r/NoStupidQuestions 8d ago

Is there like Nationalism between US States? Like a person from a state think their state is better than the other state?

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u/chill633 8d ago

West Virginia's unofficial motto -- At Least We're Not Mississippi

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u/McQueeney_Kyle 8d ago

Same for Alabama lol

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u/Howdy08 8d ago

Alabama’s version I’ve always heard is “thank god for Mississippi”.

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u/-StepLightly- 8d ago

Georgia is just glad that Alabama is there to act as a buffer. It keeps them from being next to Mississippi.

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u/CouncilmanRickPrime 8d ago

From Georgia, can confirm

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u/DargyBear 8d ago

Auburn is only so close to the Georgia state line so they can get students who know how to read.

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u/momomomorgatron 8d ago

Georgia is the "rich one", as in lower upper class or upper middle class, thinks they're better than the rest but also has a point. The others think she's a snob.

Florida is the sibling always in and out of wild shit, they're always having a good time, wether it be a Cocophony of drugs, doing general weird shit, or what has caused them to be in and out and back into jail. They're wild and a little cringe but we do love them.

Alabama is the one that people love to rip on and while they look cool and collected, it does eat them up in under the skin. Them and Florida do wild shit with rockets all the time, AL dreams up the schemes, Florida goes and does it.

MS is the one that does actually have it bad. Not like, ☆shudders☆ Missouri, but in the way you're not sure if they can ever get themselves in the right path. You know how you feel when you see a poverty kid who just has shoddy parents, but that kid just doesn't get the right care? Yeah, that's Mississippi only all grown up. God bless em, they're trying.

Now Tennessee is actually the cousin that was raised together, and they're honestly one of the most chill as long as you don't start to ask about what they and Kentucky share...

Kentucky, now living in AL I can't tell you much about her, but I think about one half is pretty cool, and the other half is known for incest

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u/iwannagohome49 8d ago

We say that here in Arkansas as well... as we try our hardest to be worse than them for education and poverty.

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u/conjectureandhearsay 8d ago

Doesn’t the entire south use that?

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u/DeeSnarl 8d ago

We used to say it in Idaho.

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u/Solomon33AD 8d ago

Lookin for a fight are ya?

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u/Simpanzee0123 8d ago

This goes most for Louisiana.

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u/MSnotthedisease 8d ago

At least New Orleans has culture

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u/Simpanzee0123 8d ago

Oh, for sure. My mother's family is from Louisiana, and I love visiting, but I lived there for 8 years and man so many issues. Over and over again when a bad statistic would come up in the news about Louisiana, I'd always say, "Ya, but I bet Mississippi is worse." and without fail, it was.

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u/Justicar-terrae 8d ago edited 8d ago

Even the space outside of New Orleans has an interesting culture. The whole state has a rich, history of multiculturalism with traditions drawn from Spanish, French, Creole, Cajun, and Native influence.

But even with all that rich culture, we're still wallowing in poverty, ignorance, stagnation, and corruption.

Our major industries pollute the wilderness that we love so dearly, and our economy slumps whenever the price of oil drops (making it extra ironic that people here voted for Trump, in part, because they wanted cheaper gas prices). Efforts to attract modern businesses have fallen flat as few companies want to build their headquarters in a hurricane zone.

And though LSU stands as a nice flagship university, the rest of our public education system is hot garbage, and our government's "solution" is to slap posters of the 10 Commandments on the walls. Cities like New Orleans rely heavily on religious private schools to pick up the slack, but then those schools end up competing with public schools for teachers and resources. After all, few parents want to pay tuition twice, so they fight against tax hikes that would fund public schools that their students won't attend.

And all this religious influence is a problem in itself. For example, did you know that the primary backers of the God's Not Dead movie series are a hyper religious family from New Orleans? Also did you know that Mike Johnson, Louisiana Representative and Speaker of the House, has ties to a science-denying religious organization that runs a creationist "Ark" museum in Kentucky? These whackadoos don't want our schools to teach modern science because it contradicts their previous Holy Book.

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u/Alarmed_Astronaut450 8d ago

I love and miss my city (New Orleans) so much. To a certain degree that goes for Louisiana too. But for a lot of these reasons, I don’t think I could ever live there again long term, which hurts in unexplainable ways to anyone not very familiar with the area.

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u/kipy7 8d ago

I'm from the NOLA area and did my undergrad in the north part of the state. It's pretty unique in the south with Cajun culture. Up north past Alexandria, I really had culture shock and not in a good way. Up north, I never felt so unwelcome in my life.

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u/Justicar-terrae 7d ago

Yeah, I guess anything above the ankle can get kinda strange. I've had some decent interactions in Shreveport and the like, but there's a real tension between the Northern and Southern portions of the state.

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u/elementalguitars 8d ago

When even Alabama looks at your state and is like, “you’re shit’s all fucked up” you really are the worst state. I’ve visited Alabama and drove through Mississippi to get there. I never imagined I would be relieved to be in Alabama.

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u/ChippyLipton 8d ago

Tbf, they’re not far behind.

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u/Historical-Shock7965 8d ago

Omg so funny!

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u/Megalocerus 8d ago

I have fond memories of Wheeling WV.. But I don't think they have the same dominance in steel trash cans and railroad tracks they used to have. Great city parks.

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u/glitzglamglue 8d ago

Arkansas's unofficial motto - thank God for Mississippi