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Sophistication,honesty, or a bit of both?

What is more important

  • Total voters
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NoC_T said:
It's reversed where I am. The Northerners are stereotyped as being the thick ones.
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When I was stationed in Virginia I noticed that too.

Fortunately I never acquired a discernible accent, but when my parents flew down to visit me from Massachusetts a lot of people gave them a hard time.
 
Starbuck said:
When I was stationed in Virginia I noticed that too.

Fortunately I never acquired a discernible accent, but when my parents flew down to visit me from Massachusetts a lot of people gave them a hard time.
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That's out of order. They're just snobby pricks. People get to believing their own press.
 
NoC_T said:
That's out of order. They're just snobby pricks. People get to believing their own press.
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What's out of order, the post or how people treated my parents?
 
NoC_T said:
The way they treat your folks.
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Yea, it was pretty rude.

I get the whole North v. South rivalry, but I don't see the point in treating people you don't know rudely based upon their accent. However, I know that the silent majority of the people living in the south don't really treat people that way. It's just the loud type's are more noticeable.
 
I grew in rural Arkansas in the mountains. We were about as country as it gets. We heated exclusively with a wood stove, a good portion of our diet was deer, squirrel, wild hogs, catfish, and what we grew in the garden, for a while lived in a shotgun house (the foundation was piles of rocks), was on a party line (and this was in the 80s), and our closest neighbor was an old illiterate man that made whiskey. I now live in a major metro in the midwest. I really don't think people in rural areas are any kinder than people in cities. In both places there are really good people and really crappy people. I have never found any correlation between how educated and well traveled someone is and how nice they are. I have known very educated people that were some of the nicest most down to earth people you could meet, and I have know some illiterate white trash assholes too. The only thing I have found is that the more well traveled someone is, generally the more tolerant of different cultures, races, ethnicities and so on they are. However, thats not always true either.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
The only thing I have found is that the more well traveled someone is, generally the more tolerant of different cultures, races, ethnicities and so on they are. However, thats not always true either.
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Probably the wisest thing I've read in a while.
 
Starbuck said:
Yea, it was pretty rude.

I get the whole North v. South rivalry, but I don't see the point in treating people you don't know rudely based upon their accent. However, I know that the silent majority of the people living in the south don't really treat people that way. It's just the loud type's are more noticeable.
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Man, I hear that. There's no shortage of such dicks here. They're really brazen about it, too.
 
NoC_T said:
Man, I hear that. There's no shortage of such dicks here. They're really brazen about it, too.
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Yea, I did notice that while I was down there.

I think that Boston is pretty similar in the fact that they are rude to people who aren't from there also. For every bit that I watched 'northerners' have a hard time down south, I've seen people in Boston give southerners/ outsiders a hard time.
 
Starbuck said:
Yea, I did notice that while I was down there.

I think that Boston is pretty similar in the fact that they are rude to people who aren't from there also. For every bit that I watched 'northerners' have a hard time down south, I've seen people in Boston give southerners/ outsiders a hard time.
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Of course. It works both ways. A lot of it's the regional dialect thing. As though it's some badge of honour. **** if I know.
 
NoC_T said:
Of course. It works both ways. A lot of it's the regional dialect thing. As though it's some badge of honour. **** if I know.
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No that's definitely true.

The same thing happens in other countries too, I was in Germany last year and witnessed similar treatment. Although, I think that Boston has a pretty strong anti-outsider attitude.
 
Starbuck said:
I've definitely observed this same slight and agree that it's usually uncalled for.

Conversely, I've also observed the slight that people from the city are unable to care for themselves and well. . . cold hearted.
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I would agree that generalizations run both ways, unfairly so. My overall question here is mainly just out of a curious nature.
 
Starbuck said:
Yea, it was pretty rude.

I get the whole North v. South rivalry, but I don't see the point in treating people you don't know rudely based upon their accent. However, I know that the silent majority of the people living in the south don't really treat people that way. It's just the loud type's are more noticeable.
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I think it falls down to who you run in to. My last week at my college job I had a very nice couple that was from out of town, they told me they were touring Louisiana and the next stop was New Orleans so they were wondering if I had any advice about what they needed to know because it has as much of a reputation of being rough as it is cultural so I told them what I know about the city and just said be nice to the locals and you'll be okay, enjoy yourselves. The coastal portion of my state has some of the nicest people one could ever meet, the capital is full of rude and snobby people, but there are nice ones here or there, my city is a mixed bag.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
I grew in rural Arkansas in the mountains. We were about as country as it gets. We heated exclusively with a wood stove, a good portion of our diet was deer, squirrel, wild hogs, catfish, and what we grew in the garden, for a while lived in a shotgun house (the foundation was piles of rocks), was on a party line (and this was in the 80s), and our closest neighbor was an old illiterate man that made whiskey. I now live in a major metro in the midwest. I really don't think people in rural areas are any kinder than people in cities. In both places there are really good people and really crappy people. I have never found any correlation between how educated and well traveled someone is and how nice they are. I have known very educated people that were some of the nicest most down to earth people you could meet, and I have know some illiterate white trash assholes too. The only thing I have found is that the more well traveled someone is, generally the more tolerant of different cultures, races, ethnicities and so on they are. However, thats not always true either.
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I think I would actually go crazy outside of the city just because I like fast paced life, and the quiet would probably drive me nuts in the long term. I agree with all of this, I think my general musing to create the thread started in the extreme but your post is spot on.
 
LaMidRighter said:
I would agree that generalizations run both ways, unfairly so. My overall question here is mainly just out of a curious nature.
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I suppose, if the two were in fact mutually exclusive I'd have to choose the sophisticated side of things.

