I am tired of apologising. I apologised for being Muslim, post-9/11 and more recently for my Pakistani origins. Now, I apologise for being a southerner too. When an environmental catastrophe erupted in my backyard, I looked to the media to tell our stories and instead, found quotes from experts ruminating on energy policy. Where are the restaurant owners in the French Quarter who still haven't caught their breath after Katrina swallowed their lives? What about the fishermen? While recently rubbing elbows with fellow liberals from the east and west coasts, I felt that their disdain for the lives of the south was palpable. This led to my quest: to understand why mouths drip with condescension for the south, and particularly its people.
Please read the whole thing. Jilani doesn't mince words; she let's the liberal snobs have it right between the eyes. Pow!
/a cuppa Tetley's to our friends at HotAir.
I notice how southerners are portrayed in movies and TV.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a minor thing, but I can't help but notice when Hollywood shows when someone using the world "y'all" to one person. "Y'all" is plural. I would ask Lady Red, "How are you?" I would ask all of you, "How are y'all?" It is a small thing, but I think it shows how little Hollywood knows or cares.
And of course if you see a southern sheriff, he will be corrupt. If Hollywood want to quickly show that someone is stupid, they give him a southern drawl.
I once heard someone tell a personal story: He said that he always thought that southerners spoke with a slow southern drawl because they were lazy. Then he went to Nawlins. He walked outside an air-conditioned building into 100 degrees and 95% humidity. He tried to talk, and it came out in a slow southern drawl. He then understood.
Matt, yeah, the knee-jerk southern bashing gets kinda old.
ReplyDeleteI love the south. The people are warm and friendly, we all get along for the most part, and we know we must rely upon one another. When the stuffed-shirts take a gratuitous swipe at the south, they are insulting a huge swath of gentle, hard-working, modern, integrated people.
And yes, y'all is plural. Sigh.
Sometimes they love me at work. Being a Yank in Canada, who else uses "y'all" and "eh" in the same sentence?
ReplyDeleteLady Red - "And yes, y'all is plural."
ReplyDeleteTry being from northern Appalchia, where it's 'you'ns and we'ns.
When I was about 11 years old I swore I would never talk like my maternal grandmother.
That was on CiF? Wow just...wow
ReplyDelete