Are "Hillbilly" & "Redneck" Nation's Last Acceptable Stereotypes?

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12. It was quite the change, but being really young allows one to adapt easily.

Hawai'i resides on the fringes of memory, whereas Iowa is clearly recalled. One thing, though, that cannot be replaced or seemingly erased by time is the smell of the salt air - of the ocean. There is nothing quite like it. It is both unique in itself and unique as a personal piece of nostalgia.

You are correct - I believe - about the distinction between "redneck" and "hillbilly". "Redneck" if its true origin is in the labor struggles of miners has totally lost all connection with its history and has been completely subsumed and blurred by popular culture to be merely a descriptor ignorance and unrefined behavior. "Hillbilly" does seem to denote (as you mention - yes, you make perfect sense in this) a rank lower than "redneck". However, it also has a generally cartoonish character attached to it (that "redneck" does not) by way of "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Li'l Abner". In this, the term "hillbilly" seen from the outside has been separated from the original group of people to whom it referred.

As you stated:

It's my hope that by discussing the topic of class-based language on DU we can rethink just how freely we sprinkle our posts with insults that denigrate by class. The irony is that the easy use of these terms as insults seems in direct contradiction to how we as progressives and Democrats define ourselves. I don't understand how folks can claim to be a champion of the poor, the working class, the union worker with one breath and insult someone as a hillbilly or redneck with the next.

There seem to be certain terms that achieve such generality that they seem to be detached from any particular group even though they in reality are not. Xerox, Kleenex and Coke have achieved such generality as to no longer necessarily be specific in themselves. I can think of one racist example from my childhood. Kids at school (in Iowa) would say, "He gypped him." or some other variation of the use of the verb "to gyp". As children, I don't think that anyone knew any better. Only later in teenage years did I figure out that the verb was a racist reference to Gypsies. What a shocking realization that was!

An aside: Western Iowa in the early 80's was white like driven snow - at that time, most of it had absolutely zero diversity - literally, zero. Strangely enough (ok not really), it was and is very, very Republican. At any rate, it is important to point out the harmful, latent stereotypes, because no one can see them if they do not see the terms as more than mere generalized adjectives.

Yes, we can do better, but people need to recognize the problematic language, so you idea of pointing out these terms and trying to reclaim them is a necessary but really difficult task. Knowledge of the history of the terms and the history of the region might help wake people up, but it will take time since the relevant history is (in my experience) not covered in high school history of the USA.

And until we fully embrace that concept, even mindful of the language we use and why, we'll never truly appreciate how we progressives and Democrats have been manipulated to point an accusing finger at the already disenfranchised. Neat trick, that -- and it seems to have worked.

Here is an interesting review of some of the struggles of the labor movement in the US and of the book "Gun Thugs, Rednecks and Radicals: A Documentary History of the West Virginia Mine Wars". The blog entry is interesting and the book looks like it would be a fascinating and important read.

September 3, 2012
Money, Guns and Workers: The True Meaning of Labor Day
By Amy Corron Power

After six days of wine tasting and pairing in Portland and Carlton, Oregon, we headed on a walking tour of the city and landed at Powell’s City of Books. Since Joe and I are secretly book nerds (we used to go on dates in Houston’s West Alabama Bookstore) we spent about three hours there. It clearly was not enough time to see the whole thing — but with only one full day to discover the non-tourista part of Portland, we had to save time for beer.

Gun Thugs Rednecks and Radicals Book coverWandering through the Purple Room, I found “Gun Thugs, Rednecks and Radicals: A Documentary History of the West Virginia Mine Wars” edited by David Alan Corbin. Like me, Corbin grew up in West Virginia and attended Marshall University. He earned both his bachelors and Masters degrees there in history, and went on to earn a doctorate at the University of Maryland. Like me, Corbin failed to learn about West Virginia’s own “civil wars” and the history of West Virginia Coal miners in public school. Not because we were lazy, or didn’t pay attention. But because it was not taught.

Many of you have probably seen the movie, “Matewan” which details the May 19, 1920 Matewan Massacre. Here’s what the West Virginia Department of History and Culture website has to say about it…

“When the United Mine Workers (UMW) stepped up its campaign to organize Logan, Mingo, and McDowell counties, coal operators retaliated by hiring private detectives to quash all union activity. Miners who joined the UMW were fired and thrown out of their company-owned houses. Despite the risks, thousands defied the coal operators and joined the UMW. Tensions between the two sides exploded into violence on May 19, when 13 Baldwin-Felts detectives arrived in Matewan to evict union miners from houses owned by the Stone Mountain Coal Company.”

...

http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/14515#.U41bmig1D9s

P.S. I have enjoyed our conversation. You have made some excellent points. Thanks for bringing up the issue regarding the terms "hillbilly" and "redneck".