Why is Ohio hated so much in the South?

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By Willdawg

     I am an Ohioan living in the south (Charleston, SC), and I am proud of where I come from and who I am. What I don't understand is why we are hated so much. There is a Charleston, SC based website GoBackToOhio.com. Although the writings in the website look like they were written by 1st graders, even the minor league baseball team, the Charleston Riverdogs hold a Go Back To Ohio day where they give out T-shirts. What is ironic is that the Riverdogs are the minor league affliate of a northern team, the NY Yankees. When football season rolls around, they get excited every time Ohio State looks like they might loose a game. They hate the Ohio State Buckeyes more than they hate their own rivals. This makes little sense to me because coming from out of the area I could care less about the University of South Carolina or Clemson, and paid absolutely no attention to them when I was living in Ohio. No-one can even explain why they hate Ohioans, but I have developed a few theories over the last 6 years that are worth exploring.

     The first theory is that their hatred has roots dating back to the 1800's and the Civil War. Although slavery was illegal in the northern states, Ohio was the only state where it was illegal to track down and attempt to return ran away slaves. Anyone caught tracking down run away slaves within Ohio borders were imprisoned. During the Civil War, the north's ability to re-supply troops became one of it's most valuable assests. Ohio was the first industrialized state, and manufactured a large amount of supplies, provided agricultural products, and the Boston-Ohio Railroad was a quick and efficient way to move both troops and supplies throughout the northern states. It is well known by historians that without the contribution of Ohio to cause, the southern states might have actually stood a chance. The NHL team in Columbus, the Blue Jackets, is actually named for Ohio's historic contributions of the Civil War. The only flaw with this theory is that only a small percentage of southerners actually know that the Civil War was started when rebels (refered to as terrorists in modern times) fired on the U.S. Army at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

     Ohio is a typical mid-western state. Our lifestyles and values are a reminder of what is really wrong with the south. We are hard working, blue collar people, and the majority of our parents grew up on the farm or in the factories working long days, but coming home at night to spend time with the family. Weekends were spent with familly and in church, with Catholic and Roman Catholics being the predominant religion of the mid-west. Mid-westerners are intellegent, strong, and hard working, with strong family values. What we see in the south is just the opposite. Grocery store shelves will be almost empty, the floors dirty, and the restrooms look and smell worse than an outhouse, but there will be a half a dozen employees standing around chit chatting. Factories have to hire twice as many employees to do the same job, and then the quality of work is poor because the employees don't take any pride in what they do. They want everything handed to them, rather than going out and earning it. Southern hospitality is like calling a snow covered island Greenland. It isn't hospitality, it's getting information from someone to gossip about them later. The term Sunday Christians was coined in the south. They are quick to judge you, preach to you, but rarely act upon what they preach to others. If you have an adult standing on a chair and a child standing on the ground next to him, it is much easier for that child to pull the adult off the chair than it would be to lift them up. This is an analogy that works well for what the mid-west means to the south. The southerners see the mid-westerns up at a higher level, and rather than try to pull themselves up, they believe it is easier to try to pull the mid-westerners down to their level, or at least enough that they don't feel too inferior.

     The last theory that I would like to explore is Pride. Ohioans tend to be very proud people. We have a strong heritage, with large percentages of Native American, African-American, German, and Greek ancestry. We stand by our sports teams, through the good and bad years. We are proud of what we have accomplished, and how we accomplish it. In the workplace, we take pride in the quality of the products that we produce, and in the environment in which we work. You rarely see this in the south. There are as many fans of teams outside the state and there are of the teams in their area. There is a lack of heritage that someone can really be proud of. In the workplace, employees could care less about the quality of the product they are producing, as long as someone is giving them some money to do it.

     What I have seen in the last 6 years of living in the south leaves me almost speachless. There is a genuine, but unjustifiable hated, toward Ohioans. This is a subject that may never really be solved because I don't think they really now why. There website blames Ohioans for taking their jobs and their women. This sounds like blind, ignorant prejudices of the past. First the African Americans, then the Mexicans, and now the Ohioans. I guess were the new minority on the block.

