Is the world getting smaller? Sometimes I think it is. When Guitar Man came home for Thanksgiving-he had tons of new things to share with us about his first semester at Yale-every thing from his studies to how many times he swung by the cafeteria each day-and what he ate while he was there.
As he talked, I started thinking about how we’d missed him-how we all worried cause he’d never been so far away from home-and now here he was back at home telling us about that distant place and making it seem like it was just down the road a ways.
Pap has often told me-one of the biggest differences between now and when he was a child is the speed at which news travels. When he was a child, they might get news of a great earthquake in China several weeks after it happened. With today’s warp speed-you’ll know about a large or small earthquake anywhere on the face of the Earth-very soon after it happens-usually within minutes.
And why shouldn’t news travel fast-you can hop on a plane and fly across the US in hours. Even the 2 hour trip it takes to drive from Brasstown to Asheville is drastically reduced from the hours it took when Pap first went off to service. Along with the ease of spreading news-came the ease of education. Folks today-can sit in their living rooms and take classes over the net-I know I’m pointing out the obvious-but again very different from the days of Pap’s education-when many folks didn’t even finish high school.
But every once in a while something happens that makes me question the size of the world and all it’s connections.
Do you ever click links and end up somewhere you didn’t expect to be? Today as I clicked I thought I was hopping along to find some info about a future post-that wasn’t the case. What I did find-was a long long list of comments-mostly folks arguing back and forth. What were they arguing over? People like me.
One side (by far the largest side) was saying every person who lived in the South was not only banjo picking inbreds-they were racist too. The other side was arguing you can’t paint such a large swath of people with such a broad brush-while there is some of that ‘inbred racist’ stuff-not everyone is like that.
I know those feelings are out there-but to see the sterotypes bandied around with such authority was an eyeopener-especially since the comments were recent-as in last week. I don’t remember the name of the site-I’m not sure I even noticed it-but I did gather these 20 or so folks doing the commenting were supposed to be College Educated-or as Pap would say book learned-people. There was no foul language-no vulgarity (other than the inbred racist stuff)-just a bunch of people declaring with certainty I am a racist who isn’t very intelligent because I live in Southern Appalachia.
One of the ring leaders said hey don’t get her wrong there is some great things about that area and those people-but the truth is the truth-they are racist and not as bright as the rest of the US due to their lack of education. Lordy Lordy, I know the comments are unfounded and false-and Pap taught me and my brothers to shake the dirt from our sandals and move on at an early age. Yet I can’t keep from thinking about the days when news moved so slowly that some people still believed the world was flat. I wonder how people can accuse us of being close minded and unlearned when they don’t even know of the wealth of goodness that resides here within the people themselves.
Tipper
Hey Tipper,
You’re welcome….
By the way….I have decided that I live in my own little world, but I have lots of company and I am glad! Thirteen states, 410 counties, with the divisions of Northern, Central and Southern Appalachia, these states Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and parts of New York house more than likely over 23 million people…
This area, it has been argued, is not all Appalachia…but it is…That said…In this, our world, have we mananged to survive, live, work, feed and educate our people..in our little Appalachian world?…Regardless of those outside accusers, which everyday of the world… DEFINE US BY THAT WHICH WE ARE NOT!!!..
Thanks Tipper
I moved from Asheville (my goodness) Asheville to Ohio when I was going into my Junior year of High School. My first encounter with being disrespected was when we were at a Trailways bus station in Cincinatti. Some people were looking in my mom and sisters direction and said, “Hillbillies, you can spot them every time!” I looked at my 13 year old sister and said, “Do you see the hillbillies?” She said “I think they mean us, Sallie.”
Well, I could not for the life of me understand why these strangers were calling us names. I mean I always knew that Asheville was a very cosmopolitan town.
Well, I did remember people stopping for directions when I lived in Asheville, and then being so rude as to laugh at my accent. I would think, “You are the one who has the odd accent here!” Naturally, I would not say anything, because I was taught not to be rude.
When I arrived at our new home in Ohio, I met all sorts of prejudice and name calling. It hurt me deeply, for I was at a very impressionable age.
At school, I was at first put into the “slower” classes and since I knew all the things they were teaching, they took me out and tested me and then put me in the “advanced” classes.
So, I found out at a fairly early age that prejudice was not confined to one group.
When we were kids we stayed away from Chigger Weeds, said there was chiggers all over them. Some called it wild carrot. A book I know says they are Daucus Carota. Gardeners call them weeds.
