Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Rednecks Take a Beating

My people have not fared well this week. There was the Sowell piece (see entry below) that blamed Redneck "culture" for the ills of African-Americans. Now some wingnut on Hannity & Colmes testifies that he, and every other rural denizen, started his sexual activity in the barnyard.

I did not see the H&C bit (I would die before I watched or listened to or read anything written by Sean Hannity), but I read a partial transcript dealing with the donkey love part of the interview. I won't link to it because everybody has seen this by now. I can well believe that the interviewee and/or his kinsmen did a few barnyard animals in their day, but the "everybody was doing it" excuse just does not wash. Moreover, this kind of crap plays into the stereotype of Rednecks as incestuous, sexual deviants. This stereotype is patently inaccurate and hateful.

Let me state for the record (and I wish that I did not have to) that Rednecks do not condone or practice bestiality with any appreciable frequency, although some weirdos may do so. We are no more likely to get busy with our livestock than a stock analyst in Greenwich, CT is likely to get it on with his golden retriever. Our chickens are as safe from sexual harassment as any shitzu on the Upper East Side. In fact, bestiality was so unknown that my folks never even had to sit me down for the "don't do the livestock" talk.

The H&C guest was both morally and intellectually challenged and is more representative of wingnuttery than of Rednecks. I would never use him as a pet sitter, that's for sure, but his unusual sexual proclivities should not disqualify him from appearing on H&C or fronting for whatever wingnut cause he was espousing. From the transcript, it appears that he considers his history of bestiality as a badge of honor.

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