Mississippi wants Bible as the official state book

[Jackalope]

Yes, because one state fairly represents all fifty.

Well, it's not just the one state, is it? I read the other day about a town in Texas, I think it was, that put an official ordinance on the books that god was the owner of the town. Religiosity is just crazy high in America, and displayed in much more ostentatious ways, than in other countries. It's something I've definitely noticed upon moving here; I pass by three churches just going to the store up the road. It's crazy, compared to what I'm used to.

Don't get me wrong, I like America, but it is an adjustment when compared to Australia.

Seriously, Esq - how much of the US have you seen? There are certainly areas that are overrun with bullshit, but come out here and you'll see a completely different picture.

[Jackalope]

Oh - and Mississippi? Way to lead the race to the bottom! You go!

[Faith No More]

That was only the most recent one on the long list of reasons.

They wear their shoes in the house. That's the main one.

That's a southern thing. It horrifies Americans that live in the north.

[The Grand Nudger]

Folks in the north don't have to deal with sandspurs or cottonmouths, people in the south don't have to deal with sloshy muddy snow and shit. The shoes stay on (if'n you can afford em, eh Cletus).

[Faith No More]

Folks in the north don't have to deal with sandspurs or cottonmouths, people in the south don't have to deal with sloshy muddy snow and shit. The shoes stay on (if'n you can afford em, eh Cletus).

Oh, I know. It's just entertaining to see it in action, like when my southern relatives visit my house in the north. Having been raised by southerners, I don't see shoes in the house as a big deal, but my wife and in-laws are always flabbergasted that my relatives don't take off their shoes.

[Strider]

Oh - and Mississippi? Way to lead the race to the bottom! You go!

Hell, there's no race to be had. Mississippi is at the bottom and has been. We're constantly setting astonishing new lows around here.

[Thumpalumpacus]

That was only the most recent one on the long list of reasons.

They wear their shoes in the house. That's the main one.

I see.

We'll miss you, I'm sure.

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Well, it's not just the one state, is it? I read the other day about a town in Texas, I think it was, that put an official ordinance on the books that god was the owner of the town.

Oh, that town in Alabama? Yeah, pretty nutty decision. Might surprise you to learn that many Americans, including folks in Alabama, think just as well as you do that it's stupid.

Religiosity is just crazy high in America, and displayed in much more ostentatious ways, than in other countries. It's something I've definitely noticed upon moving here; I pass by three churches just going to the store up the road. It's crazy, compared to what I'm used to.

Don't get me wrong, I like America, but it is an adjustment when compared to Australia.

We're certainly more religious than Australia, but selecting an extreme example, such as this, and then imputing it to the other forty-nine state governments, when none of the others have done anything near this silly, doesn't seem very reasonable to me.

Generalizations suck. You guys should know better, ffs.

---

But you have to take into consideration how alien most of the so called American way of life is to most parts of the western world. I'm not talking about the big coastal hubs like New York. LA or San Francisco, but about the vast countryside and southern cities. Apart from the religiosity it's also the more mundane things we would worry about. Such as not having universal health care, but a system where you pay heavily just for the very real chance of your insurance company dropping you in the gutter.

I like to visit the US, but I wouldn't move there unless for a very high paid job. Slim chance for that, by the way.

Fair points -- although the big coastal cities are just as American as the heartland.

Think about it, when some asshole comes on here ranting about European socialism hurr durr, what do you guys feel? What do you think? It's just as obnoxious when it's sent out as when it's received.

[Jackalope]

That was only the most recent one on the long list of reasons.

They wear their shoes in the house. That's the main one.

That's a southern thing. It horrifies Americans that live in the north.

Um, what?

You know what's horrifying? Stepping on Legos without shoes on.

[thesummerqueen]

Folks in the north don't have to deal with sandspurs or cottonmouths, people in the south don't have to deal with sloshy muddy snow and shit. The shoes stay on (if'n you can afford em, eh Cletus).

People in the north aren't used the the bugs we get down here. You know, like the mosquitos the size of pterodactyls and the roaches resembling the little aliens in Men in Black.

You'd wear shoes all the time too.

[Crossless2.0]

Oh - and Mississippi? Way to lead the race to the bottom! You go!

Hell, there's no race to be had. Mississippi is at the bottom and has been. We're constantly setting astonishing new lows around here.

Oddly enough -- perhaps as some sort of compensation for being the bottom of the barrel in so many other ways -- Mississippi has some of the nicest roadside rest areas I've ever seen. I'm surprised people in that state aren't trying to move into them.