Some mean women in the neighborhood where we moved to in Indianapolis as we left the mountains, these women, looking down their nose at Momma called her a hillbilly. I heard one call her trash one time. Momma told me to always remember “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me.”
My Daddy knew she was as fine as Queen Ann’s Lace, called her that.
She was good Christian woman with a mountain tongue.
Momma cried many times after we left Tennessee but few saw her tears. And she always smiled when Daddy came home.
What we call others says more about us than it does them.
I think the world is def getting smaller and a lot of it is related to electronic communication. Along with that, it seems that we are more brazen in expressing our ugly side under the shadow of anonymity. There are arguments on just about every story you see on any sort of news site. People seem to enjoy picking verbal fights over nothing. It drives me nuts. People talking face to face would never dream of saying things that they do online…it’s something else. Still, I do like that information is accessible…just wish it wasn’t ugly too
As an inbred racist, I just realized I am also a victim and in need of govt. assistance. I have no banjo-picking skills! Standing on the selling side of a farmer’s market table every Saturday morning in Charlotte, NC has taught me to bite my tongue and turn my ears wide open. It is very interesting how my customers perceive me.
Tipper: the people who would make such statements are thoughtless and without,any decency. they also are not aware of what fine and special people you are. i have been around in my 72 years, and i have learned that the best folks are seldom given the respect that they are due. keep up the good work and ignore those who have nothing good to say. your friend k.o.h
Up to age 15 I lived all but a few months in Southern California. Then Mom and I moved to her itty bitty home town in Texas. I know what those anti-Southern prejudices are because I had them – so many people felt that way there, and this was reinforced by many stereotypes on TV and in the movies. Were these prejudices ever blown to smithereens by living in the South! Then, having picked up a bit of a southern accent in high school, I went off to college in Washington, DC, and I could see by the reactions of some people (the minority, I am glad to say) that they were mentally subtracting a lot of points from my estimated IQ based on my accent – there was no hiding it from me, because I knew firsthand what these people were thinking. I ended up spending nine years in “academia” and was not impressed by the overall quality of intellects there – there were some brilliant people, but a lot were poseurs. The South can boast of a deep and unique culture, and I guess those of us from the South will always have to deal with truly “parochial” yahoos who know little to nothing about life and culture outside of a handful of big cities.
What can I say that hasn’t been said. There are reasons I live in the South. Being far from such people is only one of them. : )
Lordy is right! The fact that people think like that now is just amazing!
Tipper, I am continually amazed at your knack for cutting to the bone in just a few short sentences. I’m about convinced that one of your feet is way deep in the Philosopher’s Pool, always.
I agree completely; as most southerners know, so-called proper english, big words, and fast and fancy talk, a genius do not make.
I spent many years in business, with some of them, and I have yet to find one that could out think or out figure most of us slow talkers, when faced with a real problem.
I have made more than a few friends among these folk, but I had to look below the surface and find the real person.
Old fashioned horse sense will go to the head of the class every time.
i am having a difficult time finding the words to express the thoughts and feelings which arose while i read today’s rich writing, yet i cannot leave without commenting.
i am a product of my environment ~ family, community, society, world …
i was not born with beliefs which are racist, bigoted, judgemental ~ i learned them …
as much as i would like to be able to say that i do not carry any stereotypical thoughts toward another person or people ~ i cannot …
i do not think it is about being northern, southern, black, white, educated, uneducated ~ i think it is about being born into a society which uses words like dominant and minority to describe cultures and people …
and i think it means not acting out of the false beliefs i’ve learned ~ but taking the responsibility to be aware of them and trying like mad NOT to live out of them or pass them on …
thank you for the conversation, tipper.
I read your post, Tipper, and I must comment. Those nasty people on that blog who spoke about the south in such terms are ignorant. They may be educated in schools but they are ignorant about the south and southerners.
All of us have met those kinds of people. My room mate back in the sixties came down to Milledgeville GA to a girl’s school, where she expected to see all of us “wearing overalls and going barefoot.” She was ignorant, but once she spent time with us she fell in love with a southern boy and she and I became best friends.
Sadly, there is this need to look down on others by some in our culture. A good friend of mine told someone 15 years ago that he didn’t like to be around me. He didn’t like my accent. He is from PA. I didn’t turn away from him because of his accent. I found it interesting, but he found mine unbearable. He was ignorant. But he learned over time that an accent that is different from his is no way to judge a human being.
My parents didn’t teach us to judge others in such a way.
A young woman I know who has her doctorate in English was demeaned by a young man on his first trip to Atlanta. He was from Chicago, and when he first heard her speak, he said he thought she was stupid. But after sitting and talkng with her, he was amazed at how intelligent she was.Just a brief conversation helped this fellow see his own prejudiced thinking.
