[Ahh!]

This is probably one of my favorite books. Basically, it's about how rednecks became America's scapegoat for a lot of the social problems we faces.

What to cover first? Well, first off, this book is not for people who enjoy a civil discourse on political issues and a healthy dose of political correctness. Goad is a confrontational writer with a long history of pushing the limits of free speech. He has been brought to court on more than one case over the years for publishing things that were controversial, including an essay in about his opinions on rape that the ACLU wouldn't help him defend. He enjoys pushing your bottons, seeing if he can piss you off. He definitely goes for shock, using language that would offend most people and telling crude jokes throughout.

Consider yourself warned.

Jim Goad's case for the redneck includes his stance that the creation of modern "redneck" America is the result of past injustices against the ancestors of modern rednecks. He shows how corporations and other power brokers have played a large role in the backwardness of rural areas and attacks the media for portraying poor whites (and the poor in general) as simply being lazy. He attacks the claim that racism somehow has it's origins from poor whites pointing out it has always been a product of the upper classes. He attacks left winged activists as hypocrites mostly from stable middle and upper classes stating that they have a very poor idea what needs to be changed about America and are mostly able to participate in such activism because of their own affluence.

At some points, Jim Goad falls into the annoying habit of exaggerating his own points by talking about the war against poor white males and their portrayal as the source of evil in our society. He makes some good points about how rich whites who can portray themselves as liberal often are hypocritical in acting as though they do not benefit from the white power structure they claim rednecks are part of but at times, he gets a little too reactionary. He asks "if black hatred of whites is not a damaging force, than why are 90% of interracial rapes black on white?" Well, Goad, maybe that's because there's something like 5 or 6 times more whites than blacks in the USA. This was only one of many cases where I found myself coming to more logical conclusions than he did.

I would say that if you can take a joke, you'll probably find something in this book that will make you laugh even if you don't agree with what Goad has to say (and I think most people won't agree with everything Goad has to say- which probably is a good thing on some things.) He has a chapter on redneck religion where he declares that the redneck Holy Trinity is Elvis, Aliens and Bigfoot. He approaches his subject matter with a good sense of humor that makes what could of just been a rant enjoyable. I currently live in an area with plenty of trailer parks and I can definitely relate to a lot of what he had to say.

[Mankey]

Ahh!, on Jul 30 2007, 12:19 AM, said:

This is probably one of my favorite books. Basically, it's about how rednecks became America's scapegoat for a lot of the social problems we faces.

What to cover first? Well, first off, this book is not for people who enjoy a civil discourse on political issues and a healthy dose of political correctness. Goad is a confrontational writer with a long history of pushing the limits of free speech. He has been brought to court on more than one case over the years for publishing things that were controversial, including an essay in about his opinions on rape that the ACLU wouldn't help him defend. He enjoys pushing your bottons, seeing if he can piss you off. He definitely goes for shock, using language that would offend most people and telling crude jokes throughout.

Consider yourself warned.

Jim Goad's case for the redneck includes his stance that the creation of modern "redneck" America is the result of past injustices against the ancestors of modern rednecks. He shows how corporations and other power brokers have played a large role in the backwardness of rural areas and attacks the media for portraying poor whites (and the poor in general) as simply being lazy. He attacks the claim that racism somehow has it's origins from poor whites pointing out it has always been a product of the upper classes. He attacks left winged activists as hypocrites mostly from stable middle and upper classes stating that they have a very poor idea what needs to be changed about America and are mostly able to participate in such activism because of their own affluence.

At some points, Jim Goad falls into the annoying habit of exaggerating his own points by talking about the war against poor white males and their portrayal as the source of evil in our society. He makes some good points about how rich whites who can portray themselves as liberal often are hypocritical in acting as though they do not benefit from the white power structure they claim rednecks are part of but at times, he gets a little too reactionary. He asks "if black hatred of whites is not a damaging force, than why are 90% of interracial rapes black on white?" Well, Goad, maybe that's because there's something like 5 or 6 times more whites than blacks in the USA. This was only one of many cases where I found myself coming to more logical conclusions than he did.

I would say that if you can take a joke, you'll probably find something in this book that will make you laugh even if you don't agree with what Goad has to say (and I think most people won't agree with everything Goad has to say- which probably is a good thing on some things.) He has a chapter on redneck religion where he declares that the redneck Holy Trinity is Elvis, Aliens and Bigfoot. He approaches his subject matter with a good sense of humor that makes what could of just been a rant enjoyable. I currently live in an area with plenty of trailer parks and I can definitely relate to a lot of what he had to say.

I loved the book and highly recommend it.

I am a humanist and to me race is not a useful concept......to me we are all just silly hairless apes. Hehe.

I took the book with a grain of salt as well.. I loved it.