folio fails to respect

i have to say i was extremely disappointed with folio's most recent cover story "ten things i hear about you". i couldn't decide if i was more upset with the author, who splits his time between his hometown of chicago and "florida's first coast", for encouraging a terrible attitude and outlook on the city in which he resides, disrespecting all the things we jacksonvillians love, tossing them, and us, aside as ignorant, backwards, and overzealous over seemingly small qualities.

or, perhaps i was more upset with folio for publishing it. i am pretty sure it was meant to be humorous, but as a person who has lived in a place that views the south in a BACKWARDS and IGNORANT way, i found it offensive. i battled those rediculous stereotypes the entire time i lived in california. i never understood. people in the south don't sit around bashing the rest of the country. maybe that's why the rest of the country does. if we [the south] can't be bothered, then we must be stupid.

what's wrong with us being proud? and if you hate it so much, [insert author's name], then why don't you just leave instead of trying to bring us all down with you? perhaps they [author and magazine] thought by speaking to jacksonvillians, it made it okay to bash us. that way it's not insulting because, i don't know, we are "in the room", instead of talking about us behind our backs. it's not like he published it in chicago, after all, because that would be in poor humor.

i am not opposed to speaking your mind, even if it's negative. or especially if it's negative. but when it's pointless [the article made no real point beyond "jacksonville sucks"] and serves only to make everyone around you look stupid, then you're just an ignorant bully. go back to middle school, or go back to chicago. either way.