You identified a cultural problem that “your people” don’t want to address. You say that if they feel made fun of, they will vote against their own interests out of spite. So it is the Southern people voting to feel superior…how is this a healthy mindset for society? If the Southern culture you describe is one of preference towards ignorance, of stubbornness over compromise, of being right about themselves rather than try to understand someone else, how does the fact that they are nice people to those they don’t despise redeem that culture? Maybe they are nice to you, a Southerner by birth, but there are plenty of places in the South I will never go because I’m Jewish and I would fear for my safety.