Apology

I have been unjustly critical of the South of late, and while I tried to be “PC” about it I’m afraid some of that resentment came out in last weeks post.

I’m from New England and California. In the face of the homogenization this various regional dialects and cultures of the rest of the country are going through, the South has maintained the most slid grip on their regional individualism. However, that does make them something of an alien to me and probably to a lot of people. When I started getting into NASCAR last spring, in general I found a very friendly, open fan base. More open than I was used to in Cyberspace to be honest.

But into every life a little rain must fall and as in every group there are bad apples and I also ran into some of the most hypocritical, catty, childish, cowardly, mean-spirited, shallow, clique-y and occasionally flat-out stupid people I had ever encountered barring trolls.

I'll admit the fact that the South is gathering of Red States came into play in that as well. (I am completely bamboozled as to why people would have voted for that man last year after everything that has happened.)

Yeek!

Nor did it help when I asked my Boss from West Virginia what it was like she said, “You’ll be fine as long as you keep you mouth shut.”

Double Yeek!

The more encounters I had with the people the more nervous I got because, you see, I’m moving there at the end of the year to attend college. All the colleges that give degrees in my field are in the South, so I was beginning to feel quite trapped and belligerent.

But I quick talk with some close friends (O.K.,my Sister & my Dad) pointed that I seemed rather determined to hate them. In short, I was bigoted. That was a pretty cold slap in the face. Instead of allotting the bitches their proper place in the social order (outside, in the dumpster), I had fixated on them and allowed them to color my entire perception of the South. Instead of walking into a new situation open-minded and ready to explore and learn and get to know people, I had closed myself off. Not to mention falsely impugning the character of people as group rather than taking them for the individuals they are.

I was wrong. Not everyone in the South is represented by those negative people, nor are even NASCAR fans represented by those negative people, nor are even the Red States represented by those people. There are a great deal of very nice, intelligent, friendly and giving folks in the South and in the NASCASR fan base. I apologize to them for any offense I have caused.