RT and I were watching “Deal or no Deal” the other evening. Yes, I know it’s mindless entertainment. Nevertheless, we were watching. There was a woman contestant who was from somewhere in the South. Her daughter was one of the three “supporters” who cheered for her. At one point in the game, Howie Mandel, asked the daughter a question. Her answer STILL haunts me. She said:
We southern girls may not be smart, but we’ve got heart.
She was probably around 20 years old - give or take a few years. Certainly younger than either of my children. It broke my heart to hear that at that young age she has already bought into the southerners-are-stupid line that seems so readily accepted throughout the country. She has listened to northern and western snobs long enough that she has started believing them. With one sentence, she exposed the results of their elitist crap.
Along a related line, I was reading another blog today - a “progressive” one - and a commenter referred to southern voters as “yahoos” and “racist rednecks”. Doesn’t sound very progressive to me. As a matter of fact, it sounds downright elitist and snobbish.
There is a lot of prejudice, elitism and discrimination in the world. No single race, gender, nationality or other group has a monopoly on it.Â
Sphere: Related Content
October 26th, 2006 at 8:34 am
I get so PO’d when I hear stuff like that. You would think we would have gotten past that. Of course the MSM perpetuates the stereotype when there is any kind of disaster or news event in the south by picking someone who has three teeth and can’t put three words together in a sentence. What makes it SO aggravating is that there are people like that ALL OVER THE COUNTRY! But I guess it is more fun to pick on the south.
October 26th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Yeah, I’m with ya.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:35 am
The so called “elitists” are so blinded by their self proclaimed superiority that they can’t see their own ignorance.
I would say that parents should take more time to educate their children about the merits of the South since the educational system seems to be hell bent on demonizing it.
Where would American government be without George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, James Madison and George Mason? American literature without William Faulkner, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Truman Capote, Harper Lee and Eudora Welty? American music without Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley? American sports without Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb? Obviously I could go on and on but you get the idea.
Painting any people with a broad brush is generally looked upon as stereotyping or racism. The media frowns upon that sort of thing unless you’re Southern or Christian, then it’s perfectly acceptable. If you happen to be both you can always count on being the punchline to a joke. As with all prejudice the best way to defeat it is with education.
October 29th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Janette is right - Southerners and Christians are the only groups you can slam without being called a bigot or prejudiced.
It really is aggrevating.
I see those kinds of comments on the ‘progressive’ blogs a lot - they actually have no idea how close minded they are.