Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

(unrelated to the Kerry item)

Hey, E.R.,

Here’s an article from www.tolerance.org on the subject of intolerance for rednecks. Thought this might be down your alley – I mean, pasture.





'REDNECKOPOLY': Cashing in on Stereotypes

May 25, 2005 -- No stranger to controversy, the maker of Ghettopoly is creating a new stir with his latest Monopoly-style game, Redneckopoly. Some say the game exploits offensive stereotypes about rural people.
By Carrie Kilman | Staff Writer, Tolerance.org
If his foray into the world of board games hadn't caused such a stir two years ago, David Chang's latest release — a Monopoly-style knock-off called Redneckopoly — might have gone unnoticed.
Chang made national headlines in October 2003 when his first game, Ghettopoly, hit the stores.
The game featured playing cards with phrases like, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50."Critics immediately called it tasteless and exploitative.
This month, Chang, a Taiwanese immigrant who came to the United States 20 years ago, returns to the online marketplace with a new installment. Redneckopoly is available for purchase on Chang's website. Advertising for the game, he said, will begin soon.
Instead of thimbles and top hats, players use cans of chewing tobacco, monster trucks and "pieces of crap" to move around the board. The squares on the board exploit stereotypes of the rural poor, depicting a lifestyle replete with moonshine, crystal meth and Klan rallies.
One square labeled "The Klan's BBQ," for example, features a white-hooded figure asking, "White or dark meat?" while standing next to a barbecue pit.
'Not my responsibility'
Chang, whose one-man company is based in California, told Tolerance.org that he got the idea for Redneckopoly from watching the Comedy Central network.
"They have a show called 'Blue Collar TV.' It's filled with redneck jokes," he said. "People are interested in that. If you ask the average American that you pick off the street, 'Do you know a redneck joke?' most people will know two or three."
Yet Chang insists the game does not promote stereotypes.
"I don't think stereotypes are funny," he said. "The point of the games are to make fun of stereotypes. It's poking fun of what you see in the media every day when you turn on the TV."
As evidence of the satire he says is inherent in his games, Chang points to the Chinese-American man in Ghettopoly who serves cat in his restaurant.
"I have gone through every kind of joke — 'Do you know karate?' 'Do Asians really eat dogs and cats?'" he said. "Every time I see an Asian stereotype in a movie, I feel uncomfortable and say, 'Yeah, that's kind of wrong.'"
Anyone who believes the stereotypes, he added, is "ignorant. I can't worry about someone like that. ... It's not my responsibility to teach them."
More than 'just a joke'
Advocates say stereotypes like those perpetuated in Redneckopoly can have a cumulative impact on both the target group and society in general when repeated over and over again in the media and in consumer products.
"Stereotypes in the marketplace let us write off a group of people," Tim Marema, vice president of the Center for Rural Strategies, recently told Tolerance.org. "You don't have to consider their humanity. In the end, we're all weaker for it."
But Chang doesn't buy the notion that Redneckopoly might reinforce players' beliefs or attitudes about the rural poor.
"For you to think a board game can actually have an impact on the way someone views the world is insane," he said. "Whoever that person is, he has to be so weak-minded, it's ridiculous."
Like its predecessor, Redneckopoly has generated buzz in online chat rooms. While most people support Chang's right to sell his games, many dismiss them as offensive, catering to the public's lowest common denominator.
Chang dismisses his critics as "people who haven't even seen the game. The people who haven't seen it have no right to voice an opinion. It's their right not to like it, and it's their right not to come to my website," he said.
That defense hasn't stopped the public from debating Chang's tactics.
"I've never been fond of the excuse that 'it's just a joke,'" wrote one user on www.AmericasDebate.com.
"I love clever, witty, creative comedy, even if it pushes the limits of good taste. But I don't like jokes that depict women as bubble-headed shopping addicts, men as beer-guzzling sports fanatics and so on. Humor that exposes the moral bankruptcy of stereotyping? Great! Humor that uses stereotyping? Forget it."
Contact us for permission to reprint this article. Please include the name of the article in your request.

>> DO SOMETHING
Fight stereotypes in your daily life. This short action list from the National Network for Child Care contains great advice for children and adults.
>> DIG DEEPER
Read Tolerance.org's recent coverage of the "Redneck Humor" greeting cards from Yahoo! and AmericanGreetings.com.
 

Actually, I think the above "Anonymous" comment is related to the Kerry item.

I've always thought that Bush was "automatically" thought less intelligent because he is a good ol' boy from Texas, a hot bed of redneckedness. Kerry being from hoity-toity Massachusetts was "automatically" pigeonholed as elite intelligence. (Of course, it doesn't help that Kerry tries to act the part.)

I assume Mr. Kerry knew he and President Bush were in the same intelligence class, given that President Bush's scholastic achievements were already released. I distinctly remember President Bush stating that he was "B" student. I suspect Mr. Kerry didn't want anyone else to know until after the election, that's probably why he only just now gave permission to release his records.

Even though there are issues on which I disagree with our president, pardon me while I momentarily puff up with pride that his intelligence has been vindicated. :)
 

i posted a comment on my blog concerning the same news item but then expanded it to include proof that President Bush ultimately has more class than Kerry, not to mention most other liberals
 

As I commented over at Mark's joint:

Simply put, there seems to be more mean libs than mean conservatives. And mean people, whatever their political persuasion, suck.
 

Oh, I am not personally offended by the idea of Redneckopoly. One of the biggest problems in this country, and it's the root of most political correctness, is people have forgotten how to take a joke. The real danger to rednecks-blacks-homosexuals-fill-in-the-blank is not people making jokes about them; it's people who quietly continue to hate and wallow in selfish bigotry.
 

AMEN!
 

So, let's see: Kerry allows the Navy to release his Yale transcript.

Bush releases his transcript but not his National Guard record.

In wartime, which is more important? Huh?

Where Bush ain't smart, he's crafty.
 

Wiley, even.
 

Furthermore, this article about grades is a total spin.

During the recent presidential campaigne, Kerry got(commented upon) the reputation for "hoity-toity," in somebody's words, because of how he came across in stump speeches. It was his diction, pardon my English. That's why (pundits said) he picked John Edwards as a running mate. Edwards had the elocution from being a trial lawyer, but the ability to speak directly and plainly so that NASCAR-types could understand him ('cept THEY didn't like him because he was one of "those" lawyers who got personally rich on personal injury lawsuits).

Bush seems to be able to mangle his own name when he gets up in front of a microphone.

We don't need transcripts to know how these men's intelligence has played out in life since college.

And any attempt to bring this back down to a college transcript level and say they're even is specious.
 

But.

Bush was smart enough to get elected governor of one of the biggest states, and he was smart enough to get elected as el presidente twice.

That ain't nothin' to look down an upturned nose at!

I call it a draw between 'em. Both men got adequate brains and balls. What gets people riled up, on all sides, is percisely what each one of 'em does with his set of each.

Fact is, most lefties think that anyone who disagrees with 'em are dumb rubes, and most righties (today's stripe anyway) think anyone who disagrees with 'em are un-American and goin' to hell to boot.

Both ways of thinkin' are puredee warm manure, fresh out of the bovine softserv machine.
 

Yessirree, Mr. ER. You always get the last word! This time it was b.s. (bovine slurpee).
 

Anonymous, I could be wrong, but I don't think Kerry's Navy records were released either.