I think kids are taught these prejudices from ignorant parents who have never lived in the south or known many people from the south.
As for education, my father was a self-educated man because he had to leave school early to go to work. But he knew much more about world events, history of this country and read far more than most of the college educated young adults today.
Hey folks,
The 2011 Weblog award nominations are open…go vote for your favorite..and I think we all know who that is…
Here is the link..
http://2011.bloggi.es/
Read all the catagories and you will see which ones to put Blindpig in…
Tipper deserves a nomination and a win…
Thanks
Oh boy, I do know what you mean. I am a 5th generation Floridian and we are also bombarded by people from the north who think we don’t move, speak or think fast enough. When we first bought our cabin in NC I met quite a few local people that expected the same treatment from me. I think the best solution to this is for everyone to not think in generalities, and to take each person as an individual, not as a group.
Hugs,
Sheryl
There will always be people who think they are better than, smarter than, and more civilized than any other. They don’t understand themselves enough to truly understand anyone else, and if you’ve never known or experienced Appalachian people… well, I could see where such a shallow person might be confused. It is they who are ignorant, Tipper. And they just let anyone with internet access know it.
What I know about southern Appalachian people, is that they live real lives. They center their lives around the people they care about, and around working. Their lives, generally speaking, are void of so many of the “fillers” that the rest of the country needs.
Don’t let their comments get to you. Just know that they judge intelligence by degrees and classes they’ve taken. Anyone with true intelligence knows that it comes in many forms. Just look at Pap. He probably never had a music lesson in his life, and I’m sure he doesn’t have a music degree.
I remember arriving in San Diego in 1961 for Recruit Training (BootCamp). I was assigned to a 90 man training company.
The Company Commander was a grizzled Chief Boatswains Mate. I will paraphrase the speech he first made, “You are recruits in the United States Navy. You are not Whites, Blacks, Mexicans, Hill Billys, Yankees, Catholics, Jews, or any other damned label, you are United States Navy Recruits. If you do as the Navy and I tell you to, you will be United States Navy Bluejackets when you leave here.
I have always remembered that speech and tried to see others that way.
I just remembered an example of how a non-Southerner’s prejudice was used against him. This can actually apply to ANYONE, not just a Northerner, who let’s his expectations color reality:
In the mid-70’s, I was a First Lieutenant stationed at Ft. Riley, KS. At one time, I had a company commander, a senior Captain, who was from East Tennessee just an hour or so east of where I was from, so we had some common ground and got to be pretty good friends. On more than one occasion, I was in the company orderly room when I would hear from his office, “Well, I am just a country boy…” When I heard that, I always knew that some Northerner, usually at least a Colonel, was getting ready to get talked out of something (or into something). My CO was a master at getting what he wanted by turning on the country boy routine. He had a pretty thick East Tennessee accent and he shared a secret with me that was not known to many and was a closely guarded one: This “country boy” graduated in the top 10% of his class at West Point and held an MBA from Harvard University!
Bradley-great point-I should never let them spend my time-cause there are too many other things I want to spend it on myself : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Ahh Tipper, your post to day has brought tears, a flood of them.
I’m reminded of a retelling of a young woman’s pain at an Ivy League school where, from our nation’s wealthiest, “best raised” and highly intellectual, she suffered incredible rudeness and treated as less than human. She suffered at the hands of fellow students taking the same courses as she, mostly philosophy and in particular, ethics, yet they exhibited none themselves though they received high marks in those very courses. She suffered abuse and humiliation because she was there with limited finances working on campus to afford her education. She quit. Not because she was hurt and humiliated and feared being physically abused as well, but because she questioned an education that claimed that these fellow students who could treat her so poorly were actually educated at all, had actually learned anything, in spite of the evidence of their stellar grades. She cited not just her fellow students but other highly educated people who committed similar atrocities. (Chapter 1, The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard)
I come from a family that prized education and intellectualism. Somewhere around forty I began to seriously, and in earnest, doubt the bounty that comes from putting academia on such a high pedestal. Oh, some may point out statistics concerning earning power but I have my doubts about that as well, but mostly I have large doubts about how wise we really are when we immerse ourselves in education.
This is a subject that is close to my heart, the truly kindest and gentlest people in my life were the ones with the least education, the fewest degrees, but were constant and eager learners of life for life. I’ve written many a post about what I’ve come to understand and some valid points and questions on the matter. Few are published. The lie about education and the prejudice is so wide spread, that our thoughts, questions and our deeper behind the scenes manner of living are not well received. We are often viewed as having willed to raised dumb clucks rather than the thoughtful, hard working, moral women we endeavored to raise under God’s guidance.
