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168 Comments
- algaeturd, on 03/04/2009, -12/+98This is hilarious and sad at the same time. West Virginians will never see themselves the way that others see them. If you've grown up there and then move away, you get some insight but overall, it's a very vacuum type of a situation.
West Virginia will always be seen as the Hillbilly state and it will always BE the hillbilly state. You're talking about generations of welfare recipients who actually look forward to getting disability and welfare. There's a huge percentage of folks whose only ambition is life is to get either/or.
As long as their education system is backwoodsy (it is) and their leadership is backwoodsy (it is) nothing will change. Manchin, you're putting lipstick on a pig, buddy. A pig that wants to remain a pig.
Want to fix the state? Fix education and then wait 25 years. Overhaul welfare and disability/worker's comp. Quit encouraging people to suckle off the state teet. Quit allowing generations of welfare recipients to remain perfectly happy and taken care of. Encourage new business to come to the state but don't give away the farm.
I've been to third world countries before that have better education and facilities than some parts of southern West Virginia. No joke. Someone there obviously doesn't mind (Manchin, I'm talking to you.)
The more you try to brush off the hillbilly thing, the harder it sticks. You got your state song, Take me Home, Country Roads and ***** like that.
Here's the problem: Within West Virginia, you think your catchphrases are cutting edge and clever but outside, it's just more hillbilly schtick to us. "come on home?" Really?
No thanks. I'd rather keep making money, live near places where I can see a decent band, shop at a book store or music store, have an option to live in a good, safe neighborhood without fear of meth dealers and OC head.
See how easy that was?
Finally, the people will decide what WV is ultimately, not the tourism board or the governor. This is a democratic state who refused to vote for a black guy. If you saw the popular voting video going around the time of the election, you see WV exactly for what it is, warts and all.
And in closing, for the love of all that is holy and just, Mr. Manchin, quit saying, 'West Virginians are proud people. They're proud people' every time you talk to national media. Again, it's more of the same. You think you're making the case for other people to reconsider West Virginians but you're making them look twice as backhillsy with your questionable accent, bad suits and hokey sayings. Because when you keep your mantra, 'West Virginians are proud people,' you're basically saying, 'yes, they're poor. They're dirt poor. But they're still proud and they work hard.'
Granted, a small percentage of those people work hard as ***** but 5 times as many are living off of the state and that's a situation you've not only asked for, you've fed it and watered it like a child for decades.
Quit nannying these people just because they don't want to work. Provide them an environment where they can find work if they want it and make a fair wage in doing so. Quit giving so much power to Wal Mart because that's not a career. I'm pretty sure WV has more Wal Marts per capita than any other state and that speaks VOLUMES about the current state of your state. Do something. Not just polish the turd, take the turd, remold it and make it a place where people have opportunity if they want it and an environment where toothless, welfare sucking, Mountain Dew suckling mountain vampires go hide in the caves at night, not at the local Wal Mart. - StarFingHipster, on 03/04/2009, -1/+52Sigh.... West VA is actually a pretty decent area, it just has a crap ton of issues. For one, mountain top removal coal mining destroys pristine landscape that hurts both tourism and potential wind power sites, and not to mention the coal companies take all the money out of WVA, so all the workers get is a check and some half-assed benefits, but no investment in their community.
Combine that with a broken education system (but that's endemic to the US, just magnified in WVA), and a harmful culture (i.e. the high availability of drugs, especially pills like X and opiate pain pills, and meth), and ***** stays ***** up.
Fix the drug problem, get the coal companies to help invest in the communities, and fix the education system and in a generation there will be vast improvement.
Also tax the hell out of junk food and cut taxes on staple foods like bread and milk. - WordsnCollision, on 03/04/2009, -4/+53Tip to the Gov: Don't use the Deliverance theme in your ads.
- ghee, on 03/04/2009, -8/+44Why are they trying to change things over there? I thought West Virginia was one big happy family.
- woofers07, on 03/04/2009, -5/+41Ummm..... yeah, good luck with that.
