Friday, November 05, 2004
Re: Redneck culture
Responding to this post.
2. However, cultural differences are also reflected in the differences in degree by which traits are valued.
a) Redneck states indeed more faithful. Click around this map, and see which states reported "No religion."
As far as "respect for faith", I don’t see how equating a respect for Christian traditions with the Taliban helps your case, nor do I see how stating “I'm an atheist. I'm not neutral about religion, I'm hostile to it.” helps demonstrate a respect for faith. Compare this to the language used by our redneck President.
b) As far as relative value for country, again which group volunteers in the greatest numbers for the military? Some dude once said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Seems like a logical statement to me. I think similar logic holds for a willingness to lay down your life for your country and the relative value that you ascribe to country.
c) Respect for free speech is very different from “know[ing] what you believe and [not being] afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.” Even if there were repercussions, a redneck is still going to tell you exactly what he thinks. Doubt it? Hang out with one for a while. And if you think the blue staters have a greater appreciation for free speech, you haven’t been paying attention (link).
d) Respect for “your elders” is different from respect for “the old” but I would ask where do “the old” move when they retire and note that some insight is shed just by examining the relative choice of phrases used to describe those who have spent more time on this mortal coil. As a quicky aside, I do recall how the French treat their elderly.
e) Respect for friendship and whether or not "you'd give your last dollar to a friend" are again different concepts. I'll not get into the respect for friendship thing as that's a univeral trait. However, to backup the assertion that a redneck is more likely to give away their last dollar to a friend, note this study which shows that the redneck states are indeed more charitable.
As far as valuing family (one of my dad’s redneck points though not in the listing above), which grouping of states have more married couples and fewer singles? Rednecks. One's values are no more clearly expressed than through one's actions.
3. It's a mistake to expect to reap economic rewards from funding basic research into stem cells. When research is involved, the optimum economic strategy is to get someone else to pay for the basic research and then put money into applied research once the basic research yields some results (normally years to decades down the road). California just tossed $3 billion into a massive money hole. However, the rest of us do appreciate the (unintentional) charity.
4. To expect a mass migration into California, one has to ignore trends. Tax and regulation policy matter a lot for where businesses (and thus people) chose to locate and the $3 billion in additional spending isn't going to help the tax burden.
|
“The rest of the items in the list are absolutely and unequivocably not linked to redneck culture. Claiming that respect for, in order, a) faith, b) country, c) free speech, d) the old, and e) friendship [lettered subdivisions are mine] are hallmarks of redneck culture is claiming that they're not characteristics of the rest of the country. And I'm going to cry bullshit on that… Knock the first two items off the list and retitle it, ‘You might be John Kerry if...’ and it still applies.”1. Why do the values of one culture have to be mutually exclusive of the values of other cultures? Seems like a fallacious assumption to me.
2. However, cultural differences are also reflected in the differences in degree by which traits are valued.
a) Redneck states indeed more faithful. Click around this map, and see which states reported "No religion."
As far as "respect for faith", I don’t see how equating a respect for Christian traditions with the Taliban helps your case, nor do I see how stating “I'm an atheist. I'm not neutral about religion, I'm hostile to it.” helps demonstrate a respect for faith. Compare this to the language used by our redneck President.
b) As far as relative value for country, again which group volunteers in the greatest numbers for the military? Some dude once said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Seems like a logical statement to me. I think similar logic holds for a willingness to lay down your life for your country and the relative value that you ascribe to country.
c) Respect for free speech is very different from “know[ing] what you believe and [not being] afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.” Even if there were repercussions, a redneck is still going to tell you exactly what he thinks. Doubt it? Hang out with one for a while. And if you think the blue staters have a greater appreciation for free speech, you haven’t been paying attention (link).
d) Respect for “your elders” is different from respect for “the old” but I would ask where do “the old” move when they retire and note that some insight is shed just by examining the relative choice of phrases used to describe those who have spent more time on this mortal coil. As a quicky aside, I do recall how the French treat their elderly.
e) Respect for friendship and whether or not "you'd give your last dollar to a friend" are again different concepts. I'll not get into the respect for friendship thing as that's a univeral trait. However, to backup the assertion that a redneck is more likely to give away their last dollar to a friend, note this study which shows that the redneck states are indeed more charitable.
As far as valuing family (one of my dad’s redneck points though not in the listing above), which grouping of states have more married couples and fewer singles? Rednecks. One's values are no more clearly expressed than through one's actions.
3. It's a mistake to expect to reap economic rewards from funding basic research into stem cells. When research is involved, the optimum economic strategy is to get someone else to pay for the basic research and then put money into applied research once the basic research yields some results (normally years to decades down the road). California just tossed $3 billion into a massive money hole. However, the rest of us do appreciate the (unintentional) charity.
4. To expect a mass migration into California, one has to ignore trends. Tax and regulation policy matter a lot for where businesses (and thus people) chose to locate and the $3 billion in additional spending isn't going to help the tax burden.
|
