I spent a week in rural Virginia. There are a lot of differences from here, but overall the people are very friendly and did not make me want to hate them. Once you bring politics into something, divisions are created and I think that's why a lot of northerners hate the south. You have to remember that if you put politics a side they are nice people.
I think that this is a very good point. Politics is one of the two things that can really bring out the worst in people when a disagreement is found (the other is religion). If politics is left out of things, even two very different people, ideologically speaking, can get along quite well.
Myself, I would certainly like to travel to the South some day just to see for myself. It's actually a dream of mine to travel to two cities (the capital and another one) in every province and state in North America in one huge journey.
