Which is the worst state in the United States of America

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!

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.

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.

lol fuck yes in orbit otm re Ft Myers, Ford, Edison etc

it does feel kind of silly

I know it’s goofy and yes the fratastic invasions of the Quarter in the reg are painful but I will always love New Orleans. it’s mostly what keeps LA out of the bottom tier for me.

*on the reg

could we reconsider Kentucky as being worthy of being higher placed in the worst state poll by the mere fact that it is represented by Mitch McConnell? That people there have regularly voted for this horrible person?

Getting back to Mississippi, the state government is now refusing to help Jackson fix their water system problems from the big storm over a month ago, despite the fact that tap water is not safe to drink for many (most?) residents of the city.

There was a video I saw about one city in Oklahoma that basically had white supremacist billboards on display, could have been a Daily Show piece? I can try to dig it up if anyone cares to see it.

xpost, sorry sarahell. Moscow Mitch is the devil incarnate.

Recent research: I have been in Florida, Georgia, and Texas today. They all kind of such but Florida is still the worst.

today? I hope you got sleep

I've never been to Florida (or the USA) but from the evidence I've seen (Will Smith's video for "Miami") it looks pretty good.

I've lived in Florida and I've lived in Georgia and Georgia is worse, believe me

The board knows I'm no sentimentalist, so I'm curious: the fuck makes Georgia, Alabama, etc. better than Florida?

I should also note: South Florida is not Florida.

North Florida is culturally similar to Georgia but still better. Gainesville as a college town is better than Athens. Plus North Florida has other charms that Georgia lacks.

the fuck makes Georgia, Alabama, etc. better than Florida

Atlanta.

Last year I spent a week in ATL with my mom (flew in from China, we met there -- in January to be clear.) It was so nice, we had so much fun there, everyone was friendly, we went to some great restaurants, saw a stand up comic who killed us with her dry stoned wit. I want to live there. I know stoned comedy isn't for everyone tho.

I found some very affordable tickets from Tampa to London, but for me the best route was to go to Orlando first. The difference between Orlando and Tampa was striking to me. Maybe it was just the areas of the respective cities I saw but people in Orlando seemed positively hostile much of the time, Tampa was much more welcoming. (I was in downtown Tampa, and the area of Orlando was between the airport and downtown.)

Charleston is also not far from home to me, and what I usually tell people is that they really specialize in their own unique brand of racism in Charleston. Although my cousins went to college there and say the cops will often profile poor looking white people if they're in the wrong neighborhood too. Of course I'm sure the brutality is much much worse against minorities.

Josefa why do you think Gainesville is better than Athens?

between the airport and downtown = yeaaaaaaaah, hard pass. best parts of Orlando to check out are the areas surrounding exits 84 and 85, really.

downtown DOES have some nice areas - the trick is to hit the 'other' side of Orange Ave. once you start to hit the 'club' area, yer fucked.

I have had some lovely experiences at Orlando City Stadium though. having professional soccer in my backyard and also being able to see touring squads come play there has been a godsend (like the US Women's National Team, World Cup qualifiers, etc).

I adore East Atlanta (the artier, more woke side near The Earl, at least)

I’ve only had 3 experiences in Florida, 1) first with a college friend’s parents in Naples for the holidays, the beach was beautiful and the ambience seemed unreal, it was almost a clichéd country club atmosphere. I watched Some Like it Hot with his family and was embarrassed because I thought that they knew I was gay and that that was the reason we were watching it, but they seemed to love it and they accepted me, 2) the second was going to parties and bars in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale with gay friends some years later, 3) later had a more sedate time in Sarasota going to restaurants and walks on the beach with my sister, her husband, and her in-laws

They were all different but pretty good and not like any other experiences I’ve ever had. They were all in the wintertime though, not sure I would like it in the summer

Josefa why do you think Gainesville is better than Athens?

Better local music scene ime, and a less pretentious one, although none of the bands I liked from Gainesville ever made it big. Admittedly my frame of reference may be way out of date. I just thought what was happening in Gainesville in my day was more creative, and what was happening in Athens was too constricted by the idea of being "Southern."

Gainesville has quite a few good concert spots/bars. I like The Atlantic.

Also Gainesville is not near any big city, so it has to be it's own oasis in the cultural void, whereas Athens can kind of fall back on the fact that it's near Atlanta.

sorry for the extra apostrophe

mostly remember Athens as a hub for Elephant 6 in the late 90s

what was happening in Athens was too constricted by the idea of being "Southern."

Seems spot on. I can't name any bands from Gainesville tbh. When I was coming up Chapel Hill was the main scene hub, maybe that's a bit played out in a similar way to Athens. But when we became more interested in raves and clubs, Greensboro had some of the best action. I was living in NC by then, and would go to ATL for events once in a while.

Never been to Athens or Gainesville actually, but I like the region around Athens because that landscape suits me -- it's not really that different from Chapel Hill, a little more hilly maybe?

in the late 90s

Mmmhmm, that's when I'm referring to as well. There was a crew from Atlanta called Earthtone Soundsystem that our little rave scene in Asheville was affiliated with.

Full disclosure we were also big fans of Dubtribe Soundsystem back then.

If the poll were done today I think my native state of Missouri would rise in the rankings. Probably third.

Full disclosure we were also big fans of Dubtribe Soundsystem back then.

Do It Then

Oregon may have overly rosy public relations, but it is far from the worst state on any measure, including racism.

Full disclosure we were also big fans of Dubtribe Soundsystem back then.

Do It Then

Ha thank you! I wanted to pull some meta zing out of that but I just didn't have it in me.

(For what it's worth, Earthtone Soundsystem was nowhere near as trendy/cultish as Dubtribe. All of them that I met were genuinely cool people, much like Cloudfactory in the SF Bay Area for example.)

Regarding Oregon, it's not just the historic white supremacy. As was briefly mentioned upthread the demographics continue to be quite monochrome compared to most of the South etc. According to the US Census, Oregon is 87% white, 2% Black; Mississippi is 59% white and 38% Black. (It is best to only capitalize "Black", not "white"; or to capitalize both? Genuine style question, no troll.)

So yes on average OR is light years more progressive than MS. But I would guess that even in Oregon on average there is more support for Republicans among whites than among Blacks in Mississippi. Maybe I'm wrong.

why is delaware so high up on this? the tax haven thing? it seems innocuous.

in oregon (along w/ louisiana) you could be convicted of a crime if 10 people on a jury said guilty and 2 said not guilty until the u.s. supreme court outlawed it last year

Oregon is 87% white, 2% Black

There's a reason why the Proud Boys et al. are always marching in Portland and not, like, here.

Kentucky is a tough one. They do have two asshole senators, but they have a democratic governor, and there is tons of cool shit in the state, from the bourbon trail to the Muhammed Ali Center to Mammoth Cave to lots of good music. Plus, the state is really pretty. Also, centrally located, and not too big.

tipsy to thread!

(It is best to only capitalize "Black", not "white"; or to capitalize both? Genuine style question, no troll.)

I'm curious what the thinking is on this as well. lowercase white vs uppercase Black might on some level support the implication that whiteness is "default"

unsurprisingly it seems like a no win situation the more you think about it

Here you go:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html

I noticed just the other day that the New Yorker capitalizes "Black," which maybe they've done for years? No idea what they do with "white."