- richirwin, on 03/04/2009, -2/+37West Virginia is one of the most beautiful states in the nation. Make the whole state a National Park and call it good.
- DigitalRifleman, on 03/04/2009, -1/+30Well, arguments go both ways in these comments... I myself am from West Virginia, and actually not proud of it at all. This state reeks of racism and ignorance, at least the part I am from. I live in a VERY rural area, 40 minutes to the closest food store, and about an 1:30 to the closest mall, it is horrible. There is nothing to do in my entire county, with a population less than 8000 and decreasing by the week. Mentioning something of evolution, or anything other than powerful Christian values will get you shunned.
The county school is the shoddiest I have ever seen, I probably have taught myself more from the internet than I have in the school. As for how I have high-speed internet? I'll never know, well sort of. I'm paying close to $100 a month for 1.5Mbps down. Anyway, the schooling is quite a joke, not many classes are offered and teachers are very rare to find. A lot of our colleges are quite nice though.
That being said, most of the people around here are the nicest you will meet anywhere else. It's not uncommon to hear of someone breaking down on the road somewhere and just going to the closest house to ask for help, and receiving it without a second thought.
Yes, it is true that my state voted for McCain during the election, something else I am not proud of. But, when the rumors of Obama started circulating, it spread like wildfire in my area. For instance I heard someone call him "Barack Sadam-Hussein Osama" I knew he would not win the state simply due to the amount of racism being as high as it is. Older people live here, it is a retirement state. People who grew up in the 40s and 50s, making any sense? Older thinking and values is prominent everywhere in the state.
The state has some of the most breath taking sights you will see anywhere, and as others have said, it is being destroyed by mountain-top removal. But, we need income somewhere. My state does not have a budget deficit though, one of the very few. (Others being, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana)
Just keep in mind, not all of us that live here are hillbillies, despite what has been said. Some of us are quite the logical thinkers, and can make a decent argument. I myself am a tech geek, like many of you.... - Dankenbring, on 03/04/2009, -3/+31cousin lovers
- JackpotCity, on 03/04/2009, -9/+34I hear banjo's. Paddle faster!
- lepetitmousse, on 03/04/2009, -3/+26holy balls dude, that post should come with a bookmark.
- inactive, on 03/04/2009, -4/+26West Virginia desperately needs to attract new blood and new industries, not sit around wallowing in it's own ***** proclaiming how proud it is of wallowing in *****. The same can also be said for southeastern Ohio and Eastern KY.
- petebot, on 03/04/2009, -1/+22soooooooooo....when did you move out of West Virginia?
- Pseudorious, on 03/04/2009, -4/+24He should rename the state East Kentucky. That'll make the state sound sophisticated and urbane.
- jpurnell, on 03/04/2009, -2/+19I'm from Maryland, and West Virginia is one of the most beautiful states in the Union, and WVU is actually a pretty great college. Unsung gem of a state.
- CATSCEO2, on 03/04/2009, -2/+18Holy wall of text Batman!
- pangit1, on 03/04/2009, -1/+16I think the PC term of address is Appalachian Americans
- inactive, on 03/05/2009, -0/+14He's talking about a different city actually, named after female angels.
- berserkiest, on 03/04/2009, -10/+23Warning: I'm an educated WVian, prepare for the storm.
I'll be the first to admit we have welfare living, cousin humping, good ole boys in this state. We have about the same as any state, as in they are vastly out numbered by regular people. But we are also very proud of our heritage. I'd be he first to call myself a hillbilly and I'm college student who works on robots all day long. I also play banjo from time to time. All of us are proud to be rednecks and hillbillies, but that doesn't mean we are pro ignorance. Our beloved governor isn't really trying to reeducate us on how to be civilized people, but trying to educate the rest of the world on what we're really like.
