I don't know where you live. I moved to Lewis County almost two years ago and I have lived in many parts of the US as well. I will say this county is the most "unique" of them all.
This area is kind of in a time warp. There are area's that don't even have high speed internet, and cell phone coverage is not that great. There are homes that the nearest neighbor is miles away. There are Amish on the roads riding a horse and pulling a buggy, just like you would see a bicycle rider in a major city. The clothes most people wear are not the trendiest either. Most people around here aren't driving Lexus or some fancy expensive sports car, and if they are they usually are visiting, and not from around here. I would agree that the political climate in the "North County" is very republican, but if you look at the last election results, most of NY is. With the exception of Syracuse and NYC the rest of the state was republican. (I believe Nassau county on Long Island is also apart of that exception list) But to say that it is all racist in Lewis County is a bit naive.
The first time I saw a confederate flag I thought I made a mistake. How in this day could someone be so ignorant to wave that flag? Not to mention that I didn't want my kids around people so dumb that they wave that flag, much less support it's deeper racist stance. But I think they are the minority. I went to Stewarts and their was a man, probably in his 50's wearing a confederate flag hat and everyone was staring at him. It definitely wasn't something the other customers were comfortable with, and the hat wearer seemed to enjoy the stares and whispers he was getting.
Now I think they are to ignorant to even understand how offensive that flag really is, or it has just become a symbol of being a bad ass or rebel, just because. Kinda the I'm mad for no reason type of thing. Trust me when I say anyone wearing, waving, displaying that flag will NEVER invite me or my family over for dinner, I still hope that one day they will see the error in their beliefs.
As for the facebook posts, who are you friends with on FB that you see that kind of nonsense. I don't see that in any posts. I know they are out there, but that's true in any part of the country. Dumb people raise their kids in dumb ways. No surprise that the kids mirror their dumb parents, at least while they are still "kids" anyway.