See all 2 photos

Comments

Daman1111 profile image

Daman1111 2 years ago

Are you serious? Has anybody that hated Ohio been able to give you a reason why?

srpatterson profile image

srpatterson 2 years ago

Great photo of an OSU cheerleader. I didn't realize the South hated Ohio so much.

Willdawg profile image

Willdawg Hub Author 2 years ago

It's crazy, especially SC. Check out this Charleston, SC based website:

http://gobacktoohio.com/

If you can get past how pathetic these people are, the ignorance and stupidity might actually be funny.

rita 2 years ago

i dont see the reason for not likeing a person or a group of ppl just because of where they are from. its a waste of time to me, i like every one.i have friends from around the world and i find ppl from all over to act like jackasses at times ,so what ever! that website was just bullshit ass time spent doing dumb stuff because she/he or heshe had nothing else to do with that time...

FL Green 2 years ago

Dear Sir;

Your ramblings above are of little interest to Southerners. The point is we dont care what you think of us, because we think so lowly of you that your opinions dont count. You are among Southerners, and you are not wanted here. The prevalent feeling does go back, not just to the War of Northern Agression, but to at least 50 years before that.

Let it suffice to say that we want to separate ourselves from you. We are not interested in being a part of the same country you are.

Understand that we revere some individuals that have accomplished noteworthy damage to you. They are;

John Wilkes Booth

Lee Harvey Oswald

Mohammad Atta

Maybe this information will confer to you our deepest feelings. If you still miss the point, consider that we are waiting on the day when the Muslins open up on the north. We will be cheering them on.

Kindest Regards,

FLG

Willdawg profile image

Willdawg Hub Author 2 years ago

Why do you call it the war of northern agression? I keep hearing that term but it doesn't fit. Do your research. The civil war was started because southern terrorists attacked the US army and Sort Sumter. The north didn't start the Civil War, the south did.

Do you really think that Muslims are going to target the north? You have really got to be nieve. Middle Easterns hate Americans. They don't care where you were raised. Your only hope is that if someone does attack the US they aren't paying most southern cities any attention because they are too small and don't do anything of value. When we were in the cold war with the Soviet Union, a large amount of the nuclear missles were tageted on Ohio cities. Not because they had anything against Ohioans in particular, but because of Ohios military influence. Because most of the top secret military research is done at Wright Patterson Air Force base dear Dayton. A large portion of military supplies are manufactured in Ohio, including almost all of the parts for the Stealth fighters and bombers. Foreign enemies attack places that are of significant military and economic value.

Don't hate mid-westerners because we are raising the standard. If you don't like the fact that you are loosing jobs (as the website says) because we are better educated and work harder; don't get mad at us, go get an education and put a little more effort in. If you don't like the fact that southern women are flocking to mid-western men because we are more attentive and more respectful to women. Don't get mad, just treat the women better. We're not doing it to show you up, it's how we are raised. The midwest is packed full of agriculture with large industrialized cities scattered throughout it. Our parents, and grand parents, and great grandparents, etc. spent their lives on the farms (and we didn't have slaves & don't use migrant workers) and in the factories. We go to work (many times for 12+ hours a day), and we have 2 things that are important, our families and our faith (a large portion are raised in either the Catholic or Lutheran church). America is lazy and ignorant, and the south and US need us to spread around because we raise the bar and set a new standard. Get used to it.

*Note: I am referencing the mid-west, not the north, because we are NOT Yankies. Yankies are north easterners with the same heritage and background as you except they live in the north (Mainly English and French ancestry). The mid-west is composed more of a combination (and notice I say combination because mid-westerners are known for a lot of interacial interaction) of African-Americans, Native Americans, Greek, & Germans.

Southern Ohio Gal 2 years ago

Well, I too have run into this prejudice. Maybe it is a transference of their former racial prejudices that are no longer legal. OR - they are still fighting the Civil War.