I’m not wholly against education, Dirt teaches at the local college, but it is not because our basic paycheck comes from the education system, we do see that education can certainly be worth while. It is our culture’s reverence for human wisdom which often is no wisdom at all, a reverence that oft comes hand in hand with despising those who are deemed uneducated, based on: manner of speaking, local of home, type of work, lack of degrees or lack of material wealth. Which, as the young woman cited at the opening of this comment learned, is in direct opposition of what they claim they are educating against.
Tipper, they’re just Yankees, they don’t know no better.
Had a friend, long time ago, went to a northern city on a high school trip. Told those folks up there that our cows all had short legs on one side of their body so they could walk around the mountains without falling off…….they believed him….need I say any more.
I think it is in the nature of man to look upon that which is different from us with a jaundiced eye!
Much as I like to consider myself to be non- prejudiced……well, I have my moments.
Well, absurd that people think this way, but they do. And it is not just people outside the south about Southerners. My husband’s cousins, who are Jewish, moved to Knoxville, Tn several years ago – she is a professor of history. I cannot even begin to tell you the insulting, anti-Semetic things they were asked about and called because they are Jewish – by people with a college education. I was shocked that people still have these stereotype ideas. Are all Southerners that anti-Semetic? No, of course not and there were many kind people who it didn’t matter at all to. Those that are hateful and racist seem to speak the loudest or maybe we just hear about it more. It seems to be everywhere – choose a a region, religion, culture and you will, unfortunately, find people who are just that way.
I don’t know, I seem to find kind, lovely people wherever I go.
Being from WV I know exactly how you feel. As far as I’m concerned I live my life the that brings me the most pleasure and they do the same. I don’t judge them and I expect the same respect. We will all be judged in the end. I try to treat others as I would like to be treated. If they don’t like me just because I am a WV hillbilly, then it is they who have a problem. Not me!
And if it ever comes down to it, it is us hillbillies that they will depend on when times get tough.
Tipper,
My Goodness! Someone kindled that
fire in your belly. Sounds like a
bunch of jealous idiots have been keeping up with your Blind Pig. I
think they have been watching too
much Seinfeld: the show that has
much ado about nothing.
Glad guitar man got to celebrate
Christmas at “home.” I remember how it felt when I sent my girls off for their college education.
I’m proud of all the friends that
make the Blind Pig a better place to visit and share their thoughts.
Ken
Dr. Martin Luther King, in his “I Have A Dream” speech said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” I would paraphrase Dr. King by saying that they will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, their accent, their place of birth or residence, or their education.
I only have one warning for those who engage in talking about inbred, racist, ignorant Southerners – the logic that leads to that conclusion is the IDENTICAL logic that leads one to be a racist – the attribution of the characteristics of a few to an entire class of people based on their color, accent, place of birth or residence, or education.
In my 62 years, I have worked with people from all over the world and have traveled to many parts of the world and certainly all but about 4 of the 50 states of the United States. I have encountered people in every part of this country who have at least one if not all of the traits attributed to Southerners. In every part of the country I have met wonderful people that I would trust with my life and I have met people who I would not turn my back on for an instant.
The comedian Jeff Foxworthy remarked once that rednecks are EVERYWHERE, and he is right. They are in every state of the union.
Dr. King was right. Those on that web site would do well to think about what he said and understand the flaw in their logic.
By the way, the 2010 census demonstrates that people are moving from the North to the South in droves. Ask those folks why?
Tipper,
Its me, that guy that everything reminds me of something I saw, read, or heard. I’ve got two things.
1. Sometimes people can say or do things that hurt, anger, or just make us feel bad. Carl Sandburg said: ” Time is the coin of your life, it is the only coin that you have, only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend for you”. In other words, when we become angry or spend time feeling bad because of something other people have said, we are letting other people spend our time. Then we spend time that could otherwise have been spent being happy; they have spent our time! We should be careful never to let this happen. These negative people should never have our attention!
2. Once my cousin
got into a fight at school. He was sent to the principal’s office, they called his parents etc.. My Granny felt that she should also give him a “Good talkin’ to” in addition to his parents. She told him that if he got into fights and was always in trouble that people wouldn’t like him. Now you have heard that old saying “Out of the mouthes of babes.” What he said to Granny bowled me over and has stuck with me. He said, “Well, Granny everybody ain’t gonna like you no way.” You know, that’s true. We shouldn’t care what negative people say or think. We don’t want them to SPEND OUR TIME!
