Southerners Smile More Than Other Americans.

I Think There's A Suspicion In The South Of People Putting On Airs. You See It In Most Successful Southern Politicians, But You Also See It In Someone Like Richard Petty, Who May Be A Multimillionaire Stock Car Driver, But He's Also Beloved Because He Has A Nice Self-deprecatory Way About Him.

We Could Say That People Who Eat Grits, Listen To Country Music, Follow Stock-car Racing, Support Corporal Punishment In The Schools, Hunt 'possum, Go To Baptist Churches And Prefer Bourbon To Scotch Are Likely To Be Southerners.

No One Would Stand For It [being The Fool In The Media] In A Minute If You Took Any Other Group -native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics, Women - But Somehow It's Okay To Do That With Hillbillies.

The Nature Of The South Is Changing Faster Than The Stereotypes Are. Much Of The South Now Looks Like San Jose. Is It Still Southern?

But I Still Do Believe That There Are Useful Things To Say About Elvis Presley, Including What His Own Ordinariness As A Poor Southerner Says About 20th-century Hero-making.