As for me - I loved Charleston and visited many times until I went to Savannah. I have not been back to Charleston since. Charleston is not true south like Savannah to me. I'd advise Ohioans to take their money to Savannah and show them good manners that are not unknown to Northerns as we are so accused.

Adam Chickey 19 months ago

I feel ya there i lived in south carolina and moved back to my home state. when i decided to move back to Charleston, SC i found out how much these red necks hated me! i was hurt but not hurt too bad, because when i got here i found there were more ohioans here then i thought!

Brian  18 months ago

Its not even the south. its South Carolina alone. Is this thread a joke!?! If Ohio citizens have so much pride then stay in Ohio!! 1/4 of the cars you see in Charleston, SC, where you claim to live, either have Ohio plates or an Ohio sticker on them. If Ohio is so great, stay there! I was not aware that South Carolina had been renamed "Ohio 2". For some reason people from Ohio think life will be better in South Carolina. Oh, and another reason, most of the people i talk to from Ohio, have barely seen a black person! Culture shock anyone? go back to Ohio!

Brian  18 months ago

Its not even the south. its South Carolina alone. Is this thread a joke!?! If Ohio citizens have so much pride then stay in Ohio!! 1/4 of the cars you see in Charleston, SC, where you claim to live, either have Ohio plates or an Ohio sticker on them. If Ohio is so great, stay there! I was not aware that South Carolina had been renamed "Ohio 2". For some reason people from Ohio think life will be better in South Carolina. Oh, and another reason, most of the people i talk to from Ohio, have barely seen a black person! Culture shock anyone? go back to Ohio!

John 16 months ago

Go Home! If you hate it so much you should take your values and unions and just drive up I-77 until you hit the border. So yes if you love Ohio so much get out and save yourself from the horrible South. Please do us a favor. Oh yeah. You already screwed up Ohio and there is nothing left for you up there. Darn... Just keep going south. I hear Florida takes Idiots. Just go through Georgia in stead of SC. I hate seeing 4 out of 10 license tags on the interstate driving like idiots from Ohio.

John 16 months ago

Oh yes... and by the way. We don't hate you because of Slavery. Typical yankee thinking anything we do here is about slavery. Maybe if your opening comments were educated enough you might just find the real south. But you have to be so great and stuck up about yourself you immediately think something that happened over 130 years ago has anything to do with how we feel about you today. Wow... Did I call you an idiot already? Feel blessed that you have spent time in South Carolina. When you go back home and I hope you do. Please try to fix your own state before screwing up yours.

whcobb profile image

whcobb 16 months ago

You know, I started reading this and you made a statement about how the writing on the gobacktoohio.com website looked like 1st graders and you turn around and use loose when you meant lose. Well, that kind of seemed like an honest mistake but was a bit annoying considering you just bashed SC for that. Then, I get to the first reason you have for why Southerners hate Ohio so much and I saw the Civil War argument and I stopped reading. I love how everyone in the north continues to believe that the Civil War was about just slavery... Well, the truth is, the Civil War was never about slavery; slavery was a point in the main reason for the war, STATES RIGHTS which included the rights to have slaves.

I am from Clemson, SC and a diehard South Carolina Gamecock fan. I know plenty of Ohio State fans and that's the only thing I can't stand about Ohio. One of my best friends is from Ohio and is a big Buckeye fan. He's a great guy. I can't stand Ohio State because of the arrogance of the university and the fans. "The Ohio State University?" Give me a break... And they actually filed formal documents to allow them to change from Ohio State University to "The Ohio State University."

OSU plays in the weakest conference in college football and year in and year out consistently disappoint in the big games. They are always overrated and often never deserve to be in the big games... 0-9 vs. SEC teams... Woody Hayes punching a Clemson player... University of South Carolina is 2-1 vs. OSU and 2-0 since the inception of the BCS... Obnoxious fans; probably the most obnoxious sports fans in America... In fact, they are right up there with Dallas Cowboys and Texas Longhorn fans.

Mike 15 months ago

Revering Mohammed Atta? I think that is going a little too far! The 9-11 terrorists just didn't hate New York, they hated all of America, North and South.

