Opinion of these online comments about West Virginia

[IceSpear]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Sounds like a great place! Freedom state!

[IceSpear]

Figures you guys would make this about me, rather than comments about the state from people who actually live there, NOT RANDOMS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY OR ACROSS THE OCEAN WHO NEVER STEPPED FOOT IN THE STATE.

Please Stop, everyone knows your intentions in this, and they're pretty vile.

Huh? I genuinely have no idea what you're referring to here.

Dude give it a rest.

The world shall never run out of iron again.

stuff

Thank you for more insight on the state from someone who has actually been there, which will be promptly ignored by the fetishists (oops, looks like it already has been!)

They voted against Hillary because she worked for the black guy.

As for Pennsylvania, yeah, the WV-esque part of the state is almost as terrible as the real thing. That's certainly not news to me.

This, but I have to ask:  considering you live in Pennsylvania, I'd imagine you've been there yourself at least a few times and (presumably) did not like it there.  Isn't that the real reason you hate WV (plus its recent electoral shifts), not some dumb Internet comments?

Of course I've been there. It's DISGUSTING!

Just take comfort in the fact that old West Virginia (outside of the East Panhandle and Morgantown) continues to lose population and have been losing population for about 70 years now.

Indeed. It is a wonderful trend.

If only WV went for Hillary, IceSpear would be saying it's the great state.

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=54&year=2008&f=0&off=0&elect=1

[IceSpear]

If only WV went for Hillary, IceSpear would be saying it's the great state.

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=54&year=2008&f=0&off=0&elect=1

I'm pretty sure we all remember that.

Well I already disliked the state long before she even announced her candidacy, much less lost the state. And I also started prodding at the forum's WV fetish long before she lost the state. So your hypothesis is void.

I never felt positively about WV, I've been there quite a few times and many areas of the state are like dystopian wastelands. I started to dislike it even more when they showed their true colors by nearly supporting a felon/prison inmate over a the incumbent black president. Since then my opinion of them has only gotten lower and lower. The undeserved love it gets from the forum, especially the "progressives", is particularly offensive.

[IceSpear]

There's a lot of racism in West Virginia. I don't know why that was ever a controversial statement.

Run now. Before it's too late!

[IceSpear]

There's a lot of racism in West Virginia. I don't know why that was ever a controversial statement.

That doesn't mean that classism is OK, though.

Thank you!

How is criticizing racist West Virginians classist? Not every West Virginian is a working class white coal miner, lol.

[IceSpear]

There's a lot of racism in West Virginia. I don't know why that was ever a controversial statement.

That doesn't mean that classism is OK, though.

Thank you!

How is criticizing racist West Virginians classist? Not every West Virginian is a working class white coal miner, lol.

A good chunk of your comments about West Virginia come off as very thinly veiled classism. Seems like a very poor attempt at dog whistle politics. Take notes from guys who talk about "State's rights" and "Welfare queens".

Oh, would you care to show some examples?

All racists are terrible, I couldn't care less what their class is.

[IceSpear]

As for why I dislike it, the Eastern part of the state is like West Virginia's deformed cousin. Horrible Dixiecrats who always vote straight ticket Republican like Santander and Kim Davis (thankfully both Republicans now), racist coal miners who blame the black guy for all their misfortunes despite the fact that the industry has clearly been declining for decades, poor whites who want to take government assistance away from "welfare queens" (aka blacks) in the inner cities while still keeping their food stamps and disability benefits, because unlike Shaniqua in inner city Chicago, "they earned it." Etc. etc.

It's not quite as bad as West Virginia since it does have some decent areas (like Louisville and Lexington), but overall it is just terrible.

Pretty good strawman you got to get angry at. Wailing about how those damn coal miners trying to make a living just don't get that their industry is declining. And all those racist white on welfare who don't understand the irony of their situation. It's just condescending man. It comes off as holier-than-thou and pretentious. You latch onto these stereotypes like they are the truth and propagate it.

Just take comfort in the fact that old West Virginia (outside of the East Panhandle and Morgantown) continues to lose population and have been losing population for about 70 years now.

Indeed. It is a wonderful trend.

Probably a joke. But celebrating the decline of an entire region? A place with families and with culture? Had you been celebrating the decline of black neighborhoods in coastal South Carolina, you'd be put on a pike.

