(no subject)

[serene]

Some friends are angry with me (and others) for posting a link to the "Fuck the South" rant.

I won't lie and say "oh, yeah, I take it back, I didn't find it over-the-top and funny." I did. But certainly I intended no harm, and don't feel/think the way the ranter feels/thinks. I appreciate (perhaps that's not the right word, but it'll do) a clearly over-the-top rant, always have, whether or not the ranter agrees with me. It's why I always found Usenet amusing -- great place for over-the-top ranting, by both lucid people and fuckwits.

Anyway, as I said when I posted the link, I hope I will be forgiven for laughing at the rant, but if I'm not, I can respect that.

Comments

[nolly.livejournal.com]

While I've not actually read the rant, I was not offended by your posting, because the phrasing of your disclaimer on it clearly acknowledged the difference between rant and reality.

I'm not exactly offended by some of the other links to it I've seen, but I was slightly hurt by some. (As I said, not yours.) Context is important.

Y'all aren't from around here, are you?

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're native to California, but I, for one, was under the impression that you are. That may make a difference. I'm not from the south, and do not consider myself Southern. But I lived in VA for almost 16 years. Even at that, I still knew that, when making jokes, I was an outsider. I could tease, but I was not insulting. That rant didn't make me angry, just rolled my eyes, but it was insulting. And, yeah, I do get tired of people's reactions when they ask where I just came from and an answer of "Virginia" makes me wonder if they're surprised that I know how to read.

Would you take it the same way if, say, lcohen (I'd use me, but we don't know each other very well) were to call you a dyke as you would if someone whom you did not know and you had no reason to think was queer did?

I joke about how I lived for so long in a place where people really say, and mean, "Y'all aren't from around here, are you?" but it's more nuanced than it might sound.

[geekchick]

I wasn't bothered by your posting of it, but there are other links to it I've seen that are definitely couched in terms of the "Southerners are ignorant hicks" mentality that I just ranted about.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I'm from the South. I liked the rant. Then again, I really have a much stronger identity as Californian and Left Coaster, because, well, that is where I choose to live. Growing up in the South was a formative influence, but I really, really wanted to leave and I have no interest in returning. I don't really receive or respond to the anti-Southern bias in the same way that, for instance patgreene or geekchick does.

[bratman.livejournal.com]

I consider it an educational tool.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I think I may know what you mean, but I don't want to assume. Do you feel like clarifying?

[halibut.livejournal.com]

When I saw the title I thought "hrrrm".

When I read it, I laughed a lot.

(*hugs* btw :))

[charlottezweb.livejournal.com]

I think if it had been clearer that you thought the writer was a fuckwit, I would have appreciated your laughter more, but it seemed instead that you were amused by something that I found extremely hurtful. I'm not poly, but I wouldn't be amused by a polemic on poly freaks no matter how wittily written because of the people I hold dear. The rant is inaccurate and ugly and throws my contributions as a Southern liberal down the toilet, and the number of people who are amused by it just highlights the fact that ignorance and bigotry are found nationwide.

[bratman.livejournal.com]

Well if you take the message, and remove the profanity, and retain the links, it makes some really important points and dispels some commonly held beliefs.

The links are really quite useful.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Interesting variety of takes.

I didn't think it was all that hilarious, but I didn't find it offensive either. (I'm not from the South, so maybe that doesn't count.) I thought it mocked blue-state anger at least as much as red-state "stupidity".