Being a Southern Hillbilly is Like...

Over the years I have noticed people's reaction when I proudly proclaim that I am a Southerner and a Hillbilly. The stereotypes attached to these groups are powerful. But, it is always the bad ones that people latch onto. So when I say that "I am a Southern, Hillbilly, Redneck from East Tennessee." Folks from other parts of the world look at me as if I were a racist.

I often attempt to educate people who are not of my stereotyping; that being a Southerner does NOT make you a racist. After many years of searching for the best metaphor to explain this; Eureka, I have found it.

Being a Southern Hillbilly is like being an American when George W. Bush was President.

Look at it this way. People who were not Americans figured that we all wanted to torture and mutilate Muslims and fuck up their countries. During the early part of the 21st century the rest of the world saw us as Imperial assholes of the first order. They figured that all Americans must think that waterboarding was the best idea since vitamin enriched white bread.

Of course, there are the few misguided souls who think that what we did was a good idea. There were people, who decided to ignore the evidence of no weapons of mass destruction, and proclaimed that invading Iraq was "visionary." They also extorted that torturing suspected terrorists was a good idea. Their thinking was; since we started torturing people, nothing has been blown up, so it must be working.

The vast majority of Americans felt that fucking up Iraq and Afghanistan was not a good idea. And we sure as hell would not appreciate it if the Chinese and Russians did it to us. The bulk of our population felt that torture was wrong and should not be done. So perhaps now, folks of Non-Southern persuasion can understand this: Just because you are an East Tennessee Redneck, that does not mean that you are a racist or think slavery was a good idea. Most all good Southern people fell that holding humans in bondage was wrong and a black man is still a man, just as God made him.

Dirty Ert

P.S. All that said, we still despise Yankees. Go figure.