Ethnic Intolerance in Modern America

[Speck Tater]

Ethnic: (ADJ) Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage. (N) A member of a particular ethnic group, especially one who maintains the language or customs of the group.

To ridicule a member of any ethnic group is not only in poor taste, but is morally wrong. Yet every society has a one or two ethnic groups which it feels justified in condemning. In Hitler's Germany it was the Jews and the Gypsies with their "alien" beliefs, cultural ways and distinctive language habits. In the "wild west" it was the "Injun" or the "Chinee" who came to America to labor on the railroads. The Irish in New York and the African American everywhere in the first half of the twentieth century also endured open ridicule and condemnation, accompanied by ethnic slurs and denigrating epithets like the infamous "N-word" that we would no longer even dream of uttering.

In this more enlightened age we have come to realize that ethnicity is not just a misguided lifestyle choice made by the mentally or morally impaired, but the very natural result of growing up in, and being immersed in a rich and complex cultural heritage that both supports, and is supported by the community of ethnics. We no longer poke fun at the way they speak or the style of their ethnic costumes. We no longer condemn them for their religious beliefs or their ethnic music and dance. We've come a long way.

Yet even in this enlightened time there are still those ethnic groups which we feel free to openly ridicule and condemn. Epithets directed at them still come to readily to our lips. Condemnation of their manner of speech, their dress, and their cultural ways is not only permissible, but encouraged. We still feel free to treat them as if their mannerisms are the result of faulty lifestyle choices made by the mentally or morally deficient. Yet if we took the time to learn about and understand their rich cultural heritage would we still feel so free to openly condemn them? If we lived among them for a time, and got to know them as people; if we shared their cultural activities with them; if we danced their dances, and sang their songs; if we sat with them in their homes as they played with their children, or went with them to their religious services as they worshipped their God; if we shared in their humanity, could we still think of them as something less than human?

As you have probably surmised by now, I'm speaking of the plight of the American Rustic. Beset by slurs like "redneck" and "hayseed", suffering the constant criticism of his culture and religion by outsiders, he has become a second class citizen fit for nothing more than fodder for cruel jokes. This kind of ethnic intolerance should not be condoned in America. Seek out the American Rustics in your area. Share in their lives for a time. Come to understand just how deep and rich their cultural heritage is. Dance their dances, drink their beer, laugh with them as they watch Larry the Cable Guy, share their thrills at NASCAR or the Rodeo. Then see if it is still so easy to dismiss them as something less than human.

[readmoreoften]

1. Rednecks aren't an ethnicity. They are white people who subscribe

to a type of fashion. That's like saying that we shouldn't ridicule yuppies or hippies or suburban club kids.

[Speck Tater]

4. I beg to differ

Born and raised in the culture, they are immersed in it their entire life. Their community supports and sustains it. It is no more a lifestyle choice than being gay is a lifestyle choice. And yet the right uses the "subscribe to a type of fashion" argument to describe gays. We don't buy into that argument applied to gays, why would the same faulty argument be acceptable when applied to the American Rustic?

[readmoreoften]

12. You can't compare rednecks and homosexuality. Complete strawman.

Homosexuality is not a culture. It is ingrained.

[Raydawg1234]

9. you're very right

[IntiRaymi]

10. I beg to differ.

I am hispanic, and have spent much time mimetized in redneck culture (military). It is a culture, and it has it's own cuisine, way of speaking, values, etc.
They are the salt of the earth.

[readmoreoften]

13. I said they are not an ETHNICITY. I didn't say they are not a CULTURE.

And I have nothing against rednecks. My girlfriend is a gay, Native American redneck.

[Speck Tater]

17. Ethnic defined...

Ethnic: (ADJ) Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.

[readmoreoften]

19. So yuppies are an ethnicity too. So are some people ethnically hippie?

Newsflash. Not all "rednecks" are brought up "redneck". My girlfriend is a redneck and she was raised in the city and then joined the rodeo. It is not passed on from parent to child anymore than yuppie or hippie is. It is a LIFESTYLE.

[sgxnk]

27. speaking of hispanic - the REAL meaning

hispanic is also cultural, NOT racial

it is "ingrained' like all cultures, but it is not genetic - like race

(please spare me the deconstructionist race is a social construct cr*p for now, thanks)

hispanic means- coming from a spanish speaking culture

you can be white hispanic. you can be black hispanic. you can be asian hispanic

race is irrelevant

this is one of the most common misconceptions. most people use hispanic interchangeably with central american peoples (mostly mexicans in our country) who happen to be "people of color" in that they are mixed race - the native peoples of central america, mixed with the white spanish conquerors

mexico is actually a somewhat racist society in terms of attitudes towards ligter and darker sgkin mexicans, as anybody who has spent any time there. this is seen in advertising, etc. anybody who has spent any significant time in mexico realizes this. the more native peoples tend to have darker skin, much lower average income, and are rarely seen in advertisements pictures for expensive condos, etc.

anyways, hispanic is not a race designation. and it is just as cultural as "redneck" is

it means having a common culture as a spanish speaking person

[LARED]

2. I hope that was satire (n/t)

[Speck Tater]

5. Absolutely not. (nt)

[annabanana]

3. "American Rustic" is not an inborn ethnicity..

