I know I've written a great deal on Appalachia and stereotypes and some of you may be getting tired of it. But I will keep writing as long as I keep coming across gems like this:
America needs to go on a country-bumpkin cleansing-mission. Too many gullible and unsophisticated culture-deprived yokels, who are easy prey for FOX news are hiding in the mountains. We need to find them, take their guns, arrest them and put them in Hospitals for the mentally retarded.
Now, this was not on Daily Kos. It was
COMMENT #12 Roland G. Gerrault said on 9/24/2009 @ 9:25 pm PT...
written on The Brad Blog, a blog put out by Brad Friedman who writes on political issue. But, I've read similar sentiments posted here. It amazes me that people complain about "culture-deprived yokels", when they themselves do not recognize the cultures in their own back yards.
Someone commented that if the demographics fit the stereotypes then the stereotypes must be right. Lets talk about that.
Merriam Webster says this about demographics:
Main Entry: 2demographic
Function: noun
Date: circa 1966
1 plural : the statistical characteristics of human populations (as age or income) used especially to identify markets
2 : a market or segment of the population identified by demographics
Wikipedia offers this:
Demographics or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. Note the distinction from the term "demography" (see below.) Commonly-used demographics include race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location. Distributions of values within a demographic variable, and across households, are both of interest, as well as trends over time. Demographics are frequently used in economic and marketing research.
Demographics boils down to basically market research- who's going to be most likely to buy what magazines. Demographics don't show the character of a people. They show the medium income of a group of people, which may be very low. They don't show the honesty of the people or that these people would share their last loaf of bread with you if you are hungry.
Merriam- Websters gives us this about stereotypes:
Main Entry: 1ste·reo·type
Pronunciation: \ˈster-ē-ə-ˌtīp, ˈstir-\
Function: transitive verb
Date: 1804
1 : to make a stereotype from
2 a : to repeat without variation : make hackneyed b : to develop a mental stereotype about
Hmmm- repeat without variation
And from the helpful folks at Wikipedia:
A stereotype is a type of logical oversimplification in which all the members of a class or set are considered to be definable by an easily distinguishable set of characteristics. The term is often used with a negative connotation, as stereotypes can be used to deny individuals respect or legitimacy based on their membership in a particular group.
Let's look at demographics. I myself fit the demographics of the region. I'm white- my background is mostly Scots-Irish with some English and a pinch of German tossed in. I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, and although I haven't attended that church in years, I'm probably still officially "on the Rolls." I spent all of my childhood, and a chunk of my adult life living under the Federal Poverty Line. I live in an isolated area. I have actually voted Republican a few times. In my county, frequently, the politicians are pretty much in the center. There are some Republicans who are more progressive than some Democrats. The Democratic County Judge Executive, some years back, ran the county into the ground. His Republican successor has done remarkable things for the County. So there you have it- I fit the demographics of the area. Do I have a subscription of Guns and Ammo? No, I have a subscription to Vegetarian Times.
Now let me explain why I "whine" about stereotypes. Suppose you are asked to attend a professional or academic conference of some sort. You may have even been asked to present a paper, or sit on a panel. This is important to you, so you work really hard on it. You actually go out and buy a new suit, brand new, latest style. You're at the conference, chatting with folks, learning a lot, swapping information-its great. And someone comes up to you and says, "pleased to meet you, chat, chat, chat, where are you from?" And you say, "Kentucky" or Tennessee, or West Virginia, etc. And then they say, "Oh. Well. Gosh, you are really articulate for somebody who is from that region."
You are now not an articulate and thoughtful person. You are now an articulate person for a region that is considered backwards and stupid, which means you are probably not really that articulate at all. Now scoop up whats left of your self-confidence and sit on a panel in front of a room full of people judging you not on what you bring to the table, but, in terms of where you are from.
It turns into a devastating loop because who now can speak for the region? It can't be somebody from within the region because people in the region are considered to be stupid. It can't be from someone outside the region because why would anybody outside the region care about the people inside, and, it was the outsiders who started the whole stupid stereotyping in the first place. I was really annoyed the the AP used a sociologist from Pittsburgh as one of their "experts" on the region. Not that I have anything against Pittsburgh, but why the hell didn't they get some one from the University of Tennessee? Or any of the other colleges or universities from within the region?
I write about Appalachia, because that's where I'm from and thats what I know. I do know there is stereotyping all across the country, different regions, different cultures, different peoples. While I can write about stereotyping in general terms, I can't write specifically about other regions because I don't know that culture. Just because I write about the problems of Appalachian stereotypes, doesn't mean I deny there are other areas with the same problems, it just means I don't write about those areas.
Why should progressives care about this area? (Other than the fact we are supposed to celebrate a diversity of cultures.) How about the fact that this region fought against slavery in the Civil War, West Virginia going as far as to split off from Virginia. How about its unique handcrafts culture. How about its tradition of sustainability which we really need to pay some attention to after all the bad news about climate change. You want a self-reliant, self sustaining society? These folks have it in spades. How about supporting the locals in their fight against Mountaintop removals? It's not the locals who are destroying the region. How about the miners who put their lines literally on the line-many died, to bring Unions and safe working conditions into the mines and leading the way for Unions in other industrial areas? Check out John Sayles excellent Matewan How about the National Labs in Oak Ridge Tennessee that are leading the way in the search for new energy technologies. Yes, its a government lab, but it's got tremendous support form the local people.
Just up the road from Clay County is Berea College, a liberal arts school recognized as one of the leading Green Schools in the county, as well as for its high academic standards and self-supporting students- all students are required to work as part of their education. Oh, and what about the Frontier Nursing Service, that lowered the mortality rate among Women and children and provided the template for the Midwife Movement which many women now use to delivered their infants?
Are there issues in Appalachia that bother me? Hell, yes. I would so like the literacy rate to go up and the poverty rate go down. There are a lot of attitudes I disagree with. But the people are a far cry from "knuckle dragging mouth-breathing in-bred hillbillies."
That's the end of today's rant. As of this morning, I have nothing new to report on the Sparkman case. I'm not going to comment on that anymore until FBI/KSP release a statement.