing a certain religion cannot be a good thing or a bad thing, unless the teaching of the religion is far beyond common sense. A religion gives its unique system of beliefs and customs to its believers, which makes up an important portion of the society’s cultural heritage. In this respect, southerners’ strong religious background should have contributed to the development of the southern culture.
On the other hand, this religious leaning is likely to provide a good circumstance where the stereotype can grow. In fact, mass media do not report positive activities in most of the churches as much as they do to negative aspects. A fanatic crime occurring in a church is more likely to be a popular news topic than most of the normal activities. Outsiders do not really hear about most of the local churches devoted to community outreach programs to make their communities much better. In this atmosphere, negative images on mass media might lead to the religious stereotype.

New Topic - Religion in the South - Wier

A few weeks ago as I was looking through news articles about southern stereotypes in preparation for a blog post, I ran across an extremely interesting quote in an article. The author was talking about religion in the south and how people from the north and south interpret the phrase "separation of church and state" differently:

"To a Southerner, separation of church and state means that the government has no business trying to control any aspect of the church or worship. Southerners want freedom to worship without government interference. If the South wants to elect persons who hold religious values and moral standings, it is their business. To a Northerner, the phrase means that those holding religious office should not take strong moral or religious stands, and that the government needs to make sure that churches do not get out of control or fanatical in the South."

As pointed out in the article, southern culture is heavily invested in religious belief, so is this strong religious leaning a good or bad thing? Does this strong religious background strengthen southern culture, or does it lessen how the rest of the world views the south? Another thing to look at is the stereotype of southerners being religious fanatics. A larger percentage of the people in the south claim to be religious than in other regions, but does more religious people actually mean that southerners are more fanatical than the rest of the country? Also, is the media right in portraying this religious fanaticism as a generally negative attribute?

Civil Rights Enhanced Only To Struggle- Jungyeon Lee

In the history of the enhancement of black people’s civil rights, the
most important thing should be that it could be possible only through
their collaborate struggle for them. In fact, the abolition of slavery
in America was accomplished through many black people’s participation
in the Union army, leading to the victory of the Union in the civil
war. Even after then, black people remained subject to racial
segregation in daily life. Another great turn for the better showed up
with the rise of the civil right movements in the 1960s, instigated by
Martin Luther King, Jr’s demonstration in Alabama in 1955, black
people refusing to use transportation as a sign of objection to the
rule that required them to sit in the backs of buses. This led to the
pass of the 1964 Civil Rights act in Congress, the landmark to remove
segregation, which lessened racial restrictions in public facilities.

Racism Today - Brian Wier

I wasn't born yet during the heyday of the civil rights movement in the 60's, so I can't really say from experience or with any authority about what attitudes about racism in the south used to be. I can only talk about what I've read in books or seen and heard in the media, but my lack of experience with racism during its time when it was institutional is my talking point for the day. Everyone born after the civil rights movement, especially the current generation hasn't experienced racism in the same way as the generations before us. Because we never lived in a time where racism was "acceptable," racist attitudes have never been a part of our life as they would be for our parents and grandparents' generations. Sure, racism still exists and will probably never disappear entirely, but the racism is definitely no longer the social norm.

In my English class last semester, I read a book called Generation Me by Jean Twenge. Throughout the book, Twenge discusses the differences between generations and the reasons for these differences, and one the topics she discusses is the current generation's openness to diversity. As I have talked about, Twenge says that we learn our attitudes from a combination of society and our parents. Many of our parents may still harbor racist attitudes, which explains the existence of racist attitudes in our generation, but given today's society, which preaches equality for races, religions, sexual orientations, etc., our generation has definitely learned to be more open minded to others.

So to respond to the original question, I can't tell you about racism around the time of the civil rights movement, but I can say with confidence that racist attitudes are much rarer now. Racist attitudes used to be "acceptable" in the south, but that is no more the case.

