Post: #1

The thread about how the five happiest towns in the US are in Louisiana reminded me of the following unforgettable passage about rednecks from V. S. Naipaul's "A Turn in the South". Naipaul is an expat Indian writer and this was a book written by him about his travels in the Southern states in the very late 80s (1989). Somewhere in Mississippi he chances on a man named Campbell and asks him a question about rednecks. What follows is one of the best and f'ing sweetest things of any kind I've ever read:

Quote:And then I said, "Campbell, what do you understand by the word 'redneck'?"

And the man was transformed.

He said: "A redneck is a lower blue-collar construction worker who definitely doesn't like blacks. He likes to drink beer. He's going to wear cowboy boots; he is not necessarily going to have a cowboy hat. He is going to live in a trailer someplace out in Rankin County, and he is going to smoke about two and a half packs of cigarettes a day and drink about ten cans of beer at night, and he's going to be mad as hell if he doesn't have some cornbread and peas and fried okra and some fried pork chops to eat -- I've never seen one of those bitches yet who doesn't like fried pork chops. And he'll be late on his trailer payment.

"He's been raised that way. His father was just like him. And the son of a bitch loves country music. They love to hunt and fish. They go out all night to the Pearl River. They put out a trot line -- a long line running across the river, hooks on it every four or five feet. They bait them with damn old crawfish, and that line'll sink to the bottom, and they'll go to the bank and shit and drink all night long, and they'll get a big fire going. They'll check it two or three times in the night, to see if they're getting a catfish. It'll be good catfish. These redneck sons of bitches say that they'll rather have one of these river catfish than one of those pond catfish. They say it's got a better taste.

"You know, I like those rednecks. They're so laid back. They don't give a shit. They don't give a shit."

"Is that because they're descendants of pioneers?"

"There's no question about it. They're descendants of pioneers. They're satisfied to live in those mobile homes. I never knew how my father was so cultured. If you saw the place he came from -- he came from the most absolute, the most desolate place in the woods on the Mississippi-Alabama border. The rednecks have the pioneer attitude, all right. They don't want to go to the damn country club and play golf. They ain't got fifteen damn cents, and they're just tickled to death.

"They're Scotch-Irish in origin. A lot of them intermarried, interbred. I'm talking about the good old rednecks now. He's going to have an old eight-to-five job. But there's an upscale redneck, and he's going to want it cleaned up. Yard mowed, a little garden in the back. Old Mama, she's gonna wear designer jeans and they're gonna go to Shoney's to eat once every three weeks."

I had seen any number of those restaurants beside the highways, but had never gone into one. Were they like McDonald's?

Campbell said, "At Shoney's you'll get the gravy all over it. That's going to be a big deal. They'll love it. I know those sons of bitches.

"If he or she moves to North Jackson, he'd be upscale. He wouldn't be having that twang so much. But the good old fellow, he's just going to work six or eight months a year. He's going to tell his old lady, 'I'm going to work.' And he ain't going. If it rains, he ain't going to work -- shit, no. He's going to go to the crummiest dump he can find, and he's going to start drinking beer and shooting pool. When he gets home there'll be a little quarrel with his wife, and he'll be half drunk and eat a little cornbread and pass out, and that's the damn truth. And she'll understand, because she's so used to it.

"She doesn't drink. It'll normally be the redneck guys who drink -- whiskey or beer. She's got some little piddling job. She's probably the basis of the income. She's going to try to work every day. But he's always waiting for that big job at fifteen dollars an hour, which is never going to come around. One time he had a union job at twelve dollars an hour. And he think that's going to come back. He'll be waiting fifteen years for another twelve-dollar job. And he won't get it unless he gets off his ass and goes to Atlanta, Georgia or Nashville -- someplace that's hot. It's sure not hot around here. But he's so damn satisfied. The son of a bitch's so damn satisfied. When he gets the four-dollar job: 'No, I got something else to do.' I could give five guys a job today, minimum wage. Three-thirty-five an hour. But I wouldn't find five sons of bitches if I looked all damn day long. 'You want me to work for three-thirty-five?' 'No. Not going to work for no three-thirty-five son of a bitch.'