Any evil we ascribe to the "type" can be completely ameliorated by education. You cannot "ungay" someone, nor "unblack" them, anymore than you can make a squirrel into a bird by gluing wings on it's back.

[Speck Tater]

7. Why that's not correct...

A person with pure Irish genetics born and raised in a Galic-speaking village can describe his culture as "ethnic". But a person with pure Irish genetics sent at birth to be raised by Gypsies in Romania can also describe his culture as "ethnic". Ethnic is not genetic, it is the culture you were born and raised in. Are you saying that education can get someone to stop liking beer and listening to country music? Are you saying that line dancing can be "completely ameliorated by education"? Can you honestly propose that a person can be educated out of enjoying NASCAR, or holding his culturally inherited religious beliefs?

I suppose someone raised since birth in an ethnic community, regardless of his genetics, can be educated into abandoning those cultural roots? You cannot "un-gay" someone, nor can your strip them of their life-long cultural heritage without doing violence to their personhood. Even labeling that "brainwashing" as "education to ameliorate" their "unfortunate moral depravity" does not make it right. Either we respect a person's life-long cultural heritage or we do not. If we do not, then we should have the courage to admit our own bigotry.

[readmoreoften]

15. Oh but what about the poor downtrodden yuppie!

Can they be taken to a barnraising and suddenly cured of their desires for mocha java lattes??? Can they learn to become more "homespun" and embrace Walmart clothes over the J.Crew catalogue. How we ridicule them as bloodless and sexless! Certainly a portion of their behavior stems from their stony New England heritage. We should not be bigots against their ethnicity!

What? You say that there are yuppies in Texas? Yeah, well there are rednecks in New Jersey too.

Give me a break.

[notadmblnd]

6. I'd love to.....

but the Red, White and Blue brand beer gives me the screaming shits.

[Sinti]

8. Is this a joke?

The "American Rustic" would literally kill me (and at least 2 have tried), given the opportunity. They won't serve me food in their public restaurants, even though I'm happy to pay for it (truth is the gadjo food usually makes me sick). They assume I'm a thief, and watch me closely when they "allow" me to buy products in their stores, though I work for every dollar I get just as they do, and wouldn't steal from them if they left me alone to watch their store for weeks.

The "American Rustic" seems to think that women of my familial heritage are no better than blow-up dolls, in terms of sexual usage - if they belittle themselves to use it, it's their right.

The "American Rustic" (technically doesn't have to be Rustic can appear quite cosmopolitan) will fire me if he finds out my familial heritage, or at least make my life so miserable that I feel compelled to find other employment. I look a lot like him/her if I stay out of the sun, so they can't always tell.

Furthermore, the American and European anti-discrimination laws do not protect me whatsoever...

Poor American Rustic, so misunderstood.

[IntiRaymi]

11. What do you have to say about Bluegrass music?

[Sinti]

14. Not generally my cup of tea - some of it's okay :) n/t

[readmoreoften]

16. I listen to Bluegrass during Sunday Brunch in NYC

with my big butch redneck, ex-rodeo queen Texan girlfriend. And I'm a yankee who has no problem throwing down and kicking ass.

[virginia mountainman]

18. Thank You..

As a southern born male, who PLAYS Bluegrass music..

Nothing riles me MORE than to hear the urban elitism of many people, and what hurts worse is when it is from within our on party, A party founded on tolerance.. IT has drove many fine people straight away from our party.

Honestly, Would you vote for someone who looks down on you??

[readmoreoften]

21. Stop being prejudiced against URBAN ETHNICS (according to the OP)

All I ever hear about is how we are "cold" and "detached" and "bloodless intellectuals". It cuts both ways.

[Speck Tater]

22. "They do it to us, so we have the right to do it right back"

Hmmmm. Let's see how well that's working in Palestine.

[readmoreoften]

24. I'm not "doing it" to anyone. I'm making a point.

Rednecks make fun of citified folk as much as citified folk make fun of rednecks. So when any of these groups start crying about it, I just refer them to their own group's xenophobia.

[Speck Tater]

20. The bottom line is, do we alientate them and make enemies of them...

or do we embrace diversity and make them our allies?

Do we win their hearts and minds by ridicule? Has disrespect for cultural traditions worked in the Middle East? Will it work in the deep south? Will we ever learn to embrace diversity, or will we just pay lip service to tolerance while poking fun at other cultures?

