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human
CMV: Americans act in a discriminatory manner toward people who have American Southern accents

I'm from the UK originally, and have lived in a few countries. I currently live in New York.

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The only real form of discrimination that I see on a consistent basis IRL is discrimination toward southern accents. Women openly admit they'd never date a man with that accent, they consider them all idiots, racist etc. People openly admit they consider individuals who have this accent to be less intelligent, less progressive and essentially just a worse human being. 

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The reason for making this post is after meeting and becoming friends with a group of southerners. They all stated that they had to put on an accent for their interviews, and that not doing so almost always ended with them not receiving a job offer etc. They also all consistently fake their accent at work, to avoid snide comments and eventual perception of them that follows (idiots, racist etc). As it comes to internships, the people at their schools that did not have southern accents tended to receive the internships at more prestigious, northern banks. Whereas they were relegated to mostly southern banks.They also state that women tend to become disinterested after hearing their accents. I did not speak to any woman from the south, so I apologise for not having that viewpoint.

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I obviously don't think that this is a huge problem, or at all comparable to more serious forms of discrimination. But it is a constant, open and accepted form of discrimination vs. people for a factor they can't change - their accent. I should also state that Canadians are also quite guilty of this perception too, at least from the people I've met in NYC.

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Anyway, I would love to hear some reasoning for this, and maybe to understand the reasoning more. Thank you!
gpt
I have lived in a lot of different parts of the US, and at the very least find your view to be somewhat exaggerated. There are certainly hillbilly type stereotypes about Southeastern Americans, but there is also no lack of successful southerners in all walks of life, and in NYC. Two of the last 4 presidents had southern accents, one from each party. It’s also true that in the south there is some discriminatory talk about “Yankees” and northern accents, but for the most part it’s minor and non-existent in professional settings.