Pittsburgh's Xenophobia Towards Country Folks (Howard, Portland: 2014, home, neighborhoods)

[JimboPGH]

The response to the (debatably) trashed parking lots after the recent Nashville Hack* concert at Heinz Field seems to have opened up an undercurrent of anti-rural sentiment amongst certain folks in Pittsburgh.

An Op-Ed piece in the Post-Gazette makes a strong point about how rural Americans are the last cultural group of which mockery, bordering on outright hatred, is socially acceptable.

Of course, many of the commenters were utterly obtuse. One person more or less tried to justify using derogatory terms by saying they only applied to the "bad ones," which yeah, try making that argument about black people and see how that goes over.

One commenter said the following piece of ahistorical junk, which just about set my blood a boil:

"Rural [sic] have never historically been put down. They were white Christians who were scared to move to the cities like everyone else because they hated black people. "

Huh? Most white rural Americans have ancestry that goes back well before America was an urbanized nation. They came here to own land and make a living off it because they couldn't do that in Europe . Many of them came here as indentured servants and went to Appalachia when they had "earned" their freedom.

And man, this guys has the concept of white flight completely screwed up!

"Unlike African Americans, who were repressed by whites for hundreds of years, people who live in rural areas are at disadvantages because of there own beliefs and historical racism. "

This man needs to either:

a.) Take a four week course on the history of the Scotch-Irish.

b.) Be forced to watch Matewan on a continuous loop for 48 hours.

c.) Get beaten over the head with the complete works of John Steinbeck 'til the concept that "white people aren't immune to economic and cultural oppression" sets in.

"You won't see a Confederate Flag driving through NYC,"

Well, except in certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but only as an artistic statement.

"but it's hard to go anywhere in West Virginia without seeing one. That's an extremely offensive thing that has become something that is accepted. It's even on state flags all across the south. If you want stereotypes to change, than as a group of people, you have to change."

I really doubt this guy knows that West Virginia was born of succession from the Confederacy and that the majority of West By Godders fought for the Union, but I digress.

Yes, the Conferderate Battle Flag is the Unholy Symbol of Racism: where it exists, there is racism, and where it does not exist, there is no racism.

Man, I'm so glad it's so easy to identify racism!

Sorry for picking on one commenter, but I don't think that gentleman's absurdly ignorant opinions of rural Americans are isolated. The hypocricy with which "toothless, inbred hillbilly" jokes are tossed around, while any hateful joke made about any other cultural group is considered completely unacceptable and borderline criminal, is just staggering.

And people from Pittsburgh, an Appalachian city that has endured it's own share of nasty stereotypes, ought to know better.





*I'm aware of the irony of starting this post with a derogatory remark about crappy, mainstream country singers. What can I say, I'm a hate-filled old-school country fan.

[Bobilee]

Just an historical correction. Soldiers from West Virginia were about evenly divided between the Union and the Confederacy, about 20,000 to each side. Most of West Virginia is composed of counties that voted for the Confederacy in May of 1861, basically everything south and east of Braxton County. West Virginia was shotgunned into the Union with minority votes on every issue.



Confederate counties in green.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

The link appears to be down.

But anyway, it all goes back to the root problem that I have been saying for sometime now: people as a whole are not friendly around here. It has been proven over and over again. So many people act like animals while others are quick to hop on their high horse to judge and point fingers. Ugh.

[PghYinzer]

I don't think this is a Pittsburgh thing....granted it is to us, since we are in Pittsburgh, but I think this sub-segment of America is mocked and made fun of across the country. Being a proud rural-American, who grew up with more cows than people, I can't say that the majority of people I know from home are not like the stereotype...however there are some that are. I did however spend large amounts of time as a teenager, drinking beer in the woods listening to Skynard.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

I don't think this is a Pittsburgh thing....granted it is to us, since we are in Pittsburgh, but I think this sub-segment of America is mocked and made fun of across the country. Being a proud rural-American, who grew up with more cows than people, I can't say that the majority of people I know from home are not like the stereotype...however there are some that are. I did however spend large amounts of time as a teenager, drinking beer in the woods listening to Skynard.

Spot on - even thinking this is a Pittsburgh thing is quite ridiculous. I am a city dweller through and through, but lived for the best part of decade in rural Eastern WA, a place where most Seattlelites would never tread as it is 'so backwards' in their eyes. Some of the comments we got from folks in Seattle when we said we were from the east side were hilarious, and sometimes it was what was no said .... just a quiet 'sigh'.

