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Atlanta vs. "Atlanta, Georgia"


Andrea

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You know, I haven't thought about this before, but it makes sense: "Atlanta, Georgia" has a ring to it. It sounds cool. Even a lot of the rappers call it that. A lot of old timers do it too (ones from within Georgia). They always say "Atlanta, Georgia."

Plus, remember the following:

1. The aliens in Independence Day apparently thought Atlanta was important enough to blow up--more important than Houston!!!!

2. I was reading in the paper about some t.v. show called Jericho or something about nuclear war (sounds interesting have no idea if it's good) and Atlanta is the second city confirmed destroyed and no one attaches the Georgia onto that.

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I have a question....and a bit of a confession.

Most of us seem to agree that we get a little annoyed when "Georgia" is tacked on to "Atlanta", as if we were some podunk town that nobody would recognize otherwise.

I have to also admit, though, that I prefer "Atlanta" to "Atlanta, Georgia" because I don't like Atlanta being associated with the rest of the state. When I travel, I find I get a much different reaction from people if I say I'm from "Georgia" as opposed to "Atlanta".

If I say "Georgia", the redneck, Bubba, dating-your-cousin, "Deliverance", and "Was your family ever in the KKK?" jokes are sure to follow. If I say "Atlanta", I get a much more positive reaction, as if they don't associate it with Georgia at all.

I'm a native Georgian, and I love this state, but I have to admit that I do this!

How do you other Georgians, native and non-native, feel about this?

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Well I live in Augusta, so I'm part of the other Georgia. I'm not really sure. I think Georgia as a whole probably has a better reputation than most other Southern states (and a lot of that has to do with Atlanta) so I guess I'm not ashamed. I'm across the river from SC and a lot of people in Augusta identify equally with that state (for some reason the Palmetto flag dominates in this town), but it's considered by many to be the most conservative state around.

To be sure, a lot of Southern states have baggage---Georgia included. And sometimes this state does embarass me, such as in the way people support anybody with an R in front of their name and support blatant discrimination against gay people. It upsets me, but it happens all over the country, not just Georgia or the South.

I must confess too that I've never really traveled to most parts of the other Georgia, except the mountains, the beach, and Macon. I've never been to S. Georgia except to stop and get Chickfila in Tifton and so I'm not sure what it's like down there.

Also, a lot of people in Atlanta consider the rest of Georgia to be this redneck backwards place where people hang out all day thinking up ways to be stupid (please, it's just a hobby!!!). But, suprise, we have a ethnic restaurants (no i'm not talking about Mexican), fine cuisine restaurants (one was written up in the New York Times and the AJC), snobby people (come on, we're the home of the Augusta National and Augusta Country Club!!!), shady politicians, Operas, Symphonies, et cetera. Same can be said for Macon and Savannah. Basically, to me, Atlantans are harder on us other Georgians than most Northerners I've come into contact with and I think a lot of that has to do with a bit of a complex on Atlantans' part, wherein they're secretly scared that people in Chicago and New York think they're hicks---the topic of this thread actually kind of proves my point with that (though this is a fun thread, but I hardly think people in Chicago care if Illinois is attached to their town).

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If I say "Georgia", the redneck, Bubba, dating-your-cousin, "Deliverance", and "Was your family ever in the KKK?" jokes are sure to follow. If I say "Atlanta", I get a much more positive reaction, as if they don't associate it with Georgia at all.

I'm a native Georgian, and I love this state, but I have to admit that I do this!

How do you other Georgians, native and non-native, feel about this?

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I disagree. I think Atlanta's large "buppie," upwardly-mobile African-American population, in large part, thwarts that image significantly.

Because I'm familiar with Georgia outside of Atlanta (particularly Augusta), I can say that Atlanta feels Georgian, but in a much more progressive way.

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Shan, I agree that when you say "Georgia" a lot of people probably get connotations of rednecks, hillbillies, racism, NASCAR, rebel-flagism, the Klan, etc. However, I don't think Atlanta is viewed much differently from the rest of the state in that regard. It's not exactly like we're a bunch of suave sophisticates up here, you know.
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^I doubt it. The only hope for that rests with metro Atlanta, and while select counties in metro Atlanta may be bluer (or a darker shade of purple) than most, the suburban counties (of which Atlanta has a LOT) are still solidly red. Southern Georgia will still be overwhelmingly red (or a lighter shade of purple).

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Shan, I agree that when you say "Georgia" a lot of people probably get connotations of rednecks, hillbillies, racism, NASCAR, rebel-flagism, the Klan, etc. However, I don't think Atlanta is viewed much differently from the rest of the state in that regard. It's not exactly like we're a bunch of suave sophisticates up here, you know.
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puh-leeze.

the south's self-awareness is a far bigger problem than its perception (i.e., the 'image problem') by outsiders looking in. people are seriously ashamed to say they're from georgia? hell, i wouldn't be ashamed to say i am from Red Neck, Mississippi (no such place, but the point's the same.) i really feel that if progressive-minded people in the south would stop worrying about whatever checkered past the rest of the world thinks it understands, and admits that southern lineage is not a birth-curse for people born since the civil rights era and all its bad PR, we could be much more confident ambassadors of this wonderful part of the country. no one can help their homeplace's past, but they can be unafraid to acknowledge it and unashamed to better inhabit the same soil in the here and now.

racism is DAMN sure everywhere, as is classism, -phobias, and cruelty in the name of greed. human nature is just not that different - not one whit - from liberal connecticut or san francisco to conservative north florida or south alabama (not to mention the rest of the world). if some redneck jackass is bashing black-sheep southern gays, then some new england blue-blood is curling a lip in disgust at the unwashed poor from across town who irritatingly seem to aspire to do more than merely work in close proximity.

you're a fool if you think your open-mindedness about topic A ensures your receptiveness to topic B. in that regard, i haven't seen evidence that the south in general has any more to be ashamed of than other regions.

my observation has been that outsiders' erroneous perceptions of the south are based on the same basic ignorance with which we are so often maligned. if someone thinks there are burning crosses and wife-beatings and a culture of dramatic segregation (the whole nation doesn't have a voluntary segregation phenomenon???) in every corner of the south, then, in my view, it is their problem - and certainly the onus is not on me to disabuse them of the notion. manifestations of the dark side of humanity are everywhere, and if i have to protest that fact to a prejudiced and ignorant outsider, then i'm the fool for wasting my breath and forgetting my dignity. i welcome those to the south who see its flaws reflected in the flaws of their own homes. but i reject those before whom we must parade our graces in an effort to convince that we, just give us a chance and god bless our backward hearts, are Not So Bad.

sorry i sound negative - i LOVE where i am from. i really want the south to collectively have some damn confidence, and not the kind that is only derived from inviting an influx of new culture (though i think there is plenty to be happy about where that does occur, especially where everything is assimilated and nothing is displaced). i would rather outsiders come here and discover that things are not as they assumed; that, in addition to the bad types found everywhere, there are also gracious, open-hearted people here who just happen to talk differently and like sweet tea.

better that the south succeeds on its own terms, by building upon what is worthwhile in its own deep culture and endearing that culture to those who come here, than that it wins outside approval by pandering to outside prejudices and preconceptions.

apologies for the rant; i know this thread is ATL-specific. but it began as a sorta light-hearted thread, and has taken many turns. what i tried to say up there ^ is born in large measure from my experiences with - and feelings about - the self-image 'problem' endemic to those parts of GA and AL with which i am most familiar (typically a function of tension between old rural and kinda-new urban sensibilites).

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