Is it bad to be a redneck?

[CellarDweller]

You've got to be careful with stereotypes......after all, there are PLENTY for gay men.....we're effeminate, flighty, promiscuous, can't commit or have a real relationship, have AIDS, stalk children, try to convert straight guys, are superficial......I could go on.

It's always been my understanding that the origin of a 'redneck' is someone who worked manually outside, and the back of their necks got red in the sun.

honest hard work/making a living is not a bad thing, neither is living in a trailer park.

I work in a corporate setting, and I've seen bigotry, homophobia, sexism here, it's not just a redneck problem.

[Pix]

I mean like drinking, making silly riggins, living in trailer parks... You know, the stereotypes.

Stereotypes are much more varied than that and can get really extreme, from meth using to having rotted teeth to strumming guitars on the porch after a fine helping of fried chicken & sweet tea (followed by cheap beer). Some of the National Lampoon movies gives examples in various movies, like this where a suburban girl is meeting her redneck cousin (at least I think so, and it could certainly have been so if it's not):




Hmm, speaking of that stereotype/scene that many rednecks find offensive, I personally I think those rednecks from states that allow first cousins to marry (such as South Carolina) but have amendment their Constitutions to not recognize gay marriage (or even civil unions, such as South Carolina) DESERVE to be mocked for marrying their relatives (especially as they like to say allowing gays to marry will lead to first cousins to marry which is already legal in their state!).

Oh, more redneck stereotypes via "Cousin Eddie":

[nullnaught]

It disgusts me how the mentally ill can be depicted in cinema as if they are either mean spirited or stupid.

[Pix]

There are various types, some like to live up to stereotypes while others are offended by them. Some live in trailer parks while others don't and look down on those who do. It's ironically similar to inner city black culture with negative stereotypes that prevail and may even be embraced, intolerant Christianity is rampant (but don't think the big church goers aren't sinning in all sorts of ways, it's one reason they give so big in the collection plate or even to facilitate their bad behavior or ulterior motives), drugs (and excessive drinking of cheap beer) are a problem (not that everyone is on them and the choice of drugs tend to be different), education tends to be viewed with skepticism if not outright hostility, and the community can be divided into factions, though in rural Bible Belt regions it's more churches...yet some teens and young adults can actually attack members of other churches (but it's more likely to be a brawl over some football rivalry, or even attacking someone for accidentally wearing the "wrong colors" of the other team on a game day, which can include weapons).

Like most places, they have their good and bad but the scum tends to rise to the top.

I would say racism is pretty bad, though not all are racist. They'll usually say they're not even if they are, however, and may actually believe it because their racism tends to be more passive aggressive (like someone claiming they're not against gays at all, they just believe in civil unions over gay marriage and "don't want their children exposed to it") who would never burn a cross (just like most anti-gay Christians would never crash a funeral as Westboro does), and they may even be genuinely friendly to say a black janitor yet wouldn't have a black doctor and get upset over the idea of a black president. Oh, and it's okay for a white guy to have sex with a black girl (as long as it's "not serious") but white women who have sex with black guys face a lot of disapproval (and worse). And it's too bad that Sam Houston's anti-racist ways (and condemning slavery) are ignored, it's one of the reasons I admire him.

And there's a secret side that gets brushed off, too, like extremely offensive racist jokes I was raised with ("it's just a joke") or the passive aggressive racism promoted in schools like "celebrating Black History month" by saying Carver invented peanut butter ("not exactly the light bulb, heh") and making a class project so it's drilled into our brain without any actual research (that is, backhanded compliment to the black community), and if anyone complains they're just too sensitive. The history of the Civil War was taught in a way that subtly promoted the South and even racist ways (at the time I was more angry over "Yankee carpetbaggers" than slavery), though not in such a way that camera crews could make it news. And that was classes with minorities, all-white classes were even more blatant, such as making fun of black accents to us to encourage us to use proper English (though I do think racism is dwindling more every generation). Or like how one of my friends was a Vietnamese girl adopted by white parents, and racists pretended not to have a problem with the girl but rather the whites who "abused the girl by not letting her be raised by her own people" with rationalizations that she won't ever be fully accepted by either side which completely ignores that's because they're racists (again, not everyone is racist and plenty accepted her fully, though I'd say a majority didn't).

