Well, your flippant, "Fuck them, we tried a few times, so why bother. Let 'em rot. Maybe that'll teach them," has never, ever worked.

I don't think they should be left to their own devices, as that clearly will lead them down the wrong path once again. I was simply pointing out that a great deal of effort has already been put into improving the situation in one way or another because the person I was responding to phrased it as a hypothetical. It's not a hypothetical, a lot of effort, money, and time has been put into dealing with the South, much to the South's chagrin.

Half-assed efforts have never worked.

When it comes to the South, basically no efforts (regardless of how much ass they have) have ever worked. In fact, the people of the South have always been the main driving force turning full-assed efforts into half-assed efforts. Again, see: sabotaging reconstruction, implementing Jim Crowe laws, etc. That doesn't mean they need to be abandoned, or that we shouldn't do whatever we can to encourage positive change, but it also doesn't mean we should be that surprised if/when our efforts don't work yet again.

That disconnected disdain from afar where its easier to judge than to actually do any damn thing but sit there and raise hell about how terrible the place is.

Boohoo, the poor South, victim of disdain from afar, how I weep for thee. If you don't want to have to deal with my disdain, stop doing things that make me disdainful.

You think cutting off the South's allowance or having businesses avoid the place is going to help anything?

Yes to both, but I think that the first would be highly unethical. People in poverty need to have a strong social safety net available to them regardless of however strongly I may disagree with their opinions. That said, I'm also not willing to give up the useful tactic of boycotting simply because people are throwing a tantrum about it. Do I expect boycotts to change hearts and minds? Absolutely not. Do I expect boycotts to have an effect on the laws governing LGBT rights in those areas? 100%, and that's what I care about. Be as bigoted as you want in private and I'll mock you as much as I want in private, but when that nonsense is put into the law I'll use whatever tools of nonviolence I have to try to change it. I'll vote against you, march against you, boycott you, or whatever, and I don't care what impact it has on your life or your finances. Actually, I do care about the impact; I hope it hurts you worse than I had anticipated, and that you either remain stubborn and in pain or quickly change just to balance your checkbook again.

I openly and gladly admit that I have a political agenda, and I intend to reward people who advance my causes and punish those who go against my causes.

You called it respectability politics? It's not, it's about helping us actually fight back and turn the bigots into the minority.

Yeah, I don't even understand what this means. It's very clear what I was talking about in terms of respectability politics. Also, as mentioned above, I don't care about making bigots a minority. I care about having equal rights enshrined in the law and having that law enforced fairly.

But nah. If you're going to spend your time having the attitude of "Look at what we have done for you, you ingrates," keep your ass contently on the internet where it's out of the way of actual efforts to do stuff to make people's lives better.

I'm definitely crying super duper hard because of how you really put me in my place by telling me to stay on the internet on an internet forum (about an article that you posted...on the internet). Clearly my efforts should be focused more on writing crocodile tear articles about the poor widdle Souf.