Listen, I think you're a very good poster. You seem committed to your ideas and values, which is a trait few people lack. In fact, I was pretty damn unsure of myself after voting for Clinton in the primary, but your confidence (and the confidence of others) in her made me more confident. I think our beliefs are actually pretty close. But the thing is is that you are alienating a good chunk of people with these kinds of comments. And I probably shouldn't be getting too into this, but I'm emotionally invested. I'm not the type who will be offended easily, but I'm starting to. I come from a background and an environment very similar to West Virginia, and I grew up very insecure about my culture and economic standing.

It really doesn't make a difference to me anymore, but I just want you to understand that some of these comments aren't the political rhetoric and healthy discourse that so many people hide behind. Its blatant sh**tposting. And the joke is getting really close to not being funny anymore.

If my secret motivation for hating West Virginia was because it was a "poor state", then by that logic I'd love Forsyth County, Georgia because it has many wealthy racist hicks, which is obviously not the case. That place is a disgusting hellhole as well.

Anyway, as I've stated before, the only reason I bash WV so much on this forum is because of how many posters hold it as their sacrosanct holy place that cannot be criticized, lest you get dogpiled. This despite the fact other states, places, people, etc. are bashed on this forum constantly and nobody bats an eyelash. West Virginia is not entitled to special treatment. I found it so hilarious that people reacted so violently to a West Virginia joke that I wanted to do more, and it has only snowballed from there. People on this forum care more about posting a picture of a hick off Google Images than they do about saying women should be beheaded for having abortions or that George Wallace was a freedom fighter. It has extremely misplaced and inconsistent priorities, particularly among the "progressive" contingent. Here was the thread that started it all: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=231503.0

Anyway, fair enough. I do agree the joke has probably gone far enough now and I've made my point. But I highly recommend that you do not take my posts, or this forum in general for that matter, so seriously. I never got why you guys get so angry at certain silly things, like TNVolunteer's angry NH women stuff. I find it hilarious which was why I decided to incorporate it into my West Virginia bashing.

Also, don't worry, I think Louisiana is a freedom state.

[IceSpear]

I think that's fair enough. I probably got too far into it, since as a racist Southern hick I felt the need to defend my fellow racist Southern hicks. My post likely came off angrier than it was intended to sound, but I just wanted to get the point across without sounding limp-wristed or weak willed.

Hey, no need to put yourself down like that. #NotAllSoutherners

[IceSpear]

IceSpear, the reason everyone reacted so poorly to your West Virginia "joke" (in terms of that persona from awhile back) and most of your West Virginia bashing isn't because they love West Virginia so much and simply can not bear to see it bashed. It's because it simply was just stupid and not at all funny. No one on AAD cares if you bash West Virginia, or really anywhere that isn't a cool, hip liberal urban areas, and yet everyone there was plenty of complaints there about stupid that "racist hick" piece was and how it wasn't at all funny.

You know that the racist WV hick joke was long after multiple posters attempted to rake me over the coals for bashing WV, right? Off the top of my head, that thread from March I linked to, as well as the WV results thread in May where I was apparently literally Hitler and an evil latte liberal because I was rooting for Hillary to lose the state. lol

[IceSpear]

Frankly, I'm not against this because I like West Virginia or anything. It's just that your feeble, pathetic attempts at 'comedy' are the most unfunny, ridiculous endeavors I have ever heard of. At least TNVolunteer is entertaining in some ways. IceSpear, you used to be a good poster. What the hell happened? Nobody takes you seriously anymore because you get so triggered by West Virginia.

Being a little edgy here I see?

The fact that you think I'm being "triggered" means you still don't "get it." I thought I made it fairly clear in my reply to Southern Gothic. Though BRTD does bring up a fair point that I may have extrapolated too much from a vocal minority of posters, the fact remains that for no other state is there a designated lynch mob set to pounce on anyone who bashes it. I'm sure all the other states are jealous, particularly those that are frequently bashed like poor Florida.

[IceSpear]

Not really. If you tried making fun of Florida with the same lack of any skill in comedy whatsoever and beat that dead horse for this long, people would want you to stop. Frankly, it doesn't matter what state you would theoretically be posting about; it'd still be unbearable.

The equivalent would be if a random poster made a "Florida Man" joke and a rabid gang of posters attacked them for being a sexist bigot who hates Southerners and men. Then they made another similar joke a month or so later and said gang dogpiled them again. Because again, the insane overreactions and pearl clutching predated the frequency of the bashing.

[IceSpear]

Not really. If you tried making fun of Florida with the same lack of any skill in comedy whatsoever and beat that dead horse for this long, people would want you to stop. Frankly, it doesn't matter what state you would theoretically be posting about; it'd still be unbearable.