That said, many can be very friendly and accommodating, especially if you're passing through. If you're in trouble many will skillfully and cheerfully help you out. While they might become unfriendly and even hostile to a local gay man they might be perfectly fine if one is just visiting (as long as they spend their money and get out soon). Many will wave at you and smile, and it may be sincere, though some will then talk trash about you behind your back (like the old woman who owned a drug store who called my Granny to say she saw me having sex with 2 boys when the 3 of us just walked together as our homes were in the same direction and they didn't even flirt with me).

Oh, and when a tattooed blasian (black and Far East Asian ancestry) from South Central LA drove me to visit family they accepted her for my sake at least (that doesn't mean they'd have been okay with her moving there), and they took us to my favorite restaurant (where my Confederate flag waving cousin treated her with full acceptance, even if that meant teasing her a bit), and when some rednecks at another table glared at the blasian sitting with us mostly blond rednecks my family closed ranks and circled the wagon around her with my cousin barking a harsh, challenging, "WHAT!?" The hostile rednecks looked away and it went back to normal. Now they only did that because she was with me, but I can't help but appreciate it and felt really good right then.

Perhaps the boredom is the worst...and the best. It leads to wild parties that many from the outside would not believe, even the dry counties (that is severe restrictions or outright prohibitions on selling alcohol which actually makes drunk drivers more numerous given how far people drive to find a liquor store and start drinking on the long drive back, and people thumb to the stores and back, too, which creates its own problems) can have big keg parties, and illegal drugs are plentiful. Interesting enough when I had a shroom flashback in class all the kids understood, only the teacher seemed baffled on why I was giggling so with my head buried on my desk.

And the sex...don't think just because they rant about immorality that they're not having it, if anything the constant rants keep it fresh on the mind (and some go to church just to hook up) so that it's just natural to think of it when they get bored...and it can get freaky (and wow, the porn I was exposed to there...). Actually, this is a PG-rated description of life in such a small town:




A more detailed version that could be entirely true would be NC-17/R/XXX.

The bad side is that the boredom can lead to unhealthy manifestations of drugs and sex (especially when ignorance is enforced as much as possible!), inspire stupid stunts (there was a "roller coaster lane" of thin, curving farm roads on hills that many kids--my cousin did it once with me in his truck--would race through that felt like a roller coaster which was a serious danger for other vehicles on the road and almost certain death if another truck was doing the same thing at the same time from the opposite direction), violence, and, of course, the most nasty gossip you can imagine...and worse than many would imagine. Maybe it was the last of the Satanic Panics but the most bizarre stories were passed about me in the 90s of taking part in satanic rituals filled with magic and blood sacrifices.

Again, there's a lot of good and bad, and as for stereotypes rednecks make them as much as they're made about them, some represent actual tendencies (not to be confused with universally true) while others have only a grain of truth or are outright absurd. Many of the good and bad things that can be said about them that I feel are justified (generally speaking, of course) is roughly the same as most other locations, demographics, and subcultures, all of whom have their good people, toxic people, well-connected power mongers feeling entitled (and often corrupt) rising to the top, prejudices about other people, etc, etc, can be found everywhere with the differences being more cosmetic (such as who is the target of bigotry, for example). When people condemn the Confederate flag for slavery I think the United States flag deserves at least just as much condemnation for a history of genocide against native peoples among many other evils I could list, including into the modern day (speaking of which the Cherokee joined with the Confederacy in part because of hostility against the Yankees for the Trail of Tears).

Offhand I can't think of any group of people I don't make allowances for in some way and though I do keep cultural tendencies in mind I do remember that ultimately each person is an individual who can vary greatly from the norm (and almost certainly will in minor ways).