“Peckerwood Nation”
That’s the charming title of a Daily Kos diary by “edencho” (real name Ed Encho) in which the author expresses a thoughtful critique of the culture and politics of the denizen’s of the South. Here’s a taste:
Given the regressive hostility of the south and the willingness of the Republican party to capitalize on southern desire to drag the country back to the good ole’ days of Jim Crow, religious intolerance and a gross renunciation of intellectualism is only too deserving of a descriptive term from days past be resurrected for these folk and that word is PECKERWOOD
A peckerwood is a rural white southerner, usually poor, undereducated or otherwise ignorant and bigoted, the term gained popularity in the deep south during the early twentieth century and was meant to be derogatory. It is a reversal of the name of the red bellied woodpecker which had a patch of red on the back of it’s head and neck, therefore a peckerwood is a redneck, terms that describe similar groups of people are trailer trash or white trash but neither of those have the same effect or ring to them as peckerwood does.
Such a wonderful display of leftist open-mindedness and compassion. Rhetoric like that is surely going to help “progressives” make in-roads in the land of Dixie.
Seriously speaking, this guy’s a hate-monger and as we “peckerwoods” say in hinterlands, “someone ought to learn him some manners”. Also, judging from the comments on that diary there’s a lot of lefties who agree with him (In fairness, there are some left-leaning commenters that are very critical of Mr. Encho’s bile-filled diatribe, though they do seem to be in the minority).
via The Corner and DonkeyCons
June 30th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
“…though they do seem to be in the minority.”
Of course they are. What fair-minded person would want to read and comment on that nonsense?
June 30th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
That’s a poor generalization, to be sure. Still, if you went to freerepublic.com, you could find some choice comments about people from California or New York. There are morons everywhere, and it’s as wrong to generalize Democrats by this idiot as it is to generalize Southerners by the few true peckerwoods who happen to live there.
The funny thing is, Southerners have no qualms about calling themselves rednecks, yahoos, peckerwoods, whatever, but get very touchy when an outsider uses the term. “Redneck” is a term of endearment in some parts from some certain people, just as other slurs are treated with a double standard amongst other ethnic groups.
July 1st, 2006 at 1:49 am
Jeff is right on, here. The Dems need to marginalize these far left nuts. I guess they won’t do that while Howard Dean heads them up. What a terrible choice he was.
July 1st, 2006 at 10:26 am
I’m really impressed with ol’ Kos’s erudition and etymological research. I don’t see where he explains why someone would be called “redneck”. Those rednecks were hard working farmers who followed a plow in the burning sun. They command more respect, in my book, than the Kos hedonist types.
“I have seen great intolerance expressed on behalf of tolerance” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
July 1st, 2006 at 11:26 am
Kos is the most widely read and most influential leftist blog. Free Republic might have its share of nutters, but it probably wouldn’t even rank in the top ten in terms of most popular or most influential right-wing blogs. That’s the difference.
July 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am
That’s true, Paul. But the diary is the expression of a single moron, and Kos allows anyone who can type to post on its site. The readership of Kos might amplify the stupidity, but it doesn’t mean it’s any more representative.
July 1st, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Kos didn’t write it.
July 2nd, 2006 at 1:24 am
Isn’t using a derogatory term for a said group while in that group called something like “reverse stereotyping”?
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:00 am
Check out the follow-up post at the author’s own homepage. It says that Kos and company ran him off over this very piece, “like Saint Patrick casting away the snakes,” in the author’s own words.
That’s an act of decency I wouldn’t have expected, and do appreciate.