Southern Stereotypes-Paul DeVito

I agree with what Kinza is saying in her post. Stereotypes are definitely overemphasized in most places, but they are not completely wrong in their opinions. Several southern stereotypes are not only mentioned in this video, but back up and supported by the woman in the video and many of it's viewers. Because these stereotypes are backed so strongly by many southerners, a lot of the south obviously takes pride in many of these blown up ideas.
Southern Living fills their magazines with many stereotypical items that may or may not be useful outside of being a stereotypical source. Because Southern Living provides such a great way for southerners to keep up many of their desired appearances, it is therefore helping fuel these stereotypes and keep them alive.

Southern Stereotypes- Jungyeon Alice Lee

All the stereotypes are not bad or offending to Southerners. Some stereotypes might be helpful for Southerners in doing business, which naturally may lead them to try to keep some stereotypes alive. Especially Southerners who are trying to attract people in other areas to Southern attractions such as beaches, golf courses, amusement parks, and so on would willingly take advantage of the stereotypes to strengthen good images of the South. To show non-southern people that Southerners are kind, hospitable, and sometimes funny and that the South has lots of beautiful mountains, lakes, and rivers, together with a variety of tasty food would be a good advertising strategy to attract more customers.

Welcome to the South Carolina food festival that celebrates chicken bog! from Erin Smith on Vimeo.

Even between Southerners, to try to keep some stereotypes alive might be helpful for local business. It might be a good way of sharing common identity between Southerners to use some Southern stereotypes in their commercials and brochures. Using Southern people’s accents, gestures and appearance might make Southern customers feel more comfortable with them, leading to the increase of customers. In this respect, some Southern stereotypes might be a kind of sign of Southern Identity, not just offending negative stereotypes.

Southern Stereotypes - Brian Wier

A common stereotype about southerners is that they are lazy and uneducated, but this stereotype originates from misunderstandings due to differences in perspectives across regions. Southerners are neither stupid nor lazy but rather have a separate set of values. Whereas non-Southern American culture puts a heavy emphasis on doing everything possible to succeed in life, pursuing the "American Dream" to better oneself in society, southerners are content to just get by, which northerners see as laziness. These southerners are by no means being lazy, despite what the rest of the country thinks, for the southern mindset is that it is better to enjoy the fruits of your labor and relax than spend every hour of your life working to buy a better life.

Southerners take special pleasure in the simple things in life that don't need to bought from a store, such as an afternoon spent fishing or having Sunday dinner with the whole family every weekend. Many southerners would be content to spend all day, every day relaxing given the chance, but its not due to laziness; it's due to a certain inherent satisfaction with life that is uncommon in general populace.

I may be pushing it a bit, having already talked about this, but I believe The Andy Griffith Show captures this stereotype of southern "laziness" perfectly. Mayberry is a sleepy little town in North Carolina, where everyone knows each other and no one has a care in the world. Whatever little mishaps that arise are always handled in a calm and relaxed manner, and in general, everyone simply enjoys one another's company.

The show's them song perfectly describes this wonderful southern attitude.

Stereotypes-Carter

The justifications for enslaving Africans included descriptions that revealed that black people were not physically and mentally evolved as white people, and that it was the ‘white man’s burden’ to guide and direct his subordinate counterpart for his own good, even if it was against his will. This ‘white man’s burden’ has been the justification for slavery, imperialism, and even genocide in many parts of the world. Keeping with the mind frame that African Americans are inferior to their fellow white citizens, they are portrayed to lazy, mentally simple, and childlike. During the Jim Crow era, African American men were addressed as ‘boy’, a simple way to degrade a man’s status in society. It is natural that these associations would be presented in the media because they were commonplace for so many generations. When cartoons, such as the Censored 11, portrayed African Americans as simple-minded or Uncle Tom-like figures there was no outrage like there would be today. However, the stereotypes of the past have manifested themselves into present times. African Americans are still portrayed as being lazy, and uneducated. Black men are assumed to be poor providers for their families, having the reputation that they run out on their families, or that their families are on government assistance. We have many colloquialisms to describe the stereotypes of African Americans, from the ‘N’ word, to defining their language as Ebonics. Additional blog on racism.