Which is the worst state in the United States of America

Weirdly, some of the best times I've had and interesting places I've been have been in shitty states like Alabama or Mississippi, and some of the most "let's get out of here" times/places have been in, like, pretty, crunchy Oregon or Idaho or the generally innocuous Ohio.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 19, 2021 2:39 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

not to read you too much in this thread but, like, this doesn't surprise me

lot of states in the upper Midwest and Mountain Time Zone with which I have either zero or very little experience, so grain of salt. and tbh Politics are weighing heavily on my decision here (Florida was a strong contender), but going w Alabama. it’s got all the shitty things the other states I know intimately and w which I have complicated relationships, but the bad is cranked up a couple of notches and the redeeming features are scant.

I have lived in 4 of the top 8 worstest.

Alabama is definitely worse than Utah, Indiana, and Texas.

Florida really is the worst though.

Nevada shouldn’t exist. Man was not meant to live there.

My ex and his wife got effectively run out of a small town in Missouri a few years ago; the school they were teaching at held a mandatory all-staff "gun safety training" that was actually an NRA rally with people running around firing blanks in the air, and I guess they were sitting there with expressions on their faces that were less than enthusiastic, so the next day their supervisors fired them for "protesting" and suggested they leave town.

― Lily Dale, Friday, March 19, 2021 8:12 AM (fifty-three minutes ago)

my ancestors got effectively run out of a small town in Missouri back in 1860 for being anti-slavery so ... wonder, if it was the same town lol ...

wow i can believe josh admits to having found something interesting in alabama, brave of you to call him out on that map

Idaho and Oregon are the only places I have actually seen gun-toting, uniform-wearing right wing militia dudes (I know they're all over the place, that's just the only place I've seen them). Mississippi, I thought Oxford was a lovely town, and Birmingham, Alabama's Civil Rights Museum was one of the most powerful places I've ever visited (same for a few spots in Montgomery).

lol at some of the obviously mediocre/shitty states getting 0 votes whereas awesome states like New York, California, and Washington got votes.

Granted, just about anything good I saw in Alabama was related to its history of being terrible, so ...

wait a sec ... you would argue that Oregon is worse than ..... Mississippi ... extremely racist Mississippi?

No.

Idaho is shit ... people who think the Mormon church is too progressive live in Idaho.

Indiana is better than Idaho though ... but that's like ranking Alabama vs. Mississippi

Nevada shouldn’t exist. Man was not meant to live there.

― Bruno Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (Boring, Maryland), Friday, March 19, 2021 4:03 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

qft. at least in its current number. that ecosystem should not be supporting 3 million people. they're already draining the colorado.

wait a sec ... you would argue that Oregon is worse than ..... Mississippi ... extremely racist Mississippi?

― sarahell, Friday, March 19, 2021 4:13 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

to be fair oregon is arguably just as racist as mississippi! it has major whites-only bona fides.

I'm thinking Nebraska is getting off easy here because most people forget it exists. I often forget about it myself. There's just no point in it existing. So many things road trips from Illinois to Out West and after hour and hours of driving thru the featureless prairie, you think you've made some progress and then wham there's like 5 hours worth of Nebraska in front of you. Just soul crushing. Oklahoma is just as bad wrt, if you're taking the slightly more southern route.

I lived in Florida for many years and thought it was lovely. From its natural wonders to it's vibe - especially the maritime vibe of the coasts - it's a unique and interesting place. It's their politicians that suck, and of course some of their infamous laws.

Mississippi is probably the most scientifically correct answer to this question. (Tbh I've never been to Montana or states in that region).

to be fair oregon is arguably just as racist as mississippi! it has major whites-only bona fides.

― map ca. 1890 (map), Friday, March 19, 2021 9:27 AM (three minutes ago)

it would be _interesting_ to argue whether Oregon is just as racist as Mississippi but ...

Can’t we just agree that all the states are bad because they all have Americans in them

seriously

I've visited Florida but it's highest hill is 700 feet above sea level and I'm not sure I could live anywhere with such puny hills.

i feel like texas might be the right answer for this, in that, they are so big that they should be great. but instead they have doubled down on their identity as conquerors of black people, indigenous people, and mexican people. just a wonderful trifecta of brutality. also their toxic masc culture is off the charts and unique in how sanctioned / officially revered it is.

The Texas lege meets for four and a half months, every two years. Texas is ranked last in US healthcare access, last in percentage of 25 year olds who are high school graduates, last in affordability of residential electric bills - the list goes on. This is their focus: https://t.co/vWKbQboxSX

— Blue Heron Farm (@BlueHeronFarmTX) March 19, 2021

man, I do hate Texas lol

bottom 5, easy (again, of ones I know).

sorry djp i was just trying to say the ocean is beautiful i did not intend to minimize anything or excuse anything wrt the murder of trayvon martin

will bow out now

ftr Mississippi’s and Tennessee’s massive cultural exports doing A LOT of heavy lifting here.

both are extremely shitty states

The ocean is beautiful.

The Gulf is beautiful.

I am beautiful.

Florida is a racist hell.