Somehow though this involves sucking huge amounts of funding from the lower half to the state to attract the DC/Pittsburgh crowd to the panhandles up north. But that's another argument. - canucked1, on 03/04/2009, -2/+14Indecision 2008 - West Virginia
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?vi ... - tehnico, on 03/04/2009, -1/+13Dueling Banjos
- BeShirtHappy, on 03/04/2009, -1/+13Very well said.
Parts of WV are beautiful. And there are many, many, smart and hard working people living in WV. Every state in the US has its areas that make it look bad, for sure.
The drug issue there is of paramount concern though, imho. It definitely won't be an easy fix. - gurudrew, on 03/04/2009, -0/+11Los Angeles as well.
- rakovlam, on 03/04/2009, -1/+12The whole thing about WV full of racists is wrong, at least when I was in Fayetteville last year. I was the only Chinese guy in the area and yet the most racist thing I encountered was my friends that came with me joking about West Virginians.
I plan to go back there this year for the best whitewater rafting in the world at the the Gauley river - jer2eydevil88, on 03/04/2009, -0/+11Southwest Ohio is just as backwards as Southeastern Ohio.
- Foofoofoofoobar, on 03/05/2009, -0/+10Christ, these reporters and fact checkers are *****. "Correction (published Feb. 27): Gov. Manchin is a Democrat, not a Republican, as previously reported." How do you make that kind of mistake? Is going to the governor's website that hard? Or even plugging him into Wikipedia? Jesus.
- erocklodge, on 03/04/2009, -0/+10That's a common misconception. Deliverance was filmed in Georgia. I went whitewater rafting in WV once, and the first thing the guide said kind of jokingly is "No, this is not the river Deliverance was filmed on."
- raober, on 03/04/2009, -1/+11I've been in WV for about 10 years now. There's good and bad, definitely. I will say one thing though...Manchin has handled the state's money pretty well. Note:
http://www.npr.org/news/graphics/2009/feb/budget-g ...
The only state east of the Mississippi that does not project to have a budget deficit is...West Virginia! A lot of that is due to taxes on coal though...and with the deepening (rec/depr)ession those taxes will probably drop. - KLX123, on 03/04/2009, -1/+10Actually, "FacePuncher," West Virginia became its own state during the Civil War exactly because they *didn't* want to secede, while their neighbors did...
- ThundergodTyLor, on 03/04/2009, -1/+10The state song isn't "Take Me Home Country Roads", it's "The West Virginia Hills". But you got everything else correct.
- Haoie, on 03/04/2009, -1/+9If Virginia is for Lovers, West Virginia is for?
- alexhud, on 03/04/2009, -1/+9there is this brother and sister from west virginia and one night they start having sex. the brother is really working his sister over and really tearing her up. the sister says "oh god brother you are way better then dad." the brother replies "yeah that's what mom says."
- danj484, on 03/04/2009, -0/+8Best post of the day.
- Nei1, on 03/04/2009, -1/+9Poor, drug-infested, black communities also need help.
There, does that help? - 0ceanic, on 03/05/2009, -0/+8seems to be spiffy for me, i went to wvu, became a paramedic, worked for 3 years, bought a 3 bedroom brick house on half an acre in a city for 90k cash, theres like no crime here, everyone leaves their door unlocked. not much drug use outside of old ladies with oxycontin, and lots and lots of pot. everyone here smokes it. doctors, police officers, paramedics, firemen, its universal here.
west virginia was so poor, no mortage companies came here, so we now have the lowest mortgage foreclosure in the nation.
