Any state south of the Mason-Dixon line is portrayed as a cartoonish land of religious fanatics, racism, and overreaction.

In truth it is not exactly so, but I personally wouldn't want to live in any of those places. I probably wouldn't be happy living in the mid-west either though.

It generally holds true that these sorts of things can happen in any state now. If you 'threaten' to shoot up a school (no matter how jokingly) you're likely to get reamed for it.

Context no longer matters... There is a zero tolerance policy on certain words and ideas now it appears.