Come to think of it, I'm not sure if this guy-who believed in reincarnation, ghostly hauntings, and the eternal souls of animals-actually believed in God. It's not uncommon for Northerners, especially those who like to use the word "spirituality," to believe in all manner of metaphysical events, while not believing in the Big Guy. "Religious" people go to church and read the Bible, and Northerners view them as intolerant, ill-educated saps. "Spiritual" people go hiking, read Shirley MacLaine or L. Ron Hubbard, and are considered rational, intelligent beings.
About the book, Rod Dreher wrote:
Graham is particularly entertaining when he mocks American popular culture, and quite sensibly observes that many contemporary cultural icons, when they're not NASCAR drivers (stock-car racing is the fastest growing sport in the country), are rednecks manques. Woody Allen, the cerebral Ur-Yankee, used to be worth admiring, says Graham, "until he went southern and started sleeping with his children." HBO's Sex and the City may be the last word in trend-setting drama, but to Graham, Carrie Bradshaw and her horndog pals are just well-groomed sluts (not that he has a problem with that). "And it is just as clearly the case that if you took these same four women, stuck Confederate flag ball caps on their heads, and dropped them in a West Texas truck stop, they would be indistinguishable from the hardworking local gals." Yup.Though Redneck Nation is smart-mouthed and light-hearted (you will not be surprised to learn that Graham once worked as a stand-up comic), and it doesn't pretend to be a serious political book, its author does make some sober points between the riffs and jibes. On the subject of race, he says that today's left-wing neo-segregationists are morally worse than the white Jim Crow supporters, like his grandmother. "But she didn't grow up with the memory of a martyred Martin Luther King, Jr., and she couldn't benefit from forty years of intense public struggle over the ridiculousness of racial obsession. You and I have," he writes.
For the past few years, I've been wondering why so much of American culture (and I don't mean pop culture-just people living their everyday lives) seemed to be going backwards. A culture whose wealth is unparalled, and a fair amount of which is spent on clothing, but whose men, dressed in baggy pants and backwards baseball caps often look like they've just finished working in Cooter's garage. Whose women are frequently adorned with tattoos and piercings, wearing trousers cut so low, they should be on a burly male appliance mover or grease monkey. Much more seriously, an obsession with race when previously the goal had been a colorblind society. And an increasingly universal obsession with victim-hood when America was built on a culture of rugged, "don't tread on me" individualism. According to Graham, the answer is obvious: the ideas of South, almost 140 years after the Civil War was fought, have become seemingly universal. And for better or worse (mostly the latter, unfortunately), we're living in...redneck nation.
Article comments
1 - mark
I'll just throw this out,
I went to Border's bookstore here in North Raleigh last week to buy Redneck Nation and the guy behind the counter said, "sorry we sold our only copy". This struck me as strange. why would a bookstore carry one copy of a book, especially one that is getting this much publicity? I don't want to sound cynical (although I'm pretty sure Alan Derschowistz (sp?) is hiding under my back porch, just waiting for racial/mysogynist remarks to filter out of my kitchen), but is it possible that some major bookstores just might do a little censorship of their own?
Just wondering,
Mark
2 - bflaska
Don't be paranoid. That's how big stores order -- one copy of every record or book. Makes them look like they got a lot to offer.
3 - Ed Driscoll
Mark,
My take on Borders and Barnes & Noble is that they don't seem to have any political axe to grind at all--they're interested in what's going to sell. My local Borders has biographies of Ronald Reagan, and copies of The American Spectator within 20 feet of Michael Moore's latest book, and quasi-porn such as a prominently displayed book on Japanese S&M.
Besides, it's easy to ask Borders to order you a copy.
Or better yet, simply use the Amazon link above--you'll get your book overnighted if you like, and you'll be helping to defray Eric's cost of running this site!
Regards,
Ed
4 - Frugie
Yes redneckism really has crept into the lives of many Americans because redneckism is cool to many people especially with people who like people like radio host Glenn Beck.
This book sounds like a comedy but in reality it's not very funny because redneck behavior undermines our goodness and cultivates wars, leads to the killing of human life and separates countries and a sense of honesty. So thanks for allowing me to post.
5 - mateo
I think one of the (many) other downsides of redneck values is a greater tendency now to become isolated in "white enclaves", and whether we call 'em suburbanites or hillbillies, it still amounts to a lack of interest and investment in what we used to think of as "community".