Let's talk about the southern stereotype

I grew up in the south. The deep south. As in, there is no question that I'm living well below the Mason Dixon line. My dad subscribes to the Obama birther theory, and my family is funded by "Big Red" (aka: my dad works for a very well-known oil company). I originally hail from a town that stages a battle reenactment each year. I competed in beauty pageants, some of which required me to dress as a Southern belle.

No I was not a debutante. I earned my crowns with poise, talent,
and by prancing around on stage in a swimsuit,
not familial connections, thankyouverymuch.

Growing up, I took up for the underdog. I defended the "geeks," was ostracized by the cool kids, and used to go home crying due to wearing my heart on my sleeve (until my mom told me to tell them I would punch them in the face if they messed with me again. When I asked what if they kept on, she told me to go ahead and actually punch them in the face and that she would deal with the consequences).

And although I'm southern through and through, I'm also a registered Democrat, extremely pro-choice and pro-gay-everything, and am not particularly religious. I also try to keep my mouth shut, because God knows I don't appreciate it when people begin to espouse on their religious/political principles. It has taken me years to cull down my Facebook friends so I don't have to view Glen Beck nonsense. But sometimes they sneak through, and I cringe. Sometimes I just have to open my mouth and speak out against this ignorance.

Just to be clear: I'm speaking of the people that give all southerners a bad name. Do I own a gun? Yes. Would I shoot someone to defend myself? Hell yes. At the same time, I'm also capable of higher-level thinking. Just because I own a gun and believe I should be allowed to own a gun doesn't mean that the privilege of owning one suddenly becomes absolute. I fail to see how a background check will make it impossible to obtain a gun. It will hopefully just make it a little bit harder for criminals to obtain their guns, although (yes) they may end up with one anyways. But by no means does it prevent law-abiding citizens from getting their little grubby hands on a Ruger.

Another favorite I encounter quite a lot: anyone who thinks their state can opt out of federal legislation using the tenth amendment. Or, as I like to call them....idiots who are aware there is a Constitution, but who have not actually read it. Even better? Idiots who have read the Constitution but fail to acknowledge that there is a Supreme Court who expounds upon fundamental rights and other pesky interpretive viewpoints of this living body of law. Or that thinks the Supreme Court should just be done away with. These people exist. I swear.

And when there are attacks against the United States, these people come out in droves. Let me correct myself. When there are attacks against the United States by someone who doesn't look like them, they come out in droves. When there was the Aurora shooting, yes, they were sympathetic, but I mostly heard stuff like "If they had a concealed carry, they could have defended themselves, rabble rabble rabble." (You know, because I can TOTALLY see through smoke bombs to target the one person dressed all in black in a dark movie theatre to pick off.) In the wake of the Boston Marathon Massacre, I've heard everything from "he shouldn't have any rights" to "he should be classified as an enemy combatant" (never mind that we are NOT at war with his country and that he wasn't perpetuating an act of war on behalf of his country). I've also heard a lot of Islamaphobic rants about Muslims.

Let me be clear: this is not all southerners. However, these are the ones that appear on FoxNews talking about picking up their pitchforks and tar and feathers. These are the ones who drive around with a rebel flag painted on the back of their pickup trucks. These are the ones who CLING to their Second Amendment rights, but think it's perfectly okay to deny other United States citizens their due process rights just on the basis of their religion or skin color (for your personal knowledge, those are the rights guaranteed to you by the 14th and 5th Amendments). And it drives me nuts.

I'm tired of reading about my home state crafting a bill to allow gay people to be fired just for being gay. I'm tired of reading about the most recent state I lived in disallowing abortions past the time of basically 2 months, using faulty science and completely disregarding the fact that it is unconstitutional to do so. I'm tired of the endless rants on rights, but the hypocrisy demonstrated in lifting these rights from someone who isn't like you (e.g..: white, "middle classed", men, etc.).

Southerners, you need to do better. And for those of you who are southerners who don't ascribe to these qualities, you need to speak up. Educate others. I'm not saying pissing contests are desirable, but no one will ever alter their behavior if you refuse to speak up when someone uses the N word in your presence. Or if you won't address them when they start speaking about Islam while knowing nothing about it. Maybe it won't help, but maybe someone will learn something. And if nothing else, at least you can sleep at night.

But what the hell do I know? I'm just a Southerner.