the word "redneck"

If not, why not? Because it's difficult to immediately identify who is allowed to use the term in self-reference or when talking to another person of the same credentials in a non-insulting, inclusive fashion, vice people who should shut their fucking mouth (see the "n-word" for a sort of counterexample).

"Redneck" is not just about an attitude or political stance, it's also got class/race connotations, hasn't it? I would say it is completely about class/race connotations, much like "white trash," it has very, very little to do with any kind of political mindset or attitude, any moreso than, again, the "n-word"

It's basically a denigrating term for white, non-urban working class people isn't it? You mean those stupid sharecroppers and indentured servants who never could figure out how to get out of debt and end up having long familial traditions of enlisted military service? Yeah, them. They can go fuck themselves. They're white, after all.

It comes down to the difference between ascribing a generalised group stereotype on people based on what they think as opposed to who they are. The former is fair game in my book.

For example, only about three people who post regularly to this board have the credentials to say "nigger" and not get shouted down. But if you want to talk about white trash or rednecks, that's fine, because hey, they're white like us.

Then you all wonder why the fuck people living in the heartland/southeast, shopping at Wal-Mart because the Nissan plant pays about $23K a year feel and act persecuted even though "their party" controls all three branches of the federal government right now - massive, massive, massive cultural disconnect, exploited at will by the likes of Rove.

If I was called a redneck by a coworker without them also being a self-acknowledged person of less-than-stellar flyover country roots then I would probably think about filing an HR complaint.

ILX usage is a really extroadinarily poor way to judge a term's relative offensiveness IRL.

you're never going to call a wealthy, patrician suit-wearing capitalist a "redneck" are you, no matter what he thinks.

Oh, Hi, fucking welcome to Earth, My name is Tom

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,380,000 for george bush redneck. (0.18 seconds)

-- Dave B (dave.boyl...), December 15th, 2005.

hmm, so if we stereotyped the white british working class's mindset, and gave it a name like 'chav', that'd be fair game?

"trailer trash" is a word rednecks use to talk shit about other rednecks.

And yes, I'm American. But only because I can't find any women with EU passports to marry me.

Point taken.. My opinion on what Redneck means to me.

So racial slurs are OK as long as they're not aimed at a minority racial group? Because whatever it is, "redneck" is most definitely racial. You don't hear too many black guys being referred to as "rednecks".

Here in DC, I've several times heard the term "trailer-trash Ph.D.'s"--that is, biochemists, linguists etc. whose degrees are from, say, Arizona State. Just in case those folks thought they'd worked their way into the ruling class or something.

http://www.emsshirts.com/images/redneckfire.jpg

There's a bunch of this gear for sale at the mall in my hometown. Every single design has Confederate flags on it.

I disagree, I think there are rich rednecks, like some of my dad's golf buddies, certain Texas oilmen (cf Syriana)..

'The Apocalypse Is Upon Us'

"We're redneckin' now!" Linda bellows.

I guess we are. I didn't know redneck was a verb but if it is, it no doubt covers what we're doing now, which is sitting on top of an old school bus, drinking beer and moonshine whiskey, sucking those raspberries and watching race cars scream around a track. If this isn't rednecking, I can't imagine what would qualify.

yeah. my friend's dad is a self-identified redneck and also a ge executive.

this was my impression too.

I mean it's a cultural thing, uh, kind of the cracker version of keepin' it real, right, as opposed to being standoffish, uptight, snobby, fancy, thinking you're better than other people. I mean you might win the lottery or go to school and become a rich lawyer but you still hang out at the bar with your rowdy friends drinking Coors. But even though I worshiped Dale Earnhardt as a kid, I probably destroyed all my redneck cred by turning into a French speaking liberal who did time in the Ivy League.. d'oh.

Nah, there are plenty of rednecks in California. I think white trash and trailer trash are offensive but not redneck. Or rather the term redneck is purposely offensive to a certain type of person that deserves offense while white trash and trailer trash are casually, callously offensive in a classist way.

