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I'm a Redneck

Migrated topic.
Its funny how much the conceptualization of 'redneck' is dependent on location.
Growing up in a city of 3 million- 'redneck' was used to mean ignorant, backward, bigoted, possibly inbred country bumpkins. The only 'rednecks' people saw were on TV, usually as fictional characters or some lopsided jerry springer-esque trash. Tho after a few new movies 'came out', the term sometimes summoned visions of gay cowboys prancing in a field of flowers.

After leaving the big city and moving to the edge of rural districts suddenly redneck means a damn hard worker thats proud of getting his hands dirty if it means getting the job done, is smart enough to build or grow what most would buy, and wants to protect his family and dignity.
Talk about a difference.
And now, being on the edge of rural and in an expanding city, I'm watching all these old redneck homesteader couples die off and have their cherished 5 and 10 acre homesteads being sold by unsympathetic citified kids to developers for the building of over sized houses on postage stamp lots- a very symbol of degenerate culture to many hard working rednecks.

Its been rather surprising to me, a former city kid, that as the years pass I'm slowly evolving more toward something between a funkadelic psychonaut college science junkie, a redneck, and a homesteader hippie to the point that now I want a 5 acre homestead just outside of town.

So welcome aboard Spear. Good to have more diversity :)
 
Auxin^^^

The above is truth cautiously filtered through a keen observation. You show that the only ignorant trailer trash in the world are the ones who have no idea who these people are and how they really dispense their knowledge of the land with thoughtful conservation as opposed to people from the city who I have seen turn hank williams countryside estate near bald eagle cliff and after a humble business owner broke his arm and couldn't work the city moved in. rutting their beautiful land into the common suburban nightmare

Thank you for standing up for these people

Sincerely The jarl
 
I'm kinda a redneck too, but in this sense:

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Owning a derogatory term and turning it into a compliment is a good method to diffuse the negativity. Words are, after all, whatever we say they are... their meanings are so malleable that where I came of age, we used the word "bad" to mean good, and "sick" to mean incredible. Even the word incredible went through this reinvention... before my time somewhat, but incredible used to mean "not believable" and was primarily an insult. This witness is completely and utterly incredible etc.

I have personally watched as a number of negative terms got reclaimed... generally to good effect. I personally identify with such former derogatory terms as freak, hippie, geek, hoodlum, arrogant SOB... among many others. My close friends have adopted tons of terms that are better off now as well, like queer, cholo, pimp, nigga etc.

Many terms that are redeemed still don't sit right with me though, and even while a case could be made for my belonging to the group being described, it might just have too many negative connotations for me still, or I just don't like the way it sounds, or how it rolls off my tongue.

This is the way I feel about redneck. If defined the way some here are defining it, I would be a big time redneck. I love nature, am a roots person 110%, have survival skills, am a big fan of bluegrass and southern rock... I even love getting hammered around a campfire. But for me this is not the definition of a redneck.

It still is a term that has a racial component, as only white people get red necks from working in the sunshine. It implies that A) You are White B) That you are working class & C) That you tend to not like people who are not also both A & B.

I know that you don't have to be prejudiced to be a redneck... it is just that so many of the people who self-identify as rednecks are. I suppose it is no different than the lingering negative stereotype of hippies being dirty. You have lovely smelling, fresh washed hippies with immaculate hygiene... but still, the #1 prefix for hippie is still dirty. And, while I could say it is unfounded... if you have trouble plopping down in the dirt, wear clothes that need to be dry cleaned, and worry about ruining your manicure... you ain't a hippie.

Just saying. That's how i see it anyway. I am certainly not calling any of you rednecks racists. Y'all seem like a decent bunch of folks.

8)
 
Auxin said:
Its funny how much the conceptualization of 'redneck' is dependent on location.
Growing up in a city of 3 million- 'redneck' was used to mean ignorant, backward, bigoted, possibly inbred country bumpkins. The only 'rednecks' people saw were on TV, usually as fictional characters or some lopsided jerry springer-esque trash. Tho after a few new movies 'came out', the term sometimes summoned visions of gay cowboys prancing in a field of flowers.
After leaving the big city and moving to the edge of rural districts suddenly redneck means a damn hard worker thats proud of getting his hands dirty if it means getting the job done, is smart enough to build or grow what most would buy, and wants to protect his family and dignity.
Talk about a difference.
And now, being on the edge of rural and in an expanding city, I'm watching all these old redneck homesteader couples die off and have their cherished 5 and 10 acre homesteads being sold by unsympathetic citified kids to developers for the building of over sized houses on postage stamp lots- a very symbol of degenerate culture to many hard working rednecks.
Its been rather surprising to me, a former city kid, that as the years pass I'm slowly evolving more toward something between a funkadelic psychonaut college science junkie, a redneck, and a homesteader hippie to the point that now I want a 5 acre homestead just outside of town.
So welcome aboard Spear. Good to have more diversity :)
Click to expand...

Auxin I gotta say your post best described what I mean when I say I'm a redneck. And my heart goes out to those folk that end up selling their land. I'm lucky I live in an area where there's a lot of rednecks that got rich and won't ever have to sell their land. I thought I'd just throw this out there too. The rednecks around me got rich selling Myakka Gold, the most potent strain of weed in the USA at the time, according to High Times. Farmers started growing marijuana to make money. It was all organized by fellow named Donnie Clark. He was latter sent to jail and then President Bill Clinton pardoned him. It's a really crazy story and I hope somebody checks out this link because it should be made into a movie. Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Local News, Politics & Sports in Sarasota, FL
 
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