For what’s worth,
Bradley
I worked with a lady who came to Tennessee from Pennsylvania. She did have some peculiar ideas of what we were like here–inbred, ignorant, racist, etc.
We became good friends & I was the only person she would trust to sit with her children (who will grow up Southerners). I hope she’s changed her mind & will see us as the individuals we are
Well, I guess a black person would say “Welcome to My World” about all this–we all have some sort of pre-conceived(prejudice)notions–
I guess it’s our right in the USA, and can’t be helped since we’re only human. What we don’t have the right to do is act out those prejudices, particularly as a matter of public policy.
YOU can call ME a hillbilly and it’s ok since we’re BOTH hillbillys, but no outsider can do it and get away with it.
Oh Tipper, I feel your pain! This is something that’s been in very sharp focus in this area for a long time. We’re not mountaineers, we’re in the northern foothills of the alleghenies. I live about six miles from the county line to the north. That county is much more metropolitan, and they see us (remember – only six miles away) as uneducated,stupid and racist. Here’s how bad it is; an old school aquaintance of mine married and moved ‘up north’. After sixteen years of marriage, her husband left her for a stripper (how metropolitan, a-hem). Never mind the emotional devastation, just about the worst thing for her was having to move back to ‘hillbilly county’. I’m not sure what drives this ridiculous prejudice. Is it because we revere those who came before us and keep the old ways alive, or becuase we still use the old vernacular? Maybe becuase we value people more than things? There are all kinds of intelligence. We have the advantage of having had a ‘book learning’ education AND having parents and grandparents who taught by example how to survive anything and still be the first to reach out to help a neighbor, or even a stranger, in time of need. These people obviously don’t live in the same world we do and I’m glad – and a little sad for them!
This is exactly why what you are doing with Blind Pig is so very important, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Your post today reminds me of a similar question from your area. “How big is the world?” When asked that question many years ago, Jack Hall, who was the legendary carver at the Folk School, answered “I don’t know, but if it’s as big the other way around as it is from here to Asheville, it’s pretty big place.”
Jack was a remarkable man whose artistic talent, ability and fame carried the Brasstown Carving program into my generation. He is the sole reason I made my first trip to Brasstown thirty-three years ago. A trip I will forever be thankful for. It introduced me to some of the best people on earth in one of the best places on earth–no matter how big, or small, it is.
Tipper some of those so called educated people seem very narrow minded. You just can’t judge a book by it’s cover…my dad always told me to look for the good in people. There are alot of warm, caring people in the south!
I worked with a girl at Disney that was college educated, pretty, fast thinking, etc. Everything you would need for manager material but she was from Alabama and had a really thick accent. Needless to say, she never got promoted and finally left the company. It was so wrong.
Wonder what people would think if we still called all the northern folks “Yankee, carpet-bagging scum” LOL
i hope i never accidentally find that site. i do not make comments on sites that require opinions or cover politics. to me blogging is fun and not about things that can hurt others feelings. as for Appalachia you know how i feel, my 5 years there were the best of my life and I wish there was the love and caring that i found there where i am now. you are blessed to live there. and you know that already. every area and city and town in the whole wide world has good the bad and the ugly.
Tipper, I have traveled far and wide, for a little girl born in the 50’s in a quite town in northern Michigan. North and south, east and west, to Mexico, England and much of Ontario. I have noticed no more racism in the south than the north, or any other place for that matter.
I have met very smart and also very average people in all of the places I have visited and worked.
There are prejudices of all kinds, but to my way of thinking, they are based on what people are taught as children, not what they have learned with an open mind.
My daughters and I have been embarrassed by some prejudicial things some of our older relatives have said, since we don’t believe those statements and make every effort not to judge people in groups.
One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole basket, and I hope the current efforts to teach children tolerance will make the world a different place in my lifetime. Or at least in my grandchildren’s lifetimes.
Tipper, thanks for saying this for me! I have been blessed to travel extensively in this country and others. I have seen the surprised look on people’s faces when I tell them I’m from Alabama and Tennessee, wondering how I had escaped! :). Some believe the stereotype that we are all ignorant inbreds and racists. However, most of them would love to live here! I have encountered the most racism OUTSIDE the south…just saying. Thanks for your post.
As the world grows smaller I really do believe that the number of small minded people out there is shrinking too, yet far too many remain. Sadly, I doubt we’ll see the end of bigotry, in all it’s many forms, during our lifetimes.