Exactly. I don't think anyone here has a particular emotional attachment to New Hampshire, but that doesn't stop TNVolunteer's weird hangup about it being one of the forum's least favorite habits of any poster.

OK IceSpear here's a great analogy: Go read jfern's posts about Hillary Clinton. Including the ones where he brings her up in threads on completely unrelated topics or reaches at anything to have an excuse to attack her. And you don't have to be a big fan of Hillary Clinton, or even like her at all, to find his posting on this topic lame and cringeworthy. And tons of people do.

And that's basically how most people view your posts on West Virginia.

How often do I bring up West Virginia in completely irrelevant threads? This thread was completely dedicated to it at least, until you all hijacked it.

[IceSpear]

Not really. If you tried making fun of Florida with the same lack of any skill in comedy whatsoever and beat that dead horse for this long, people would want you to stop. Frankly, it doesn't matter what state you would theoretically be posting about; it'd still be unbearable.

The equivalent would be if a random poster made a "Florida Man" joke and a rabid gang of posters attacked them for being a sexist bigot who hates Southerners and men. Then they made another similar joke a month or so later and said gang dogpiled them again. Because again, the insane overreactions and pearl clutching predated the frequency of the bashing.

If someone made a "Florida Man" account that contributed nothing of substance and only posted in extreme caricatures of notorious people from Florida with zero subtley and no wit or humor and people complained about it, it wouldn't be because they love Florida so much. The actual FloridaMan Twitter account is dedicated to profiling actual news stories about crazy things that happen in Florida. The equivalent would be profiling actual stories that show racism in West Virginia. Although if you did do so, people would still likely find it lame because it really doesn't prove anything and is basically a Hitler Ate Sugar sort of fallacy, and would be the same thing as how px75 feels the need to chronicle every single stupid comment made by a Republican who sits on a Soil and Water Board of Commissioners or every time some "Bernie Bro" on Reddit or Twitter said something stupid. Or actually for an even better example how old time poster CARLHAYDEN a few years back effectively ran a human RSS feed of stories about illegal immigrants committing crimes.

But you're missing the point again. That would only be equivalent if, going further from my example, said poster only created that Florida Man persona to get under the skin of the self appointed Florida Defense Force that jumped down their throat whenever they would make a random joke about or insult Florida every once in a while. Again, the insane overreactions and pearl clutching predated both the forum persona AND the frequency of the bashing.

As for whether or not the persona was funny, well, you know what they say. An opinion is like an asshole. I have it on good authority that at least some people found it funny, considering it got multiple positive responses in that poll you made (or was it Wulfric? I forget, it was somebody from Minnesota) as well as through multiple PMs from people who likely didn't want to go against the Atlas hive mind. Considering you think Sneakers O'Toole is the epitome of comedic genius, I guess we just have very different senses of humor.

Btw, many of the people who claim to be annoyed solely because "it's unfunny and annoying, not because I like WV" are actually just WV fetishists who don't want to prove my point by admitting that's the reason they're butthurt about it.

[IceSpear]

If only WV went for Hillary, IceSpear would be saying it's the great state.

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=54&year=2008&f=0&off=0&elect=1

I'm pretty sure we all remember that.

Well I already disliked the state long before she even announced her candidacy, much less lost the state. And I also started prodding at the forum's WV fetish long before she lost the state. So your hypothesis is void.

I never felt positively about WV, I've been there quite a few times and many areas of the state are like dystopian wastelands. I started to dislike it even more when they showed their true colors by nearly supporting a felon/prison inmate over a the incumbent black president. Since then my opinion of them has only gotten lower and lower. The undeserved love it gets from the forum, especially the "progressives", is particularly offensive.

You put "progressives" in quotes as if a requirement of being a progressive is hating West Virginia.  For 's sake, it used to damn near be the opposite.

As for "defending" the state, I've never been to WV or NH and have zero desire to change that, other than maybe a desire to say I've been to all 50 states someday, and the only reason I'd ever *defend* either one would be if there were these insanely annoying tools who spent every waking moment hating on states that seemingly wouldn't cross many people's minds very often, much less several times a week!

Hating racists and other bigots is a requirement for being a progressive in the 21st century. There exists a strain of thought where racists and other bigots should be pandered to by the left because they might be "populists" (even though usually they're just generic right wingers) which I'm sure you're aware of. That line of thought is unacceptable in my eyes.

[IceSpear]

So New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Hawaii are already taken. Who wants the other 47 states?