One misconception is that Kentucky is somehow Midwestern which is laughable because Kentucky has no real characteristics that would tie it to anywhere in the Midwest whether that be Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, etc. Kentucky will never be part of the midwest and is much more part of the South and resembles culturally and economically the Southern United States. It has more in common with Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia and other far Deep South states than it could ever have with Midwestern sensibilities or Midwestern values.
When I moved to Kentucky many years ago and nearly a decade now, I moved to Kentucky with no real personal prejudicial feelings towards Kentuckians as a rule and no real problem with Kentucky in general. Sure, there are always assholes in every state and every society and always will be. Even in my Midwestern abode, we have our own share of lowlife individuals that refuse to contribute to society and at least show some sort of decent values and upbringing.
I moved to Kentucky with no baggage towards that Commonwealth better known as a State of the United States since most people outside of Kentucky do not know that it is a Commonwealth form of Government in the United States much like Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and probably a couple of others I forgotten in my travels and educational progress.
It didn't take long to figure out that something in Kentucky and in Louisville where I resided was a bit amiss especially when it came to basic common sense, decency, and general knowledge of the local population. I grew up around blue collar Americans with decent values of real family values, church attendance, helping each other out, working hard, a days work for decent pay and being a member of the community.
What I found in Kentucky is a society where no one really gives a damn about anything or anyone except maybe supporting or taking care of their own family and kin and even that is pretty sketchy. All the while, these people talk about their family values and Southern family values which is the biggest misnomer that I think I have ever heard of. All the while they're stabbing each other in the back, lying, cheating, and talking about how screw each other over.
Kentucky likes to talk about its family values and societal values and decency but I've been to most of the Kentucky counties out of 120 and I can't say much about that state and what it has to offer. Besides, I lived there for 5 years and never seen such a state at such a wretched level and I lived near Gary, Indiana for a few years of my life at one point and have been to pretty much every inner city you can imagine in the Midwest and South. Even to locales such as Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Richmond, Norfolk, etc. As well as Kansas City, Little Rock and so on.
Kentucky in truth is a joke wrapped in a farce wrapped in religious fervor wrapped its own brand of fake Christianity and the ultimate brand of in your face hypocrisy. A place where you can be a family man and raise your family and kid and be treated worse by a pastor than the whore of daughter that has been married 6 times at the age of 35. Now that's speaking volumes of my personal experience but that's not my main problem with Kentucky. Its not a family based issue or my problem with a family member and their fakery and hypocrisy.
I had to wonderful experience of seeing this type of behavior repeatedly over the years in that state over the 5 years that I lived there as well as over the years since from keeping up with the gossip of those that still live there that I hear from either personally or other family members. Only in a state where hypocrisy and Southern Baptist/fake Christian values would something like that be celebrated. This isn't to rip all Christians because many are really true to their faith and practice what they preach. In Kentucky, that seems to be few and far between in the churches that I attended and the people that I generally encountered.
Its laughable that people in Kentucky talk as if their state is so full of friendly welcoming people who welcome anyone and try to get to know people. Its a fake sort of friendly where being fake is celebrated and being real and genuine is feared because people might actually have to open up and show who they truly are. So instead they hide their real persona and then put on the fake smile and fakery that they hide behind on a daily basis.
That's not my biggest problem with Kentucky though. My biggest problem with Kentucky and Kentuckians at large including in other states is the mind blowing ignorance and stupidity that they constantly exhibit on a daily basis. Every state has its undesirables, criminal class, and morons.
In Kentucky, they've refined ignorance, stupidity, criminality, and blatant tomfoolery into an art form. In most places, hick is style of clothes a person wears but in Kentucky its a way of life. Also, culturally Kentucky for some reason enjoys being the armpit of America which keeps it being ignorant of other states and countries in the world. Including its own neighbors in the North and even those in the South.
There's a reason why your state Kentucky has ranked 47th in post secondary education for the last several decades, K-12 rankings are in the 40s, and your state ranks 47th in income as well as having ranked 44th or worse in state income since 1939. That's a grand total of 78 years that Kentucky has ranked in the bottom 6 states in personal and family income over a period of 3 to 4 generations.
Kentucky continues to rank near or at the bottom of all kinds of socioeconomic factors such as infant mortality, child abuse, elder abuse, animal abuse, cancer, health issues, pollution, crime, etc. Maybe Kentucky isn't an inner city ghetto such as Detroit but its got far more problems that most places in the United States where at least a workable government tries to correct the issues.
Add in the fact that the Republican and Democrat geniuses of Kentucky have caused their state to have a public pension issue regarding a shortfall of tens of billions of dollars. Only exceeded by California and Illinois in being a major fiscal issue for their state. However, they've had the last couple of decades to try to fix it to no avail despite it being a hot button issue for years.
I've got plenty more to talk about regarding Kentucky in upcoming posts. So stay tuned.
Yes, Kentucky is a SHITHOLE and the people are just as clueless as could be and they love and worship the shit that they live in.