"So he's going to be making six dollars on an average, six to six and a half an hour. And just for six, eight months a year. You see, he doesn't want to work all day long. He's satisfied by getting by. They don't like to be told what to do. It's the independent spirit. It's the old pioneer attitude. 'I've got enough to eat, drink, and a little shelter. What more do I want?'

"Religion? They'll go to church when the wife beats the hell out of him. But he's not going to put on a coat or tie or anything. He won't do it. He'll kick her ass.

"They're not too sexual. They'd rather drink a bunch of old beer. And hang around with other males and go hunting, fishing. We're talking about the good old rednecks now. Not the upscale ones. They've got the dick still hard. That's damn true.

"The rednecks are about sixty to sixty five percent of the white population. I'm running the good old rednecks and the upscale rednecks and a whole bunch of lower-middle-class rednecks. They have the same old attitude as black people. Daddy is home a little more often. But they're tickled pink that they ain't got nothing. You wouldn't believe."

I asked about the dress and especially about the cowboy boots. Why were they so important?

"It's the image they have to project. They'll have an old baseball hat with the bill turned down just so. They won't have the cowboy hat. They want that particular redneck style. They want people to know that they don't give a damn. They want people to know: 'I'm a redneck and proud of it.'

"What you must put in, and make sure you do, is them sons of bitches love country-and-Western music. It's down-home music. It's crying music. Somebody got killed in a truck. Or a train ran over somebody. Or somebody ran away with somebody's wife.

"Presley is a redneck like you wouldn't believe. He's a double redneck. Some of the women here would whip your ass for saying it. I'm probably a redneck myself."

And when he said that, Campbell won me over.

Post: #2

Good quote. Naipaul has written some of my favorite pages.

He's from Trinidad of Indian blood.

Post: #3

Are the girls hotter down south?

Post: #4

They hunt and fish ...live off the land. You can save a lot of money that way.

Post: #5

Southern girls (who aren't rednecks) tend to put more effort into their appearance than other Americans so they look nice. They're also trained to sound sweet, with a voice like candy. I can never appreciate it very much though because I can just imagine them using that same voice to share with me their fear of black people.

Post: #6

At least rednecks know they're rednecks, and are comfortable with themselves. There's a whole cohort of urban America/Canada/most other western countries who have a combination of traits that has made me start to think of them as urban rednecks (Basically fake liberal attitudes). But the thing with them is that they think they are sophisticated and are running the damn world.

Post: #7

Southern girls with a full on accent are horribly seductive. They could trick you into (sexless) dating and then rope you into a marriage before you actually stick it in.

All an illusion with fried chicken and waffles mmmmm. I'll take that illusion

Post: #8

When the shit hits the fan and the big collapse comes, it will be the rednecks that SWPLs scorn who save us.

Post: #9

(07-26-2014 08:54 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  They hunt and fish ...live off the land. You can save a lot of money that way.

They live off gas station cuisine.

This guy that works for me..

There is a quick mart about three blocks from here and in the same building there's a mexican taco place that is run by three mexican ladies that don't speak english.

So where does he buy his burrito at lunch? Frozen from the quick mart and they cost the same.

Post: #10

(07-26-2014 08:49 PM)L M McCoy Wrote:  Are the girls hotter down south?

For years Atlanta topped Playboy's "City with hottest women" rankings and was consistently in the top 5. I havent been back there recently so I don't know if it's still that way

Post: #11

That's a funny article. Redneck is definitely a derogatory term where I'm from. The parts of Florida and Georgia that my family comes from we're either Florida Crackers or Hillbillies, Redneck is another term for white trash.

The girls are pretty good looking down South, and like it has been noted their voices are seductive, even to a fellow Southerner. Most however tend to have the very poor quality of ballooning up as they get into their mid to late 20's. Went to visit my folks in Georgia and couldn't help but say "they sure do make them big up here."

Luckily there was this cute little thing in the Waffle House who greeted me with a "hey sugar" later in the day.

Post: #12

(07-29-2014 08:48 PM)DChambers Wrote:  That's a funny article. Redneck is definitely a derogatory term where I'm from. The parts of Florida and Georgia that my family comes from we're either Florida Crackers or Hillbillies, Redneck is another term for white trash.