A classic example was when we went to Penfold's Grange dinner (iconic Aussie red wine) at a top Seattle restaurant. We were placed on a table of 12 with 10 Microsoft folks, who from the way they dressed and spoke were probably pretty wealthy. When we told them we lived in 'over the mountains', they pretty much stopped talking to us. Luckily the sommelier soon realized they knew ^%&* all about wine, and we did, and when the really great vintages came out, he just kept topping up our glasses and ignoring them while they discussed their Gucci handbags.

It's a funny old world sometimes ... and even as city dweller I spent a lot of my youth sitting in the woods drinking beer and listening to Skynard

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Nowhere did I type that this is a Pittsburgh specific issue. But in a city that is said to have such friendly people I think it's pretty relevant to point out people's eagerness to belittle and stereotype entire groups of people. It is a relevant part of the conversation that it always sidestepped.

As far as the article goes (it's back up now) I think the part of the issue is pretty clear. It's currently acceptable to bash white people in society right now, especially by self-loathing progressives. So when a group of majority white people commit sh*tty acts it's open season for these people to let their anger flow because it's not often they they get to bash entire groups of people freely. Everyone wants a safe outlet to express some sort of discontent and a group that's acceptable to stereotype and belittle is the perfect venue for that.

[pman]

city mouse and country mouse is one of aesops fables. not exactly a new phenomenon. just what does the writer think would happen when a rap concert trashed everything? everyone would keep their mouth shut ?

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Nowhere did I type that this is a Pittsburgh specific issue. But in a city that is said to have such friendly people I think it's pretty relevant to point out people's eagerness to belittle and stereotype entire groups of people. It is a relevant part of the conversation that it always sidestepped.

As far as the article goes (it's back up now) I think the part of the issue is pretty clear. It's currently acceptable to bash white people in society right now, especially by self-loathing progressives. So when a group of majority white people commit sh*tty acts it's open season for these people to let their anger flow because it's not often they they get to bash entire groups of people freely. Everyone wants a safe outlet to express some sort of discontent and a group that's acceptable to stereotype and belittle is the perfect venue for that.

I don't disagree. But the exactly same could be said of the friendly folks in Seattle. And Portland. Oh, and Sydney I guess. That's just three cities I have personal experience from. Perhaps others have other experiences from living elsewhere that are different. But I suspect you're pointing out something inherent in our society. Which is cool, but without an absolute and reliable 'friendly index' to compare cities, kinda, well, who cares .... if Pittsburgh were the exception, I guess it'd be notable. But it's not.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

It's currently acceptable to bash white people in society right now, especially by self-loathing progressives.

I agree with this. I'm called a racist because I don't believe in adhering to things such as "white guilt" or "white privilege" and resent affirmative action when corporations care more about fulfilling racial quotas than hiring based upon qualifications or relevant work experience. Yes, I'm a white male. No, I don't believe I should be held responsible for the misdeeds of my great-great-great-great-grandparents if they did, indeed own slaves, nor should I be held responsible if my grandparents and/or great-grandparents supported Jim Crow laws and segregation. African-Americans in this country have had several generations now to move on, and why we, as white people, are supposed to still be so awkward about something that happened in the past is beyond my realm of comprehension. Why it's acceptable and demanded, even, that white people gladly accept blame for the current state of many inner-city African-American neighborhoods is irksome to me. How is a 16-year-old gunning down a 17-year-old in Homewood over drugs my fault?

How long were we gays, who were also born "differently", oppressed and ostracized in this country? I'll give you a hint. It ended much more recently than slavery, and somehow we've managed to stop victimizing ourselves and try to forge onward as a group of people without demanding special treatment. To that end, we still haven't even secured EQUAL treatment in this country, but we're not asking for "heterosexual guilt" or "heterosexual privilege" to occur to advance ourselves with an uneven advantage based upon outrage over how our much more recent ancestors were mistreated.

I'm color-blind when I hire staff. I'm just looking for someone who will show up for work and want to invest an honest day's effort for an honest day's wage, regardless of whether they're white, black, Latino, Asian, etc. If I'm told via "affirmative action" or the militant liberals on this sub-forum that I need to hire African-Americans and whites on a 1:1 ratio in a county were 13% of the population is black in order to make up for slavery, then that, to me, is racist in and of itself against whites. Right now the majority of my staff is white. Does that make me a racist? No. It means that every time I cast out my fishing net to pull in applicants I'm receiving far more white applicants than black applicants. That's just the way it is. It doesn't mean I'm showing any sort of racial bias in hiring.

[sealie]

Well, Seattle doesn't have the natives constantly talking up their "friendliness" either. And most cities are like this, but a lot of rural areas are the same way in reverse.
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