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I do not currently live in my home state of Kentucky - but am "Kentucky all over" - and continually offended - no matter how slightly - at all the queries about Kentucky. They all seem to point to us as banjo players who wouldn't be able to find our butts with both hands and our education stops at third grade. We are continually asked really inane questions about our level of participation in the real world and whether or not we might even be capable. Am I being too sensitive? Is Kentucky's image one of being so backward that those who wish to disappear into nothingness can move to Kentucky and be invisible? Anyone else have a vague feeling of being continually "put down" because we are Kentuckians? I'm very proud of who I am and where I am from - for many generations.
I do not currently live in my home state of Kentucky - but am "Kentucky all over" - and continually offended - no matter how slightly - at all the queries about Kentucky. They all seem to point to us as banjo players who wouldn't be able to find our butts with both hands and our education stops at third grade. We are continually asked really inane questions about our level of participation in the real world and whether or not we might even be capable. Am I being too sensitive? Is Kentucky's image one of being so backward that those who wish to disappear into nothingness can move to Kentucky and be invisible? Anyone else have a vague feeling of being continually "put down" because we are Kentuckians? I'm very proud of who I am and where I am from - for many generations.
Usually the people who think those things are people who have never been to Kentucky and know very little about it. Kentucky does have its share of problems but its definitely not as bad as some people make it out to be.
I'm fine with people thinking KY is a backwards, low-class, hillbilly state....that way, they won't come here - they are only broadcasting the ignorance and stereotyping they claim to be seeking to avoid; so, who cares? All the better.
Kentucky has a lot going for it, but let's face it -- it has a lot of problems as well. Sure, they are stereotypes, but we have to honestly ask ourselves if within those stereotypes there is a germ of truth.
We are not a progressive state, so it's not uncommon for there to be jokes about being backward. Name me one educational ranking we are at the top of. I'm not saying there aren't any, but I sure can't think of one. (Ditto for health rankings, income rankings, etc.) If we were at the top of those educational rankings, the jokes about us being backwards would stop, plain and simple.
I'd rather take those jokes as motivation to improve our state, rather than just saying they are all wrong.
Again, we have a lot going for us. There is a reason we are experiencing a net population growth. The people are the most friendly in the country and the scenery is beautiful. But to say that these stereotypes have no basis in reality is sticking our heads in the sand, imo. I've lived in Kentucky my entire life, over 50 years, and these jokes hurt because there is more than a little truth to them, I hate to say.
I only hear the negative comments and stereotypes about east Kentucky. I'm not sure outsiders even know that places like Bowling Green,Owensboro or Paducah even exist.So all the backward images are of the mountain folk. Peoples perception of the hill country is just ignorance. Too much TV. But when you think about it, who cares? Do you really want those types around your kids? Or catching your fish? Or dating your daughters? F*** em! Let them have their opinions. They can sit in their $1,000,000 plastic houses out on the west coast, sipping $10 bottles of "spring water" and convincing themselves how much better than everyone else they are. Meanwhile y'all keep enjoying the hills,hollers,country cookin,beautiful women and "real" neighbors that you have. Hell, if they found out how nice the land and people of the hills were, they may want to come and buy up the place. Then what have ya got? Plastic palm trees and a Starbucks in every holler?
I only hear the negative comments and stereotypes about east Kentucky. I'm not sure outsiders even know that places like Bowling Green,Owensboro or Paducah even exist.So all the backward images are of the mountain folk. Peoples perception of the hill country is just ignorance. Too much TV. But when you think about it, who cares? Do you really want those types around your kids? Or catching your fish? Or dating your daughters? F*** em! Let them have their opinions. They can sit in their $1,000,000 plastic houses out on the west coast, sipping $10 bottles of "spring water" and convincing themselves how much better than everyone else they are. Meanwhile y'all keep enjoying the hills,hollers,country cookin,beautiful women and "real" neighbors that you have. Hell, if they found out how nice the land and people of the hills were, they may want to come and buy up the place. Then what have ya got? Plastic palm trees and a Starbucks in every holler?
And here is the irony, Capt. Dan. Zip over to Trulia.com sometime and choose any major city in CA and look at the houses listed by realty trac that are in foreclosure. Not that I don't have sympathy for those who have lost their homes due to job loss, health issues and high medical bills but 90% of the home foreclosures on the west coast are due to people buying more than they could afford or flipping the house to try and make a buck. I bet some of those folks are drinking tap water right about now.
Oh heck! Just wait until they remake "Deliverance." You know, all new graphics, high def, more blood and gore....
The entire south has a slight hillbilly type of reputation, I've been to Kentucky and I found the folks that I met there really to be either no different than folks I've met anywhere else and some were very friendly and hospitable. I hitchhiked through Kentucky once and a guy invited us for dinner to his home and invited friends, it turned into a big pleasant party.
I think that the movie deliverance was supposed to be set in Georgia and I don't remember all that much blood and gore really. Here is a picture of the banjo boy, I was going to post an image of the "squeal like a pig" scene but I don't think the forum bosses would approve !
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