LaMidRighter said:
I think it falls down to who you run in to. My last week at my college job I had a very nice couple that was from out of town, they told me they were touring Louisiana and the next stop was New Orleans so they were wondering if I had any advice about what they needed to know because it has as much of a reputation of being rough as it is cultural so I told them what I know about the city and just said be nice to the locals and you'll be okay, enjoy yourselves. The coastal portion of my state has some of the nicest people one could ever meet, the capital is full of rude and snobby people, but there are nice ones here or there, my city is a mixed bag.
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Everywhere has those same type of areas, I really need to spend more time in Louisiana. I was in Alabama and Mississippi for a while a few years back and it was pretty decent.
 
Starbuck said:
I suppose, if the two were in fact mutually exclusive I'd have to choose the sophisticated side of things.



Everywhere has those same type of areas, I really need to spend more time in Louisiana. I was in Alabama and Mississippi for a while a few years back and it was pretty decent.
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Obviously if a person has more to speak about things are going to be more interesting IMO, but still, I guess there is nothing worse than a person who gets snobbish about that kind of thing.
 
Starbuck said:
No that's definitely true.

The same thing happens in other countries too, I was in Germany last year and witnessed similar treatment. Although, I think that Boston has a pretty strong anti-outsider attitude.
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It's Us vs Them. That goes right back to infancy. It's a conditioned response.
 
LaMidRighter said:
Obviously if a person has more to speak about things are going to be more interesting IMO, but still, I guess there is nothing worse than a person who gets snobbish about that kind of thing.
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Morally I have to agree with you, but as a knee-jerk reaction I've always been aligned with the classic line "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

Growing up as a small poor kid in a family drawn towards alcoholism I developed thick skin early on. As it's happened before, I've been forced to choose between working/ hanging out with a nice-simple person v. a intelligent-jert, I've usually chosen the jerk.

I like laughing.

NoC_T said:
It's Us vs Them. That goes right back to infancy. It's a conditioned response.
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It's very true, I've seen this theory apply across a wide spectrum of groups too. Everything from military branch to geographic residence. I've read a lot by both Rousseau and Voltaire and think that these constructed social divides are almost something inherently built into the set of human instincts. I think someone in this thread's already pointed out that they are part of our factory-installed survival equipment, which I tend to agree with. As omnivores, humans are pattern searching creatures, a trait that fits right into stereotyping and what we are talking about here.

Unfortunately, I think 99% our current stereotypes are illogical and don't actually serve to assist in the survival of anyone anymore. It's one of those components of the human species that's essentially lost its usefulness. . . like the vestigial organs we carry around.

However, I think that most people
 
LaMidRighter said:
I think I would actually go crazy outside of the city just because I like fast paced life, and the quiet would probably drive me nuts in the long term. I agree with all of this, I think my general musing to create the thread started in the extreme but your post is spot on.
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I like living in the city for all of the culture and things to do. However, I get sick of all the people sometimes and if I did not get outside fishing or on the trail regularly, I would go crazy.
 
radcen said:
Not necessarily. I know a guy who, intellectually, is as dumb as a rock, but I envy his day-to-day common sense.

Mileage may vary according to the individual.
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And the individual's type of sophistication?
 
LaMidRighter said:
I think I would actually go crazy outside of the city just because I like fast paced life, and the quiet would probably drive me nuts in the long term. I agree with all of this, I think my general musing to create the thread started in the extreme but your post is spot on.
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I like it personally, we have a great place to raise kids, no knockout crime, no gangs, 1-3 murders/year- 3 being high. I can be in 7 metro areas in 1.5-5 hours depending on the place and our cost of living is much lower.
 
lizzie said:
Do you have any examples? I'm not sure what type of sophistication is normally required to make sound decisions. That sounds to me like a pretty broad definition of sophistication.
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I know, what you mean and thought about it. I meant the use of sophisticated economic models to decide on policy, to take an example, instead of saying "this is the good thing to do".
 
LaMidRighter said:
Okay so I am curious, there has been for years a slight against people who are rural in nature and aren't necessarily the best educated or most traveled people. So here is the question, is it better to be worldly but dishonest or unsophisticated but good at heart? The reason I ask is that I've been thinking of a really rural parish in which my folks owned a camp for years prior to hurricane Rita, some of my favorite type of people lived along the route but they were not scholarly types, just people living their lives and being the best people they could be..............salt of the Earth types in my opinion and worth thousands of "scholarly peers".
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I think that both are important. Ignorance isn't a good thing, but neither is being dishonest. I suppose if I had to choose one over the other I'd take honest ignorance, but they're both bad qualities.
 
LaMidRighter said:
Okay so I am curious, there has been for years a slight against people who are rural in nature and aren't necessarily the best educated or most traveled people. So here is the question, is it better to be worldly but dishonest or unsophisticated but good at heart? The reason I ask is that I've been thinking of a really rural parish in which my folks owned a camp for years prior to hurricane Rita, some of my favorite type of people lived along the route but they were not scholarly types, just people living their lives and being the best people they could be..............salt of the Earth types in my opinion and worth thousands of "scholarly peers".
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I really think you need both for "best results." Being worldly helps you apply that good heart in more situations. If you're motivated by a good heart, it can help you understand and have empathy for people and situations that you don't necessarily relate to.

Lacking either one can result in problems. A good heart that lacks understanding can still wind up doing some awful things -- bigotry of various stripes comes to mind. But of course, an educated person with bad motivation is quite dangerous.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
I like living in the city for all of the culture and things to do. However, I get sick of all the people sometimes and if I did not get outside fishing or on the trail regularly, I would go crazy.
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Yeah, definitely agree with that. It's nice to take a break from a fast pace, I just think that I'm wired to keep moving so a less crowded area would probably get to me eventually.:lol:
 
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