Lots of reasons. I think it's partly no hope, but also a lot of cultural reasons. I'm brushing with a broad brush, but many NOrth Louisiana residents are active in their churches. Evangelical religion purports that our lives in the here and now might not be great, but as long as you live right and worship right, you'll be rewarded with paradise in the afterlife. So, for many, I think they believe things suck, but I'm going to heaven some day. Maybe others think that earthly life is supposed to suck. But the point here is that the here and now is, spiritually to many, not that important, so why change it? Why fret over it.
Given that most North Louisiana residents are very poor, this religious or spiritual component only goes so far, so they gamble, drink, and smoke, and they probably don't see their religion as being all against any of those behaviors. Why would God declare sinful certain behaviors that make the here and now bearable? Southerners compartmentalize their spiritual ideas when they brush up on the here and now.
Education is pitiful here. People of means send their kids to Christian academies that range from really good to pitifully bad. The public schools are sports factories, and as such people grow up placing high value on entertainment as the be-all end-all of existence.
I'm probably wrong, but that's my assessment after a year here.