yeah some of the unpopulated areas do have incest and racism and the clan, but no one lives there. and we all make fun of alabama and mississippi and kentucky anyway. - oppositeoctave, on 03/05/2009, -2/+10I live in West Virginia and yes it is a backwards, highly conservative state. There are tons of low-lives feeding off of welfare and/or disability and prescription drug abuse/meth abuse is becoming very very bad. Word of advice...never go to a Wal-Mart around the first of the month...it's when the deliverance people crawl out of the deep hallows. I worked my first job at a grocery store when I was 17 and there are some pretty weird horror stories I could tell. One time I had the misfortune of taking out the groceries for the family of "dog boy". This particular family was as inbred as you could get and they kept their mentally ill son (he was at least 30) in the back of the camper of their beat up truck. As I proceeded to put the groceries into the back the poor "dog boy" began barking at me and even tried to bite me. I had never encountered anything like this before so I was unsure how to react. The father then began poking the poor man with his cane and made him crawl to the other end of the truck bed. Dog boy was covered in filth and his teeth were all rotten...the smell was paralyzing...I remember gagging at the smell. I quickly finished loading their groceries and ran back into the store where my co-workers stood in applause. Apparently taking out the groceries for the family of dog boy was a rite of passage at that small store. Looking back I should have called social services on that family.
West Virginia is a very weird state...especially from a paranormal standpoint (if you believe in that stuff)..there's dozens upon dozens of strange tales of curses, strange animals, ghosts and of course we have Mothman. The state is like a nexus for the weird. - soundofmind, on 03/05/2009, -2/+10<---- WVU '11. Get me out of here.
- hlehmann, on 03/04/2009, -2/+10So what. How does that change anything? You should move away for a while; you'll slowly get a different image of the state. It's nice and all, but it's still economically in the bottom of the well.
- WVU '80 - dissolutionman, on 03/04/2009, -3/+10tl;dr
- inactive, on 03/04/2009, -4/+11what's wrong with being a hillbilly?
- kingofinternet, on 03/04/2009, -4/+11west virginia, mountain mama
take me home, country roads
love that song. - inactive, on 03/05/2009, -0/+7I live here too.. and he's 100% correct, at least, speaking about the southern parts of the state.
- FacePuncher, on 03/04/2009, -8/+15Secede.
- Edge00, on 03/04/2009, -14/+21I am a microbiology graduate student at West Virginia University, I was raised in West Virginia and proud of it.
- dickeywayne, on 03/04/2009, -0/+6We need a program like that here in Texas. Rick Perry and John Cornyn *like* to portray us as inbred hillbillies.
- petebot, on 03/04/2009, -0/+6I agree. I drove through a bit of it on a road trip once, and it was gorgeous.
- Lunitari, on 03/05/2009, -0/+6Say what you will, but not many states offer a pretty easy to attain free-ride to one of the best universities in the nation. Also, the government hides a bunch of stuff in the mountains, and WV is one of a few states "in the black" economically speaking. Not all of West Virginia is poor, such as Morgantown (happens to have the lowest unemployment rate in the nation) and the Eastern Panhandle houses many MANY Washington DC workers.
It's easy to make fun of the state based on a few bad images it manages to retain deep in the mountains. But, **** it, most states have their crazies, it's just that WV is an easy scape-goat.
I've lived here a few years, and never met a "cousin-lover" or a toothless person. Just enjoying the fantastic view, away from all the haters who have never been here. imo, keep the reputation, and keep the trash out! - MacEnvy, on 03/05/2009, -0/+5I truly mean this without trying to be insulting or drag you down, but the grammar and spelling in this comment doesn't say much for the educational system in West Virginia. You make some valid points, but I just want to point out that it's difficult to take someone's written word very seriously when it reads like that. There are so many errors in capitalization, spelling, pronoun confusion, punctuation, and general grammar that I wouldn't quite no where to begin correcting if I was so inclined.
Again, I don't mean this to be insulting. I'm sure you were just writing quickly because you're passionate about the topic. But a quick proofread/edit will go a long way in the future to helping you make your case. - danj484, on 03/04/2009, -1/+6I'll give you $1000 to cite an explicit instance of racial bias in the article.
- inactive, on 03/04/2009, -0/+5The only place in West Virginia I've ever visited was Harpers Ferry, and it seemed like a quaint little town. I think I still have a souvenir t-shirt.
- mattsidesinger, on 03/05/2009, -0/+5"No, this is not the river Deliverance was filmed on...but I am still gonna' make you squeal like a pig!"
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