Originally Posted by
achoo
Bull. "The south" is no more intolerant than any other grouping of philosophically homogeneous populations - all across the political and social spectra.
I agree. I think the one thing that defines the south is "distrust." They do not trust the government because of local corruption and federal intervention. Blacks don't trust whites and vice versa due to racial history. There is a lot of fear-mongering going on that leads a lot of the residents to conclude that anything new won't work, will fundamentally ruin the system, or "someone" (the govt or otherwise) is somehow taking a cut. Using bicycles as a microcosm: people love their cars in the south, and car manufacturers provide a lot of good American jobs. Instead of seeing bicycle-commuting as a good thing in and of itself, they see it as undermining other good things that are proven to work.