Josh 15 months ago

Go back to ohio!!!!

Charleston Guy 13 months ago

Reading stuff like this from people from Ohio is what makes me hate Ohio.

Patriot 13 months ago

This Ohioan is a very ignorant person. The ramblings of this person shows just how ignorant. It seems that most South Carolinians in the Civil War days were people of Aristocracy unlike the ignorant immigrants that were inhabiting the North. They were very hard working and honest people. Lifestyles and values are really much better in the South than any other part of this Nation.

Take your ignorance back to the place from whence you came and leave this part of the Country to the decent and honorable people WHO inhabit it.

Patriot 13 months ago

BTW maybe Ohio is hated because of ignorant people like you ranting about things you know nothing about.

palmetto buckeye 13 months ago

listen up south idiots ohio is number seven of transplaints in sc your education is 49 in the nation idiots the person that started the web site is from the state of washington idiots i had to move to your backward state because your onecould not fill a position idiots my inc rates doubled moving here with all your idiot drivers if i could move back i would find someone that can fill my occupation please you idiots

rpaulwil 12 months ago

I'm from Ohio and after reading what you wrote, I feel you should go back to Ohio. There is way to much crap in the words you've written. We take their women because we do not have Gamecocks, Ohioans have strong cocks.

brian 11 months ago

I am from Ohio...born and raised, and I hate Ohio

Ohio People Are Faggs 11 months ago

Hey Willdawg, if you're going to insist on calling people stupid, you should try using proper grammar. Your diatribe was filled with errors and misspellings. It made you look about as ignorant as we Charlestonians hate you people from Ohio.

You want to know we don't like you? You're from Ohio. I've been up North. They hate me for my accent. I hate you for simply being from Ohio.

(security made me add a g to my avatar)

Afaateid 11 months ago

Get the Hell out of SC you freaking fat, pastey, loud, obnoxious turds! OH, PA, MI, NJ, IN, IL...you ALL need to GO!! You are not FROM here and we do NOT want you HERE!!

sc = idiots 10 months ago

I tried to go to the link gobacktoohio.com and got the message that essentially the subscriber didn't pay their bill! NICE. Hating people from Ohio just makes you all look desperate and jealous. Don't you all have anything better to do? Have you even left the state of SC ever? Sounds like you hate us just because we are more intelligent and make more money. Next time I am there I will be sure not to spend a dime, I’m sure all my family and friends can pass this along to others as well who will also not spend a dime in SC. You make a pretty large amount of money from people visiting your state don't you? You're really doing yourselves a favor bashing people that spend a lot of money there?!? You would have been smart to keep your mouth shut; do you think a state that has so much return in tourist dollars can maintain without them? How stupid you all sound.

John 10 months ago

I think the main reason is that there is an influx from one region/state. I'm sure the ignorance gets passed down until the offspring don't know why but they just have to keep hating.

I've lived in the south for 25 years and Charleston for 10. Tradition is EVERYTHING to southerners. Learning and growing is gay or sissy.

P.S. I was engaged to an Ohioan and she was a lying succubus of a woman. For the record.

Eric 9 months ago

I am from Ohio, and I live in North Carolina. I have lived in the South for several years (La., Ky., SC. and NC.). I agree with the bias that is practiced throughout the South towards anyone from anywhere but the South. I have heard people in the South (nearly to a man) put down the West (saying they are a bunch of weirdos and gays). They say that people up North are ALL rude and mean spirited. They call Miami, FlA., a different country because most people down there are from Latin American descent. People in the South have a built in dislike, distain, whatever you want to call it, for anyone who is not from the South.

