I’m sure that’s true to an extent. I’m not saying your experience isn’t real. I grew up in the south though, and my family is from WV. I’ve heard a lot of racist shit, though it’s mostly from older people. I’m sure it’s all dependent on context though. There’s probably no reason for people to say racist stuff most of the time because there needs to be something happening to bring it up. If there’s no black people around, or whatever group, there’s no reason to say what your views are.

I do agree that rural places have a bad reputation. Worse than is deserved. Even if Republicans consistently win, there’s still a mix of viewpoints. Even within the party there are a fair number of different reasons they at least used to use as a reason to vote for them. They were the party of “fiscal responsibility” for example (though this was a lie, but it’s at least something they said).

The issue with rural places is that you rarely come into contact with people from other backgrounds. If you hold an opinion about a group there’s rarely a chance for it to be refuted. If you’re in a more urbanizwd area then you don’t have a choice but to interact with people who are unlike yourself. You then come to understand they’re very similar to you. This isn’t to say rural is bad, but it is insular.