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DarthFaol t1_is8ojfb wrote

Reply to comment by BakedBeanz1 in TIL at the end of the Top Gear US Special after arriving in New Orleans, the hosts gave their cars away instead of selling them as originally planned after seeing the damage from Hurricane Katrina by PrettyPinkPonyPrince

You are showing yourselves as fools that believe negative hype. Yeah, ok, I haven't seen this show. No matter. Most people only know the darker, generally exaggerated, Alabama. Born and raised in a small North Alabama town. Backward? No. Simple? Used to be. I grew up about 30 minutes south of where Werner Von Braun helped develop America's entrants in the Space Race. Are there places I am nervous to go, even if I'm armed. Oh yeah. But I'm more comfortable there than in the likes of New York, Chicago or Detroit. All cities probably with worse crime rates in 1 year than Alabama. So think a little before believing everything you hear.

Do I have guns? Yes, it is my right. I'm not into shooting up anything, however. I'd more likely be the 1 read about having stopped a mass shooting. Am I a practicing Christian? You best believe I know where I'll end up. Do you? Am I a backward hick, hillbilly? No. My gifted level IQ prevents it.

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thinmanspies t1_is8s1j3 wrote

Just for fun, you should look up the FBI's crime statistics. In 2020 (the last year before they started a change in how things were reported which has made it so some states aren't easily viewed) Alabama's violent crime rate was higher than the national average and also higher than New York's, Illinois', and Michigan's. This year Alabama has the honor of being the third most violent state in the nation.

I believe you may be more comfortable there than going to the other places you named because it is what you know. That's true for many people but it doesn't make that opinion correct.

Oftentimes, violent crime is related to poverty and Alabama has a high poverty rate which may help explain the violent crime rate.

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DarthFaol t1_isaucqo wrote

No, I didn't look up stats and I should have. I let a little anger, frustration & disgust get the better of me and I know better.

I am surprised at the numbers however. Although with Huntsville, Mobile and Birmingham to consider I shouldn't be. I remember being told by a former officer there was a suburb of Mobile where the police didn't want to go out of fear. That was like 20 years ago I was told.

I can only go by the small town I grew up in. I can only think of 2 murders there off the top of my head in my 47 years of life. There may be more, only 2 come to mind at the moment.

Yes there is definitely poverty here. Although I did see that Alabama was number 4 on a list of states with the lowest cost of living. That is from a story from October 6 of this year.

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HammletHST t1_is9ink9 wrote

> Do I have guns? Yes, it is my right. I'm not into shooting up anything, however. I'd more likely be the 1 read about having stopped a mass shooting. Am I a practicing Christian? You best believe I know where I'll end up. Do you? Am I a backward hick, hillbilly? No. My gifted level IQ prevents it.

This is some amazing r/Iamthemaincharacter material right there!

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DarthFaol t1_isas8p4 wrote

Yeah, ok. The stopping a mass shooting part may be a bit much. I'll admit it. I have an active imagination. So much tabletop RPGing in my younger years probably don't help that.

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