What’s Wrong with Rednecks?

There’s been something weighing on my mind quite strongly, and I just thought I’d throw it out here and see some the thoughts I get back. Well, here goes…
I am a redneck.
I am from an extremely small town in western Montana (pop. Less than 600 people). Up until I left to attend school in the District of Columbia area, I never thought it was strange or weird. But when I lived in the greater D.C. area (I lived in Virginia), my viewpoint started to change. People would ask me “where are you from?” And I would say Montana. And they’d say something along the lines of “Oh, aren’t you glad to be out?” or “I’ll bet you’re so much happier here.” And I really wasn’t. I mean, DC is great. It really is. But I like my home state. Then, I noticed something else. I noticed that in the most open-minded, egalitarian, progressive liberal groups I knew, there was a very strong tendency to talk about “rednecks” and “white trash” and “stupid Mid-westerners.” I heard people talk about Sarah Palin’s thick Idaho accent (BTW, don’t take that a defense of her, just her accent). And I wondered what they thought of me, because my voice sounds very similar to hers. They would rail against the “bigoted Midwest” and the terror of “small-town values.” And they would use the term redneck like it was the worst thing they could think to call someone. And all the terms that went with it – white trash, hick, hillbilly, ect. And it just made me want to go home.
But then I came to a really strong realization while I was on the East Coast. What if, instead of being ashamed of terms like redneck and acting like being Midwestern was a source of shame, I tried to own it? After all, there’s a lot of country music out there declaring “redneck pride” and celebrating the way of life of the Midwest and South. And no, I am not going to deny or justify the often biased or wrong attitudes that come out of many states of the Midwest. However, bigotry exists in all places – no geographic location has a monopoly on that. If one has a problem with a law coming out of a state, then be angry about it – especially at the state legislature. But don’t go and fire off a rant about the hicks and their small-minded ways and how THANKFUL you are that you got out/moved away/never have to go back there again. Because some of us have our roots there, and WANT to be there.
And yeah, I know that almost all Midwestern states, without fail in elections, will go red. And you’re free to disagree with those results (I know I have, on occasion). But when you start making judgments about the people, about how they must be stupid and ignorant and hate-filled for that to happen, then I would challenge someone to come out to some of these states and see good things happening here. The only completely green community in the US is currently being built in, of all places, KANSAS. A large number of alternative energy sources and small sustainable farms, including family-run operations, are springing up in the Midwest, making it one of the greenest parts of the country. If you don’t like it that the politics are different, that’s perfectly fine. But it gets under my skin when so called feminists and progressives take every available chance to throw words around like redneck and hillbilly as if they are meant to insult a place that most of them have never even seen. Because a lot of great things come out of the Midwest, and towns like mine, and I feel as though I am constantly having to defend myself based on where I happened to be born.
So for the first time, I will openly say to anyone who cares to listen, yeah, I AM A REDNECK. I grew up in a small town in Montana and I’ve been muddin’ and I’ve been to tractor battles and hoedowns and skeet shootings and rasslin’ matches and all that stuff. I listen to country music and have driven a pickup and I shop at the only Wal Mart within 100 miles of us. I’ve had Starbucks and think it tastes like shit and can brew a better cup with Folgers in my kitchen. So I am a redneck. As the great Joe Diffie sang in one of his songs, “We’re from the country, and we like it that way!”