Of course people in the South will not agree with any of this, because to do so would admit that they are wrong about anything. Southerners love to argue as long as you see things their way. They have self esteem issues because how they are perceived across the nation (as red necks, hilly billys, ignorant, etc.) However, when you get down here, Southerners themselves are PROUD of being red necks???? They will tell you that! Another fact is, the present day South was rebuilt by every other area of the country. So for Southerners to say 'Yankee go home,' or 'Go back to Ohio,' is silly. If that happened across the board, that would mean that thousands of fortune 500 businesses such as Micro Soft, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, United Parcel, Federal Express, and others would go back too. The South cannot stand alone, and Southerners know it. Still, they have a deeply rooted hatred for Ohio, New York, California, and anywhere other than the South. It's sad, it makes life difficult here, but as far as the statement 'Go back to Ohio,' goes. I will answer it this way..."I'm an American, and I'll damn well go where I damn well please!"

Born in Ohio 8 months ago

I don't blame then for wanting us to go back home. I met far more ignorant men and women in Ohio than anywhere I have ever lived. Also adultery is the norm.....

West by God "Virginia" 6 months ago

I too have wondered why I see so many beady eyed, inbred, Bob Evans worshiping, butteyes coming through my beautiful state. How is it that Ohians found this website? Is it they too search for why Ohio sucks so badly,or why are there so many of this idiots driving through my state, or... you get it. There here, defending there beloved state. Then stay home! I see you on I 77, used to drive in Western Maryland and see you on I 68, everywhere you go. Beady eyed butteyes. What is that other than a worthless nut? Stay home. I too hate you for being Ohian. Ignorant self imposed educated. That is it. My ex wife was from Ohio. Catholic idiot. I saw one post saying that the women, or his was a succubus. True story. You see they do anything to leave there state. It is just that boring. No mountains, no beach, nothing. Most, when asked about what to do for fun, offer up looking at wet dream of a bridge. The "Y" bridge, Zanes Yuckapuck Ville, Ohio. Keep you butteys, your vest, etc. Birthplace of aviation. Even the Wright Bros got the hell out. It's that simple. West Viginia just built the world's largest zoo...... it fenced in Ohio.

West by God "Virgina" 6 months ago

Sorry "their". Before Ohio may believe they are smarter than WVians. Also the cheerleader is hot, good call for picking that out. She's from Kentucky.

Bobby Joe 5 months ago

Hate is a strong word, so let's rephrase to Southerners don't like ohioans, but they don't like any northerners or outsiders from anywhere, but tolerate other southern states. 10-4 good buddy?

Thomas Coburn 3 months ago

It is really funny how a northerner will wonder why the South hates them and then proceed to call them every name in the book!

herbie 2 months ago

no one ones any state. GOD DOES. Why are all the fast food restaurants in SC dirty. It's like going to a fast food in the inner city. GROSS! Our fast food restaurants are clean.

john 3 weeks ago

if you don't like it, move back. why would you leave a place you feel is so superior?

Ohio Nicholas 3 weeks ago

I can't speak for some of the previous comments made in here, but what I can say is that there is no reason to hate people from Ohio. I will be the very first person to admit that Ohio State Football fans can be arrogant and boisterous, but I think you can say that about many, many football programs, especially ones that have perennial success, and especially ones in the south too(though not necessarily in South Carolina). I'm not saying that people shouldn't be respectful, I'm just saying you have to expect that some people are going to be jerks at big schools with big football programs.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that Ohio is very diverse place. That may sound a little silly at first, but its true. Ohio is a confluence between the Midwest, the South, and the East. Aside from that, there are sub-regions like Appalachia, the Rust belt, and Great Lakes culture all in different parts. Cleveland is like a different planet compared to Ironton Ohio (which is more like the south), or Marietta Ohio, which is more like West Virginia. We even have a shit load of Amish people. My point is that there are many different influences, and I think if you ever went there you would find that you actually had a lot in common with at least some of them.

If Ohio people in South Carolina are giving us a bad name then that is a real shame, but try to keep an open mind, theres a lot of great people in Ohio, some of the most hard working and profoundly decent I have ever met. I've been to South Carolina and thought it was cool. Not sure I'd ever move there, but take the generous population of Ohioans as a compliment, they like the place!

I see so much Ohio 13 days ago

It isn't just SC its Texas too, we can't stand people from Ohio, you all have this attitude of everything is better there... to me from what I see, it is all trash.

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