Steve: You might like the RedNeck Liberal. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTHsQd-vRXK1bp4vpifl6yA
-- Owen On Sun, Jan 8, 2017 at 9:51 PM, Steven A Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Gary - > > I remember a recent Facebook post by one of my cousins that said > something along the lines of "people have forgotten what an alpha male is > like, and Trump is going to show them." > > I have been enjoying this kind of rhetoric among my Trumpian friends. It > gives me the opportunity to exhibit my own often-hidden alpha male side. > I'm the guy who doesn't anger easily at all, but somehow manages to break > up every bar-fight I have witnessed... other's anger and/or alpha-male > behaviour brings mine out in (usually) fairly balanced and productive > way. I think I am not the only one. I think we will see plenty of > presumed "yellow bellied liberals" stepping up into the face of these > "alpha males". It will include females and plenty of all gender > identifications who do not identify as alpha. I recently saw a grey > haired woman with a firm jaw and a steely gaze wearing a T-shirt that said > "this pussy bites back!" I've got her back (if she needs it). > > This is closely tied to the religious fundamentalism of the south, which > to my thinking, is damn close to that of Christian cults (I don't have any > personal experience, just going by what I've read about figures like David > Koresh and the Branch Dividians, and the Hollywood prortrayal of them). > > There was a pretty good story/study on the history of the southern > (redneck/hillbilly/???) aesthetic/mind-set, I'll try to find the > reference. My parents were both born and raised in the hIlls of Kentucky. > They identified as escaped or reformed, or recovering hillbillies. They > moved west in 1949 for my father to become a professional forester... > "picnic" in the woods every day he called the work. They left behind most > if not all of their Applachian legacy. The premise of the story had to do > with the marginalized Scots-Irish immigrants on the eastern seaboard who > flooded through the Cumberland Gap and then spread south as the pressures > of civilization squeezed these strong people who had the wicked-pride and > quick tempers of their "Highlander" forefathers. These were the people for > whom Hadrian had to build a wall, not unlike the one in China to slow the > Mongols. The story included a study (I think using MRIs) showing that > their subjects had an instant fight/flight response from stimuli that > others did not... basically anything vaguely affronting their honor, > triggered this. I think the conclusion that this was a result of nurture, > not nature, that there was something in the culture that propogated > habituation to this response, not genetics. I think the recent book > "Hillbilly > Elegy <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27161156-hillbilly-elegy>" also > touches on these topics. > > I grew up in western redneckia, another hillbilly culture really. And I > mean that fondly. Salt of the Earth, hard working people who got their > hands dirty every day, left plenty of sweat, and sometimes tears and blood > behind on their work product (cattle, ore, timber). They worked in what is > now considered "extractive industries" (ranching, mining, logging). In > their mind, they are the *source* of all good and necessary things. If you > eat food or grain or produce from a store, use toilet paper, copper wire, > or 2x4s, you have to admit they are "onto" something there. They had good > reason to be proud, but in my estimation, for better or worse, the time for > that work and the way of life required to be good at is now long past. > THEY came from two types of stock. Hispanic descendents from the Rio > Grande Valley who moved 100+ miles west to "greener pastures" in the > 1850s. Younger sons of new world "nobility" who would not inherit much if > anything in a strongly paternal/patronage system. And then a flood of > Confederate Soldiers after their defeat in the 1860s. The former were > pastoral, the latter ranged from being "wild cowboys" to literal outlaws > (think Billy the Kid, Ketchum, Evans, Kinney, High Fives, etc) . The tale > of Elfego Baca is a good read. So is Conagher (L'Amour). Romanticizes > both sides of that equation. I grew up with both Bacas and McCarty's, > descendents of these two proud if nuttier than a fruitcake "hillbilly > families" there WAS cultural if not genetic inbreeding afoot. This town > (Village of Reserve, county of Catron, NM) voted to *require* every head of > household to own a gun. I'm sure my entire 1st grade class of 20 now own > guns (with ammo) including the girls. I don't know how well it was > enforced... but you get the drift. > > Somewhere in this mix, a big dose of fear of the government controlling > our lives leads to fierce defense of the right to have guns - despite the > more "moderate" views in the NRA of needing guns for hunting and self > defense, the most strongly held view is that they are necessary to take > back the country if the government gets too powerful. I must admit being > torn on that issue myself. I don't buy the whole "I'll give up my gun when > they pry it from my cold dead hands" mindset, but I'm also pretty > suspicious of an overly strong centralized government. You can take the boy > out of the country... > > This town (Village of Reserve, county of Catron, NM) voted to *require* > every head of household to own a gun. > > I also lived in the Mining and Smelter towns of Silver City, NM and > Douglas AZ. Different but not that much. > > There is still a lot of country in this boy too, thank Gawdess I found my > way out of most of the narrow thought patterns of those I grew up among, > bless their hearts. > > I own a gun, but no ammunition, otherwise I might use it. > > I identify as Viking, but maybe I'm all Pict? > > Don't piss me off Donald, I'm telling ya! Not all "alpha-white-males" > want anything to do with you, your bully style, and your privileged, > xenophobic, misogynistic ways. I attribute much of my "recovery" to a good > general education in the Arts and Sciences... I think if I'd gone straight > engineering or business or some "trade", I could have missed the > philosophy, anthropology, psychology, literature, and other bits I needed > to "become more human". If I'd gone straight into the workforce (in some > extractive industry?) ditto. > > I have very well trained (not educated?) friends who probably voted a > straight ticket of Reagan/Bush/Bush/Trump right down the line, and are very > proud of their "rational practicality" or somesuch. We may yet have folks > on the list here who feel this way. I'm sorry if we squelch your voice... > I voted for Reagan once, that cured me, but it has been a long recovery > beyond that. > > We all take different paths. > > Carry on, > - Steve > >
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