Since We Were on the Topic of Stereotypes...

What do you Gents have to say about the stereotype that folk down south are less educated. Now, I know this is a complete fallacy, as do you all. My question to you, then, is how you think this stereotype came about.

Back home in Jersey, I was always taught that it was due mainly to the economic differences. Since the South was so dependent on agriculture pre-Civil War, they were seen as backwards by the Northerns, who rushed to complete the factory down the road. Yet, to me, this seems to be a pretty shallow belief, mainly for the reason that everyone needs food. Imagine all your supermarkets running dry because you insulted the governor of the state that provides your food supply.

I always thought it had more to do with slavery. Even if one wasn't an abolitionist in the North, many were beginning to sympathize with the plight of the African Americans. The stories of lynching and KKK activities must have scared many Northerners. And fear leads to rationalization. In other words, "Only uneducated people would do something like that."

It also served to distance the Northerners from the spectacles of lynching and other such activities. This way, the Northerners became the audience for the show the African Americans and the Southerners were performing. This further solidified the Northerner's feelings of superiority to its current height.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

-Akshaya Srivastava