# Rednecks with screwed up priorities **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2001, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792 "2001-09-15T07:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/21 "2001-09-16T03:39:27Z")
Seriously, what is your problem **elmwood**? Suddenly after this tragedy in NYC and DC and Pennsylvania, everyone has to be “Super Patriotic” or they are brushing off the event as unimportant. You just stated: > [@](#): > > Yes, you have the right to display a symbol that represents the pride you have in your Southern heritage. And you have the right to display a symbol that represents the pride you have in your country. So shut the fuck up about rights if in the next sentence you are going to bitch about the fact that they have their priorities screwed up. > [@](#): > > What’s wrong - after the WTC bombing, these 'necks are STILL driving these rolling memorials to Dale Earnhardt. So? Who the fuck cares? I’m sure you wouldn’t be complaining if it were a memorial to Walter Payton, or a player from some other “real sport” “'necks” that need to change what they think is important. If they want to plaster a memorial to a prominent person in the racing industry instead of putting a big American flag on their car, who are you to say that it’s wrong? > [@](#): > > With the exception of some American flags along the town’s main street, it seems as if nobody gives two GPCs about the WTC/Pentagon disaster. It’s really too bad that not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve. Just because everyone in the country isn’t openly weeping in public over the crash, doesn’t mean that “nobody gives two GPCs about the WTC/Pentagon disaster”. I think that if you’re getting this riled up over the fact that someone has a Dale Earnhardt memorial on their car instead of a big, prominent American flag, you’re the one who needs to get your priorities straight. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/22 "2001-09-16T03:41:41Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m sure you wouldn’t be complaining if it were a memorial to Walter Payton, or a player from some other “real sport” “'necks” that need to change what they think is important. Rather, "I’m sure you wouldn’t be complaining if it were a memorial to Walter Payton, or a player from some other “real sport” **, but instead it’s the** “'necks” that need to change what they think is important. " ---
**Author:** ![EagleEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@EagleEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EagleEye)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/23 "2001-09-16T04:10:58Z")
To a lot it’s a compliment. How could it be racist? Alan Jackson has a new hit “It’s All Right to be a Redneck”. If it was too racist, that song wouldn’t have made it too far. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/24 "2001-09-16T05:18:42Z")
Bwahahahahhahahah! There’s also a band called NWA. So I guess it’s now okay for everyone to go around spewing that particular word referred to in the band’s name around? Didn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/25 "2001-09-16T08:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Monty \* > **Pez: Since the word “white” is placed in there. The expression you used, as is the expression "cra** _r," are terms of bigotry. \*\* Hey man, sometimes the fucking shoe fits. I have lived in the north, I have family from the south, I am from the southwest. I’ve met great people from the south, New York state is full of fucking rednecks and white trash and the southwest has some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, but an overwhelming pervasive attitude that leads to white trash and redneckism. As I said in another post, you don’t have to be from the backwoods to be a hick. And you are right, these terms do imply that the person is white, but I don’t know, I’ve seen some black, and hispanic rednecks down here in the great state of New Mexico. I just use it to describe a very ignorant type of person. Am I being judgemental? Sure, I’m not Jesus and sometimes I just don’t give a fuck what he would do in my place. Judgements protect us, pure and simple, when talking politics as we are now, labelling someone as a redneck is more or less saying “What a fucking ignorant moron (most likely white)”, and so the fuck what? Fuck political correctness to that level, fuck it all to hell, I don’t give a fuck if someone takes offense to the term redneck, if they are a redneck I’m gonna call em a redneck. I got called a redneck the other day and I have long hair, wear baggy pants baggy T-shirts and listen to electronic music, I didn’t take a whole lot of offense at that. (as an aside he threw a whiskey bottle at me, and I did take offense at that and almost lived up to the redneck name by throwing it back at him a whole lot harder;) So fuck it, redneck fits, sometimes I’m a redneck because if my wife hadn’t stopped me I probably would have gotten into a fight that just purely wasn’t necessary. Redneck is a very descriptive term with a lot of emotion attached and I like to use it. Ignore my rant if you feel you need to. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/26 "2001-09-16T15:06:30Z")
\*\* Elmwood\*\*, I apologize. I truly didn’t realize that the anonymous activities were only outed after his death. I know, duh…but still there are people out there who think that they can pose as humble, and are not. I apologize for impugning his memory by saying that he had done those things out of anything other than selflessness. I’m sure his motivations were indeed beautiful. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/27 "2001-09-16T15:44:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > \*\*Ignore my rant if you feel you need to. > \*\* No problem. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/28 "2001-09-17T22:18:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > New York state is full of fucking rednecks and white trash \*\* Oh yes. Preach it. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/29 "2001-09-17T22:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > New York state is full of fucking rednecks and white trash \*\* Oh yes. Preach it. But… would it be ok if they had the flag _and_ a 3 sticker? ---
**Author:** ![TexasSpur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TexasSpur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexasSpur)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/30 "2001-09-17T22:34:01Z")
How in the world is “white trash” not racist? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/31 "2001-09-17T23:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elmwood \* > \*\* > The scene - Since the crash at Daytona some months ago, **perhaps the largest collective demonstration of grief towards the death Dale Earnhardt of any town in the United States**. Memorials can be found in car an truck windows, on residential garage doors, worn on t-shirts and caps, plastered on billboards, and so on. > > \*\* I just wrote a really long rant and then deleted it because fuck it, what’s the point. I would like to point out though (regarding the above statement) that you obviously haven’t been to my town. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/32 "2001-09-18T00:32:10Z")