I'm pretty embarrassed at how long it took me to become normalized to the point where I could grasp this, actually.

whether you starve in the appalachians or you starve on a share you still starve. hillbillies = rednecks in all aspects but topography

I don't hate rednecks but I do hate certain things that might be identified with rednecks like guns, the republican party, a romantic view of the confederacy, anti-intellectualism, or ridiculously large trucks. If it's the word itself you find offensive then I can find a different label to use when describing that type of lifestyle.

xpost to the "gook" comment

I absolutely do not believe that and it's not at all what I have been arguing.

yep. My parents were pretty worried about me picking up the Appalachian accent & being mistaken for, uh, a hillbilly.

Another related phenomenon is the small town guy who can't stand the people around him, and aspires to move to a coastal city, and then after moving to the coastal city, aspires to be European.

JE NE COMPRENDS PAS CE QUE VOUS DITES

In New England, it means they suck.

This is exactly why America should be burned down and started over. Aren't liberals supposed to be the nice ones?

No, no, no, no.

REDNECK =
http://www.bandittransamclub.com/Snowman.jpg

HILLBILLIE =
http://members.cox.net/renpics/images/grz.jpg

Yeah, that's worked out well.

Yeah here's our problem: You think it means bigotry and republicanism, and I think it means where I come from.

Where did I mention the word bigot?

Gee, you think that means bigotry? I thought that was just "heritage" or as Tom says "it means where I come from."

In other words, "Heritage, Not Hate".

The most unconvincing catch-phrase of the past twenty-five years.

I guess because I think that it's an integrated part of the overall american culture rather than a separate foreign culture that I have no contact with. It's just a matter of degrees between a southerner saying he's allowed to reclaim the term because of where he was born and a northerner feeling free to use the term because he has been in contact with aspects of the culture his entire life. But then I'm sticking to the definition that "redneck" does not exclusively mean southern.

It don't. Doesn't.

On this thread you came out and just start egging on people who defined themselves as "redneck" or said they came from "rednecks" and now you're trying to get me to defend my feeling a bit riled up about it because your definition of the word "redneck" is a person who deserves to be made derided and patronized. That is why you're an asshole. SAVVY?

The fact that you don't want to acknowledge that is precisely what makes you lack the credibility to call people rednecks. And understanding those two levels is precisely what gives some people the credibility to say it. If you talk dismissively about rednecks as a culture-group, you're also talking dismissively about some people's roots and culture, in a really deep way -- you're coming close to ragging on their whole recent ancestry, and they're not going to like it. I'm not sure anyone should be talking shit about "rednecks" without understanding that.

If you need an analogy, consider that there are lots of southern black people who have a culture every bit as distinct, good and bad, as "rednecks." And my guess is you wouldn't just talk about them as a culture-group and rag on their culture -- or if you were going to, you'd go out of your way to be sensitive to the fact that it wasn't just banal pop-culture decisions you were talking about, but an actual Culture, one with a history that's heavily ingrained in people's identities. Not just how some people behave, or what they like, but also on some level who they are and where they come from.

But you were also saying that the term was offensive - meaning Southern working class.. So is it offensive to you that other people use it because it's lumping you in with the stereotypical redneck? Or because you see it as just a generally derisive term for southern working class? I'm just wondering how you reconcile people who use it affectionately versus people who use it as a cultural/classist epithet.

Or maybe I'm missing your POV completely...

I mean if I used a derogatory term, I would never expect to be able to explain to somebody I inadvertently (or purposefully, in walter's case) offended that "oh well I just meant this and this and this part of the word, those things I was thinking about when I said it don't apply to you, so don't be offended" so why is this still an argument?

I am certainly not the type of elitist liberal strawman who would call someone a redneck because they like Nascar or have a southern accent. I honestly didn't realize that there was a serious movement toward reclaiming the term redneck outside of a kind of humorous self-deprecating Jeff Foxworthy thing. I can see that there are certain people who are quite proud of their "redneck" traits in a way that I don't think has anything to do with the south or economic background (see the president) and I guess it's my problem that I kind of associate that with the "heritage not hate" crowd.

I understand that the word redneck refers to a certain segment of farming people but I don't think the current popular understanding of the word really bears much relation to that origin. Still I can see how someone from a farming background could be offended by the term no matter what the context and I'll think twice about my (very rare) use of the word in the future. I apologize for being an asshole on this thread and trollishly baiting you Tom.

wasn't sure if this should go on one of the race threads

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/may/13/it-politically-acceptable-deride-hillbillies-and-r/