The girls are pretty good looking down South, and like it has been noted their voices are seductive, even to a fellow Southerner. Most however tend to have the very poor quality of ballooning up as they get into their mid to late 20's. Went to visit my folks in Georgia and couldn't help but say "they sure do make them big up here."

Luckily there was this cute little thing in the Waffle House who greeted me with a "hey sugar" later in the day.

What's got 18 teeth and and twelve breasts?

The night shift at Waffle House.

Post: #13

Huh. I guess in a way my friends back home are rednecks. Southern California rednecks.

They just skateboard and smoke weed and drop acid and drink beer. All the lines about them happy with being broke and eating gas station food, fits them to a T.

Post: #14

(07-30-2014 09:24 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  Huh. I guess in a way my friends back home are rednecks. Southern California rednecks.

They just skateboard and smoke weed and drop acid and drink beer. All the lines about them happy with being broke and eating gas station food, fits them to a T.

Word

I think "redneck" is state of mind dependent rather than geographically determined. The accents may vary but the life life views are consistent.

Post: #15

Post: #16

The Southern California rednecks are mostly the descendants of Okies from the South, who migrated back during the Great Depression in the 1930s. These days quite a few of them have mixed Mexican-white ancestry. Lots of them are meth heads.

Post: #17

I think the "redneck" community has really gone downhill the last 20-30 years. Indoctrinated too much with right wing vitriol and all that stuff. I imagine back in the day they were just nice hillbillies who didn't care much about politics.

Post: #18

(08-04-2014 06:27 AM)nomadicdude Wrote:  I think the "redneck" community has really gone downhill the last 20-30 years. Indoctrinated too much with right wing vitriol and all that stuff. I imagine back in the day they were just nice hillbillies who didn't care much about politics.

They've always been pretty conservative. Hell, in certain ancient parts of the South (and in WV) they still elect conservative Democrats. It is true that people used to take their politics less seriously, though.

Cable TV and cable news poisoned the country, in my opinion.

Post: #19

(08-04-2014 12:26 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

(08-04-2014 06:27 AM)nomadicdude Wrote:  I think the "redneck" community has really gone downhill the last 20-30 years. Indoctrinated too much with right wing vitriol and all that stuff. I imagine back in the day they were just nice hillbillies who didn't care much about politics.

They've always been pretty conservative. Hell, in certain ancient parts of the South (and in WV) they still elect conservative Democrats. It is true that people used to take their politics less seriously, though.

Cable TV and cable news poisoned the country, in my opinion.

It's interesting that the South was largely democratic throughout history. It was as a backlash against the civil rights movement that the South switched to GOP.

Post: #20

"The Solid South". Hard to believe now, but northeast US also used to be largely Republican.

Post: #21

(08-04-2014 07:48 PM)monster Wrote:  

(08-04-2014 12:26 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

(08-04-2014 06:27 AM)nomadicdude Wrote:  I think the "redneck" community has really gone downhill the last 20-30 years. Indoctrinated too much with right wing vitriol and all that stuff. I imagine back in the day they were just nice hillbillies who didn't care much about politics.

They've always been pretty conservative. Hell, in certain ancient parts of the South (and in WV) they still elect conservative Democrats. It is true that people used to take their politics less seriously, though.

Cable TV and cable news poisoned the country, in my opinion.

It's interesting that the South was largely democratic throughout history. It was as a backlash against the civil rights movement that the South switched to GOP.

That's only part of the story. The economic situation improved in many parts of the South after WWII, as well. People wanted to keep more of their money.

Post: #22

(07-31-2014 01:49 AM)PapayaTapper Wrote:  I think "redneck" is state of mind dependent rather than geographically determined. The accents may vary but the life life views are consistent.

I agree - there's rednecks in all 50 states plus Canada. Up in New England there's "townies," which are similar but not necessarily as poor/hillbilly. Western Washington's rural population in the hinterlands of the Seattle-area counties is redneck, along with the more obvious eastern Washington farmlanders. There's the Michigan Militia. It's def not a southern thing, though Jeff Foxworthy (Georgian) cemented the southern-redneck meme in urban popular culture.