Rednecks, Hillbillies, and White Trash

[beasley]

It's all scenes from the class struggle in the US. People tend to idenitify with the socio-economic class above them, rather than the one below them.

"One final question, and that beautiful non-materialistic lounge suite will be yours!
The struggle of class against class is a 'what' struggle? A 'what' struggle?"

[Islamorada Girl]

I've got my eye on you, Bease. Just watch yourself, bubba.

[Ballard Fremont Edmonds]

"One final question, and that beautiful non-materialistic lounge suite will be yours!
The struggle of class against class is a 'what' struggle? A 'what' struggle?"

A political struggle. Your final question is, who won the Cup Final in 1949?

[mere cog in the machine]

lemon curry?

[beasley]

"One final question, and that beautiful non-materialistic lounge suite will be yours!
The struggle of class against class is a 'what' struggle? A 'what' struggle?"

A political struggle. Your final question is, who won the Cup Final in 1949?

Erm, the workers' control of means of production? The struggle of the urban proletariat?

[Islamorada Girl]

It's Pluggers v. Ken Lay ['s ghost]. That's yer class struggle.


Didn't any of all you all have to read Charlie Marx in college?

[fluffytufts]

Um, back to the redneck comments:
The term has no solid definition, but I've always considered "redneck" to be synonymous with "willfully, intentionally ignorant," and thus pejorative. That's certainly how I use it. Others consider it merely descriptive of a lifestyle characterized by a fondness for monster trucks, NASCAR, Budweiser, twangy FM radio, guns, ridiculous political affiliations (if any), warped, 19th c. racial prejudices, pride in embarassing lost causes (Civil War, anyone?), and a tendency to consider those who aren't EXACTLY like them "queers and homos." In my experience - here in Richmond, where the fucking Civil War apparently rages on - it's more a state of mind (or lack thereof) than an identifiable socio-economic group. I know a lot of wealthy, supposedly educated Richmonders who live up to (or down to) the description. We all know neither of those things prevent redneck characteristics from coming to the fore (just consider George Bush, for god's sake). That being said, the way the first poster describes himself, he is not what most people would think of as a redneck. (Nor am I, thankfully - although my entire family easily qualifies. People who know them are convinced I'm adopted). Sadly, there is no shortage of redneck glorification: The mere fact that they made movies out of the Dukes of Hazard and The Beverly Hillbillys proves the rest of the populace's fascination with all things culturally backward. The popularity of so-called "blue collar" comedians - Larry the Cableguy, Jeff Foxworthy, et al - speaks for itself: American society has moved from merely wallowing in mediocrity to scraping the bottom of the gene-pool for entertainment.

In the end, it baffles and amazes me that there are people who readily - eagerly - identify with the word. It's like wearing a tee shirt that says, "Intellectually & Culturally Stunted and Proud of it." Geeze...


[the Soap Box is now free]

[Mooncity]

I tend to go with the second definition here. When I encounter something rednecky, I usually say that it's "a little too NASCAR" for me. Where I live it's pretty bad, too, vis a vis the redneck population. Being a "redneck" is, by the way, not the same thing as being "country". Being "country" has a cache of coolness (ideals, morals, patriotism, cowboys, and George Jones), whereas being a redneck is just being dumb/arrogant/ignorant. Like the local shout show host here who recently said he couldn't watch the Discovery Channel because they "might start talking about dinosaurs and stuff like that there, and then I'd get mad."

[lilybdcsa]

NASCAR is not necessarily redneck either. My husband's family are all NASCAR fans and not a redneck among them.

[beasley]

NASCAR is not necessarily redneck either. My husband's family are all NASCAR fans and not a redneck among them.

I agree with lily. But let me preface by saying I had always "thought" NASCAR was a redneck event until I actually went to a race in Daytona and found my prejudice to be totally unfounded. But I do understand where the NASCAR=redneck belief comes from: If something untrue is repeated often enough it tends to become believable. Late-night talkshow hosts and certain editorialists have linked the two for so long that no wonder the misconception is so prevalent. Of course, NASCAR is probably a bigger event in the South than in some other areas of the country but it has long since spread in popularity.

[Cornwhacker]

Skanky: People like you look down on white trash like me!

Rex: I don't look down on anybody! You are what you are, lady... and it has nothing to do with me!

[gnome de blog]

It would really be awesome if it turned out Skanky's no lady at all, but Troy's ex-cellmate from back in the joint.

[Adam-12]

NASCAR is not necessarily redneck either. My husband's family are all NASCAR fans and not a redneck among them.

I'm not sure why NASCAR is so associated with "rednecks." I guess the quick answer is because NASCAR was originally founded in the south, but people all over the country and world have raced cars since Gottlieb Daimler built a second horseless carriage. And after all, drag racing isn't really considered a "West Coast" thing even though the NHRA was founded in California. Organized racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway predates the founding of NASCAR by about 30 years, but Indy racing isn't considered a "Midwest" thing.

I don't understand the fascination with NASCAR anyway [not to turn this into a racing forum]. I'm not much into car racing, but I do have fond memories of going to real "stock car" races up at Jennerstown and found them to be fun. A "stock car" used to mean just that: a car that had few major modifications and was basically factory stock. These so-called stock cars of today are about as close to the showroom floor as Paris Hilton is to a real woman: might be nice and fancy, but not useful in real life.

[fluffytufts]

Well - maybe it depends on the area you live in, but the NASCAR = redneck assumption seems pretty solid - enough so that the main character in Talladega Nights is portrayed as one to the hilt. Of course I know it's satire, but as with all satires, there's plenty of truth in it. But I think it's best to say:

All rednecks are NASCAR fans, but not all NASCAR fans are rednecks.

Hey, Isla - does that count as an aphorism?

[Zorba the Geek]

I have to disagree with the first part of the statement, at least as it pertains to some of the locals. We live in an area of Maryland that can best be described as "the West Virginia of Maryland" (although we do live in "the hills," nobody uses the term "hillbillies"; many of the locals call themselves "ridgerunners"- 'nough said). Some of my neighbors can, indeed be described as "rednecks." (Not all, by any means- in fact, the majority are hard-working, church-going, plain-spoken people; many, if not most, from farm backgrounds, or skilled labor.) Some of the rednecks are also, not to put too fine a point on it, "white trash" (but not all of the rednecks are white trash, although all the white trash seem to be rednecks). They don't all salivate over NASCAR; I don't think many of them have enough money to have ever gone to a NASCAR event. One thing that they do have in common, though (other than racial prejudice and a suspicion of strangers, and a whole lot of intermarriage) is their love of, and skill with, hunting. Guns, not race cars, are the common thread running through the redneck culture, at least, up here- and not all the hunters are rednecks, either. Sorry I can't be more exact in my definitions, but, to paraphrase Felix Frankfurter, when it comes to "rednecks" and/or "white trash," we know them when we see them.