Was this poll about the citizenry or the state electeds?

m@tt you don't need to bow out, I was mostly just reasserting why Florida sucks

it's also pretty easy to say Oregon is just as racist as Mississippi considering it (Oregon) was founded as a whites-only state and the language around that in the state Constitution wasn't removed until 2002

I've only recently began to embrace Orlando as a city I like rather than a city I just "live in" (which technically...I don't, anymore!) when Orlando City got promoted to Major League Soccer, which really created a bigger sports atmosphere that's been here since Shaq was on the Magic (no, not even the 2009 NBA Finals)....and the fact that it's getting more and more bohemian/woke.

Downtown is garbage though, and I avoid like the plague. the more boheme areas are in other pockets.

what’s the little area sort of north and east of downtown? lots of little pubs, tiny music venues maybe? idk, I spent a lot of time in Orlando from 2014-2017 and ended up over there on my stoned late night walkabouts

After Miami and St Pete Orlando might be my fave city in FL. which was quite a surprise as someone who’s imagined just Disney and strip malls until I actually i got there

That's the part of Orlando I like. Loch Haven Park, Virginia Ave bar street, St Matthews tavern, etc

I remember going to a pawn shop in Rapid City and finding a dvd of A Separation by Asghar Farhadi and when i was checking out the huge leathered-up Tex Cobb-looking biker guy behind bulletproof glass at the counter furrowed his brow and looked at it a second too long and went, "this from Iran?" I said yeah and braced myself, and he goes "you into Kiarostami too??!" and got really excited and we had a great convo. Later when I checked into a shitty motel w/slot machines in the lobby the elderly lady behind the desk was reading Naked Lunch. A very unusual town ime.

good post

After Miami and St Pete Orlando might be my fave city in FL. which was quite a surprise as someone who’s imagined just Disney and strip malls until I actually i got there

― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will),

Florida is mostly Disney and strip malls, though.

btw Walt Disney world rules

They all look pretty fxxked to me.

no beef w Disney. Orlando just exceeded expectations in ways that other larger cities in FL def did not.

another p chill place: Sarasota

Agreed. It's all the Amish.

Sarasota has fairly terrible political demographics, and while some of the beaches are magnificent, the Miami Cubans have discovered them.

ha I did see a Sarasota Republican Party gathering at the hotel (pre-Trump)

The vibe in the little downtown was old people who like to party. live music, late night food, etc. like they went down for spring break in ‘72 and just never wanted to leave.

the West coast (outside of Tampa/ St Pete) does have a very conservative feel, though, eg Ft Myers, Naples

I've never been there, but how does Key West figure into the FL equation?

There are quieter, prettier keys. It's the Bourbon Street of keys.

My husband’s parents go to Siesta Key every February so I do end up spending a week in Florida every year. It’s just about the only thing that makes me OK with the prospect of returning to two months more of Minnesota winter.

Man I was so mean to New Orleans itt and I have no recollection of what I was thinking although I'm pretty sure it was about 80% unserious. I've never even been there! Maybe I was mad about drunken frat party Mardi Gras or something.

Often overlooked is that Florida has more freshwater springs than any other state - somewhere between 700 and 1000 - many of which are lovely for swimming, tubing.

Florida has a town that has been continuously occupied since 1565, St. Augustine, with some of the oldest buildings in the country.

As far as West Coast/East Coast is concerned, I always thought of it as a Midwest US/Northeast US divide. I-75 comes straight down from the Midwest depositing Midwesterners in the vicinity of Tampa, whereas I-95 comes down from the Northeast bringing people from New England, NY, NJ, Philly etc. That's part of what gives the coasts their respective flavors.

I really hate Ft Myers, FL though. I can expound on that for at least a good 10 minutes.

I vacation on Sanibel at the end of July ever year. That's the best of Florida.

The trouble with Florida freshwater surfaces (besides wildlife): the lakes don't tend to be shallow, therefore more bacteria laden.

There was an interesting Uzbek restaurant in a strip mall outside of town but everything in downtown Ft Myers could burn down overnight and it wouldn't lose anything of importance iirc. That may be harsh but mostly it's a Disney-fied cartoonishly ahistorical center of engineered consumption. All 5 downtown restaurants are themed and all are owned by one corporation, you just go from the "50s drive-in culture burgers theme" to "mafia pizza w gatling guns" theme to "fake Irish pub sports bar theme" (to be fair this is every sports bar in America) and none of the food is above mediocre.

I tried to get my parents to try restaurants outside of downtown but they're afraid of anything too strongly flavored.

xpost As opposed to much of the population, which is shallow *and* bacteria laden.

The entire town is founded on the absolute worship of cattle barons and industrial magnates and Thomas Edison & Henry Ford, whose winter homes were built there. The slavish veneration of like 5 dead rich white men is choking. Also you're a really long way from the ocean and it didn't seem like there anywhere to actually go swimming in the river that the town is built on.

We drove to Sanibel one day! It was lovely there but the traffic in and out had like a three-hour waiting time to find a parking space. Amazing used bookstore though. If I could stay on the island and never leave it, I can see the appeal.

My aunts live in Ft Myers. I made my last visit there to see them in 2000, and went back for Fort Rock there in 2016 and was surprised how much it changed.

It was boring and mundane then, but they had built it way the fuck up, like in orbit said. Idk that it works for that city though!