Even more Wankery that we find acceptable...

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

While I generally disagree with his politics I think Mr. Savage raises an excellent point.

Now consider this...

Bill Maher and NYT's David Carr the "Middle Places" and "Low-Sloping Foreheads".

I apologise for linking as I seem to be having trouble embedding the video.

Now I would assume that both men in the second video consider themselves to be reasonably intelligent and enlightened men. If accused of being racist or bigoted I would imagine that they would be properly offended.

Which is why I'm going to ask an uncomfortable question, why is it ok to disparage one socio-political/ethnic class as stupid, dangerous, useless, ect... but not another. Would his comments have been more or less offensive had he been talking about "Fags" "Twats" "Spics" "Wops" "Chinks" or *Gasp* "N*ggers"?

Discuss.

Comments

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

'Racist jokes are about race. Redneck jokes are not.'

So is there another race besides white that is considered a redneck?

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I think this is your confusion. "Redneck" is an American term, it's similar to "Hillbilly". There's all kinds, it usually relates to the uncultured rural people. All cultures have pejoratives for these people. Here, it is "Bogan" (which, again, if you only looked within the culture you would assume would be white only, but that's just because of the racial homogeneity of the rural population).

Every society has their "redneck", regardless of race.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Redneck in America is white. It is absolutely white and never ever used to refer to anything other than white.

And yea, I'm familiar with the term Bogan. Oh boy am I familiar with the term.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

No it's not.

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

The key difference is that "redneck" only ever applies to a white subculture. You don't call just any white person a redneck.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

You'd almost think it was intentional.

I remember telling you that I had a bunch Wanky shit that I had been refrianing from posting. ;)

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the word is undergoing a semantic shift in the South that I wasn't aware of. If that shift spreads nation-wide I can see how it would render nigger no more offensive than redneck.

However, that usage is not widespread yet and the general understanding when someone hears nigger is still "derogatory catch-all for black person", whereas redneck is "ignorant, poor, rural white person". Ganstas get made fun of with no more outrage than rednecks. Nigger falls into the same category as cracker, honky or round-eye.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

Not really, this way of thinking has been prevalent in the South for several generations. At least since the late 60's.

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

"Joe, he's a good one. I like him. He's black and he hates niggers too."

I've encountered this exact line of reasoning when I used to live in Alabama and then later Atlanta.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Um. that word specifically refers to black people. When you call a white person that you are accusing them of being black.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Its pretty common for racists to say things like "I hate race x. That guy is ok though, he's not like the normal ones"

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

I think panookah is correct, at least in So Cal (of course we are a bit strange) but not as much so as when I was younger. What I mean is you don't use the word for anybody any more.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Haha! You're funny.

You actually think redneck is used for non-whites?

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

There's no reason that a redneck couldn't be black. Well except maybe the huge amount of racism and xenophobia inherent in the tradition. That probably reduces the number a bit.

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to ask for a citation on that, because I know that the term was coined to specifically refer to poor, rural whites, and I've never seen it used in a context that would suggest the meaning has changed.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Its a style that people insult. Its not really anybody who is poor and rural and white. Just like the example of the black guy I posted. A blingin' ghetto gangster is most likely going to be black, but its the style that people are insulting, not anybody who is poor, urban, and black.

[prog-expat.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected. I did the Google search and there are indeed black rednecks. (I already knew there white gangstas.) BTW, for those watching from home, I don't recommend that particular image search at work, unless your boss is OK with your screen being flooded with lots of interracial porn.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

No one would ever call a black person a redneck. Go on and see what happens if you called them that. They'd probably reply "but I'm not white".

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I'm going to trust your judgement, given that you're from the culture and all, but as an outsider it always struck me that the key thing about rednecks was rural, not white. Contrast that with "nigger" which gets used outside of its traditional culture to refer to black people in any context.

Can you see the difference?



Umm... FTR do NOT do a GIS for black redneck without safe search on...