My neck is as red as they come. I don’t mourn Earnhardt’s death anymore than all the other race fans. I don’t drive a pick up…at the moment its a Honda CRX if you must know. I share the pain of all Americans over the WTC and Pentagon tragedies. So please don’t go lumping me with the insensitive people you are referring to. ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/33 "2001-09-18T00:50:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Gene, what you plan is dangerously close to trolling. On 2nd thought, keep it up-maybe we can be rid of you once and for all. > > BTW, Caucasian is a misnomer-the Caucasus is a largely Muslim region, ironically, something that would upset our White Supremacists… \*\* Gene who? I wish I could find a link for this, but I seem to recall in some state (California?), many decades ago, there was a dispute as to whether new Armenian immigrants were legally “Caucasians”. I suppose the dispute was settled when some genius at the school board bothered to look up Armenia on a map. I know it may be an UL, but I swear I fell out of my chair when I read that in a book…somewhere I notice in the last few years there has been a move by some people (Jeff Foxworthy, Alan Jackson, etc.) to take the ‘sting’ out of redneck and make it a more cuddly term. But from this thread, I don’t think they have succeeded much. ---
**Author:** ![E72521](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@E72521](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E72521)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/34 "2001-09-18T00:58:13Z")
**Monty** : > [@](#): > > Pez: Since the word “white” is placed in there. The expression you used, as is the expression “cra\*\*\*r,” are terms of bigotry. **Elmwood** : > [@](#): > > There’s a difference between a “redneck” and “white trash,” and I’m sure it’s been discussed in other threads. BTW, in Florida, “cracker” means a Florida native, and they definitely DO NOT consider the term derogatory. Being a “cracker” in Florida is equivalent to being a Colorado native living in Denver, or an Arizona native in Phoenix; it’s a badge of honor, in a way. When applied to all Caucasians, of course, “cracker” is derogatory. _Cracker_ refers to the sound of a Florida cowboy’s whip. It is indeed a term of endearment among the horse riding, puckup driving populace in The Sunshine State. That is a fact. My WAG is that in other states, _cracker_ may refer to whip cracking slave owners. **Elmwood** is correct about Winter Garden. It’s a shithole. ---
**Author:** ![Lionors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c37758/32.png) [@Lionors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionors)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/35 "2001-09-18T05:28:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Cracker refers to the sound of a Florida cowboy’s whip. It is indeed a term of endearment among the horse riding, puckup driving populace in The Sunshine State. That is a fact. My WAG is that in other states, cracker may refer to whip cracking slave owners. This must be one of those terms that has a different slant depending on which region of the country you’re from – the few times I’ve heard it used from various Southern relations, it meant someone who wasn’t quite ‘trash’ but who was…well…not terribly genteel. (But neither side of my family hails from Florida, either, which could account for the difference in translation.) Trash is just plain shiftless; a cracker (and my assumption was that redneck roughly equated to that) may be very hard working indeed and the salt of the earth, just not someone you’d want to invite to your garden party. (Again, I’m translating from the context in which I’ve heard the term used – not my intent to sound like a roaring snob.) Reeder pretty much summed up what I wanted to say, though, and did it much better. Otherwise, Elmwood, I apologize for the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Kritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kritter)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/36 "2001-09-18T06:17:21Z")
ok guys and gals here is the explanation on why “redneck” is offensive to those of us in the south. First off I also believe it is an area sensitive term, when living in the northern part of our country, I noticed the term was used to refer to southern people in general. but in the south it is used to refer to the less than one percent of people that southern steriotypes are based on ie. the mouth breathing bottomfeeders that call their parents maw and paw. ``` oh, and it reallllly pisses the rest of us off ``` ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/37 "2001-09-18T18:22:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krotchkritter \* > \*\* ok guys and gals here is the explanation on why “redneck” is offensive to those of us in the south. > > First off I also believe it is an area sensitive term, when living in the northern part of our country, I noticed the term was used to refer to southern people in general. > but in the south it is used to refer to the less than one percent of people that southern steriotypes are based on ie. the mouth breathing bottomfeeders that call their parents maw and paw. > > ``` > oh, and it reallllly pisses the rest of us off ** > > ``` HAHAHAHA sorry you find offensive **Krotchkritter**. Now that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/38 "2001-09-18T18:56:30Z")
Come to think of it, if the term redneck is racist, why aren’t we southern folk all up in arms about Jeff Foxworthy, the video game redneck rampage, or the movie redeck zombies (actually this one is just offensive for SOOOOO many reasons)? I apologize if saying white trash is offensive. Here in the South, I have NEVER met a “redneck” upset about being refered to as a redneck. They are actually proud. ---
**Author:** ![EagleEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@EagleEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EagleEye)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/39 "2001-09-19T02:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pezpunk \* > \*\*…I have NEVER met a “redneck” upset about being refered to as a redneck. They are actually proud. \*\* Exactly as I had posted above. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792/40 "2001-09-19T02:53:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TubaDiva \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by GENE STONER \* > > \*\*Not only that, but I noticed how the moderators allowed the use of the racist term “redneck” to be posted. > > I’d just like to say that I will be testing the moderators in the next week or two, regarding which racist terms they allow, and which they disallow. \*\* > > I don’t think so. > > your humble TubaDiva > Administrator \*\* Tuba, you are a GODDESS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rednecks-with-screwed-up-priorities/81792.md?page=3)