In his 1st book Michael Moore blamed Southern resurgence on...

[Green_Lantern]

Air conditioning. It made it so all these conservative Confederate sympathizing Northerners could relocate down South.

[Donnachaidh]

1. what?

ludicrous. Those northerners came here for JOBS.

[proudohioan]

2. Coming from Michael Moore, that makes perfect sense! nt

[DavidDvorkin]

3. That's a very old theory

Predates Michael Moore by decades.

Having spent a lot of time in the South, it makes sense to me. It's not just a matter of sympathetic Northerners moving there, it's also that AC made possible a general economic and population resurgence in the South.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. And it makes a lot of sense. After all, you can do business year-round

in the north - you adjust in winter by putting on more clothes.

But year round business in the south is damn near impossible without air conditioning. Come mid-day and you have to have a siesta, and there's a limit to how much clothing you can remove in public to stay comfortable.

[WilliamPitt]

4. He totally stole that from Gore Vidal

Vidal once noted the American Empire began when air conditioning was introduced to Washington DC. Before that, everyone in government would flee DC in the summer to escape the heat. Once the air conditioning went in, he said, they could stick around and cause trouble.

[kenfrequed]

5. Well...

Actually Moore was talking about representation of the deep south based on population there and how this was aided by the presence of AC.

Though I don't think it was in his first book... I think it was in "Stupid White People". "Downsize This!" was his first book