Date:  Mon, 27 Oct 1997 22:04:10 -0500
From:  "David A. Johns" <djohns[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PEACHNET.CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Subject: Re: redneck, nigger, good ole boy, kicker, etc.

At 07:51 PM 10/27/97 -0500, Bethany wrote:

> I surveyed my favorite good ole boys (some of whom are women) at a
party
> last night. (The average person in the group has about 2.3 academic
> degrees.) Every one of them grew up as a redneck, learned that
redneck is
> not a compliment when applied by someone outside the South, and now
> claims the word as a symbol of respect for her/his humble origins
in
> the rural South. It is more comforable for men to do this than
women, says
> the group.

Can "redneck" apply to blacks or Mexicans in that group?

It seems to me that the issue is the same one surrounding the
inclusion of the Confederate battle flag in the state flags of South
Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi, or the use of that flag or the
Li'l Reb mascot for high schools throughout the South. In these
contexts, the non-rednecks or non-fans-of-the-Confederacy are a
captive membership.

This issue is not "political correctness", whatever that means this
month, but tyranny of the majority.

--
David Johns
Waycross College
Waycross, GA 31501