[readmoreoften]

23. Embracing diversity is one thing.

Calling a culture or a lifestyle an ethnicity is another. You can choose to live your life as a redneck or a yuppie or a hippie. You can't choose to live your life as Latino or Azerbajani.

Group stereotype is as common as a breath and it cuts in all directions. There are plenty of redneck democrats and I've hardly seen them dissed at DU. I seriously doubt anyone has a problem with country folk and bluegrass singers. But when you justify LARRY THE CABLE GUY (who's a parody anyway)'s racism, homophobia, and xenophobia as rooted in some "ethnicity" then, yeah, I'm going to criticize it.

[xchrom]

29. woops -- there it is...

it's the imagined war on christians -- except it's dressed as the ''american rustic''.

most people if not 100% are FOR all the kinds of liberal/progressive policies that would benefit the very folk we're suppsed to be dissing.

i wonder why?

my entire family with very few exceptions is the crew the op is describing -- and trust me -- we want nothing, nothing to do with each other.

and not because i ''dis'' their fuckin culture -- but i do dis their phony offense -- that bullshit ''values'' lecture and pretend oppression they suppsedly feel from people like me.

[readmoreoften]

31. Yes, I've been to enough gay rodeo bars to know that

country culture does not mean homophobic and racist. So I don't need to give rednecks a pass when they spew bullshit as part of their "heritage".

[hedgehog]

25. One problem is that "redneck" or "hayseed" is fast becoming

code for "lower class white person of undetermined genetic background". Even that wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that so often the implication is that if the redneck is poor, it's the redneck's fault. For example, this country doesn't provide decent dental care for those without money, yet I have heard more than one rude comment about "redneck" girls missing their teeth. Somehow missing teeth is a result of redneck culture, not a society that doesn't take care of all its children. You absolutely need a car to survive in this country, but the redneck who keeps one up on blocks to provide spare parts for the used car that is running is somehow guilty of the crime of not having a perfect suburban lawn.


Sure, a certain number of rednecks make their own problems by drinking and/or getting pregnant while still a teenager. I know some people who've done that. I've also known kids from the burbs with the same problems who somehow land on their feet because their family has the money to bail them out.

Redneck, hayseed, trailer trash, hillbilly, white trash are all words used too often to demean poor whites so we don't have to address their poverty.

[IntiRaymi]

26. Precisely.

The urban elitism is what is going to kill us, and is killing us.
There has to be a big tent, a large umbrella, etc, etc. Otherwise, it's a party by the elite, for the elite, and nothing else. Take the time to interact, to talk, and to relate, and you'll be quite illuminated concerning people whom you think as being 1 dimensional.

[hedgehog]

28. Speaking of viewing people as one dimensional

I live in a city full of "rednecks". Twenty years ago there were no African-Americans and no Latinos here. Now there are many. Ostensibly, rednecks are prejudiced and full of hatred. In reality, I see a lot of mixed race couples around all the time. My son used to have a riff about the situation. He rightfully pointed out that the real segregation here is that between rich and poor.

[readmoreoften]

30. Show me examples of such unchecked "urban elitism" in the Dem party.

Please. I'd love to see it. All I see is pandering towards these supposed "country values", "family values", and "christian values". No one is forcing people to the opera or claiming that if they don't buy designer clothes and attend gallery openings that they have no place in our party.

Half of DU's membership is non-urban as far as I can tell. This "urban latte liberal" nonsense is a myth perpetuated by Republicans and repeated on DU. Garth Brooks (not Toby Keith), Bluegrass Music, and Pick Up Trucks (not Hummers) are hardly ridiculed here. But "Christian Country Values" that exclude gay folks and people of color are.

(And by the way, not all Christian Country Values exclude gay folks or POC.)

[xchrom]

33. i want verifiable proof of the elitism.

if you are a liberal democrat then you already know -- that policies the party represents are for the very people who say are being kicked around.

why would a party want to do that?

i think you should read ''what's the matter with kansas?''-- and ask some different questions.

the dems are practising no such conflict that i know of -- ted kennedy is most certainly a friend of the people -- same with tom harkin -- or barbara boxer.

rednecks don't like these people of their OWN accord -- nothing these ''elites'' have done.

[SoCalDem]

32. "We're scared of you, you don't look like us,

you don;t talk like us, and you smell funny..and oh yeh..you have too many kids.."

That pretty much sums up how lots of people feel about "newcomers"..

Society dictates that they shield their 'true feelings' in public, but as soon as something happens, it all comes pouring out..not in those exact words, but the meaning is the same..:(

We claim to be tolerant, but deep down, many of us are the opposite of tolerant..

We want the cheap labor, and we want someone else to pick up the dog poop, wipe the asses of old people in nursing homes, do our dishes, wash our cars, cook our food...but how DARE those people even try to have a "life"..a life with kids, houses/apartments, schools for the kids, doctors visits when they get sick...

Oh My!

If those things "happened" to "those people"...well they would be just like us...

back to the drawing board