BBC: "Why rednecks may rule the world"

[SallyMander]

During this US election cycle we are hearing a lot from the pundits and candidates about "heartland voters," and "white working class voters."

What they are talking about are rednecks. But in their political correctness, media types cannot bring themselves to utter the word "redneck." So I'll say it for them: redneck-redneck-redneck-redneck.

The fact is that we American rednecks embrace the term in a sort of proud defiance. To us, the term redneck indicates a culture we were born in and enjoy. So I find it very interesting that politically correct people have taken it upon themselves to protect us from what has come to be one of our own warm and light hearted terms for one another.

On the other hand, I can quite imagine their concern, given what's at stake in the upcoming election. We represent at least a third of all voters and no US president has ever been elected without our support.

Full article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7600000/7600592.stm

[Blue_Tires]

1. uh....no

[chiefofclarinet]

10. Sigh...

I'm a Midwesterner (precisely an Iowan), and I am NO redneck. Yes, I've been on several farms, live really close to cornfields, and never lived in a city larger than 85,000 people. But, I do not resemble a redneck! Rural, maybe. Redneck, hell no.

[youthere]

18. Aye-aye! RURAL Iowan here..

Not a hint of red to be found on my neck, thank you very much.

[jeff30997]

2. K&R

Interesting POV.

[SallyMander]

4. I thought so too!

First i thought it was satire... but i don't think it is. :scratches head:

[dgibby]

3. Who are these rednecks of whom you speak?

I, myself, am an Appalachian-American, and damn proud of it!:rofl: :hi:

[RollWithIt]

5. Disagree with the broad paint brush... but the last sentence was cool... nt

[mitchum]

6. Rednecks will never rule the world, but they have been driving the culture...

for quite awhile now.
And I am sick of it.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

7. This is a Joe Bageant piece

He's been writing in this vein for as long as I've been aware of him and that's more than three years. And he concludes this article with a profound expression of fear at the prospect.

[greenmutha]

8. Send the author this:

[csziggy]

9. Our Obama HQ handed out Redneck for Obama bumper stickers

People were grabbing them as fast as they could.

[myrna minx]

14. I'm K&R for this fantastic photo!

:kick:

[deadparrot]

11. Why they *may* rule the world?

Oh, you Brits. Sweet, innocent Brits.

[Grey]

12. From what my father told me 50 years ago

being a 'redneck' is not something any one would admit too.
Not to put too fine a point on it, "Someone so stupid they couldn't get a 'real job' and had to work in the fields
with the "ni@@ers". When you stooped to pick cotton you got sunburned, ie: a redneck.
I have explained this to several people that bragged of being 'Rednecked' and they have stopped
referring to themselves in that way. I hate the reference no matter what the context.
Jeff Foxworthy has it right when he says "You might be a redneck if........"

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Folk etymology, not where 'redneck' comes from

'Redneck' originates in 17th century Scots slang; the word referred to Presbyterian 'Covenanters', who rejected the Church of England and sought establishment of a Presbyterian Scottish Church; they wore red scarves as a symbol. Many of these same 'Redneck' Presbyterians, or their children, emigrated to Ulster (Northern Ireland), and thence to America. American 'Rednecks' are overwhelmingly of Ulster Scots (or Scots-Irish) ancestry; most are Baptist (note that the Baptists are an offshoot of Presbyterianism).

[dgibby]

17. Thank you!

As a Scot-Irish, Appalachian-American, redneck, back-sliding Presbyterian, I sincerely thank you for posting that information. Just wish more people realized what that term really means, not the bastardized popular version in use today!

My family (both sides) immigrated to America, settled in the North(my mother's side) and in the South(my father's side). The men from both sides fought in the Civil War (on both sides), WWI, WWII, Viet Nam, and I am a Viet Nam Era and Gulf War era vet. We are Presbyterian, Catholic, Unitarian, Methodist, agnostic, atheist. We farmed the land, paid our taxes, went to work on the railroads, the National Guard, the docks. Some of us went into teaching, medicine, social work, and community service.

Contrary to popular belief, "rednecks" are not monolithic. We are liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, libertarians, and independents. We do not all think alike. We do not all vote alike. Some of us are law-abiding, upstanding citizens. Some of us are not. In essence, we are no different than any other socio- ethnic group in America, and we deserve the same respect.

[Monk06]

13. In Canada we don't call it the heartland. We call it the sticks; the boonies or the toolies.

In other words places where a broken refrigerator
is considered a lawn ornament.

[barack the house]

16. I'm not worried however anyone labels themselves just as they vote in their onw best intrest. Not>

for the party that got us here, prefereably.

[Poseidan]

19. rednecks have been ruling the world

For 8 years now.

[Waiting For Everyman]

20. Where have they been? They have ruled since Reagan.

[riqster]

21. There's a Krispy Kreme in Harrod's.

Rednecks have ALREADY taken over. Krispy Kremes in Knightsbridge, that's proof right there.