Metro Pulse/Snarls/Rednecks

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Reclaiming a rightful Southern stereotype

by Scott McNutt

It's Redneck Time in Tennessee! No doubt that "slur" will convince the Vol faithful I am Chris Fowler's evil twin. For Vol fans who've been hibernating, curled around a keg of "Bud" over the last three years, here's the instant replay: ESPN broadcaster Fowler throws a penalty flag on the offensive "trailer-park frenzy" of Tennesseans disappointed over Peyton's Heisman-poll plummet. Defensive Knoxvillians counter by unleashing trailer-trash broadsides at Fowler. Locally, he is so demonized, ESPN relocates a broadcast previously scheduled to go live from UT. And we say those Florida fans act like 'necks...

Let's not kid ourselves: On game days, flocking to "Rocky Top Markets" to buy game supplies ("Bud," that is), in pickup trucks with rebel-flag license plates, singing loudly off-key with WIVK's 7,647th repetition of "Rocky Top," are countless Knoxvillians...many wearing the "mullet" hairstyle. (Don't know mullets? See examples of these redneck-spawned obscenities at www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6906/.) My point? Knoxville has a whole buncha rednecks. I can recognize reality when it bonks me on the head with a "Bud" can tossed from a 4x4 rumbling up the "Strip." Why can't Knoxville (and all the South) admit its redneckedness?

I grew up in East Tennessee, alongside "long-haired country boys" who proclaimed "the South's gonna do it agin" and believed the Holy Trinity was Charlie Daniels, Jack Daniels, and Daniel Boone. Back then, suggesting rednecks were NOT intrinsically Southern would have been as ludicrous as saying "Knoxville's humidity is delightful." But the South now disclaims this quintessential Southern stereotype, instead embracing the current entertainment-industry propaganda that "rednecks are everywhere." Yes, rednecks have gone Hollywood...and wee-eee hay-elped!

With our acquiescence, what was once "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God," is now just another product made in the USA. Unfortunately, allowing showbiz, through the likes of Ted Turner, Jeff Foxworthy, NASCAR, the "Double Bubba" ticket, etc., to popularize, homogenize, and nationalize rednecks has done immeasurable societal damage. For example, before the "redneckization" of our national culture, the Neilsens would have caught "World Wrestling Federation" ratings in a full-nelson and tossed WWF out of the cultural ring. But now? Now, tragically, former "wrestlers" can become governors of Northern states.

Mind you, I'm no happier about the prejudices promulgated by rednecks than I am about Northerners who prejudicially assume any white Southerner must be a redneck. But that's the point: Prejudiced people are everywhere, and for them we already have universal terms, such as racist, bigot and Pat Buchanan. Redneck is NOT synonymous with "prejudiced jerkweed." Redneck should be synonymous with "prejudiced Southern jerkweed." For the continued distinctiveness of ALL regional stereotypes, we must fight this homogenizing trend. We've got to nip it! Nip it in the bud!

That's all I want: to reclaim rednecks as a Southern stereotype, before the breed is completely sterilized. I'm not advocating rednecks as either "good" or "bad": I just want to preserve an endangered species. In an autumn 40 years hence—when you're strolling through the teeming throng on the "Strip," and your granddaughter exclaims, "Look, look, Grampa! Why is that fat man all dressed in orange throwing beer cans out of his hovertruck window?"—don't you want to be able to proudly reply, "Because he's a redneck, honey; they're an indigenous Southern phenomenon."

That's why the Redneck Reclamation Project was founded. (Its motto: "Save Southern rednecks—Then trade them in for valuable prizes!") And it needs your help! An important project goal is to identify unique characteristics of Knoxville rednecks—besides peeing on parked cars in Fort Sanders on game days. Equally important, we need a name for them—something that distinguishes peculiarly Knoxville-variety rednecks from your basic bumpkin, rustic, rube, okie, cracker, clodhopper, bubba, good ol' boy, goober, gomer, hillbilly, hayseed, or hick. (I favor "knoxnex" myself.) Submit your ideas—for both names and distinguishing characteristics—to the "Redneck Reclamation Project" care of Metro Pulse. The best submissions will be printed in a future "Snarls." But your real reward will be knowing you have contributed to the preservation of an essential regional stereotype. Plus, you'll be demonized locally!