The Myths of the American Redneck.

We've all seen threads where people lament all the "skills" we have "lost" in our modern world, right? How many times have we heard things like the following items when discussing some sort of general future calamity commonly referred to as when "The # Hits The Fan":

1. "If TSHTF this country would be in trouble. People don't know how to ________ anymore!" (insert your choice of hunt, fish, farm, or feed oneself in a general sense).

2. "I'm not afraid of when TSHTF because I have a bunch of guns. 'They' will have to talk to Smith & Wesson!".

3. "If we were invaded today we would be totally screwed because nobody knows how to even use power tools anymore".

4. "I don't know what we would do if TSHF because the _________ has disintegrated. (insert your choice of the church, the family, or a small-town sense of community).


I speak from experience. I grew up in a very small town in Northern Wisconsin. I was shooting a recurve bow with real arrows before I was in kindergarten and was given my first gun (a .22 long-rifle) at age seven. By the time I was 8 yrs old...I was considered "old enough" to use this as well as the more modern compound bow (a circa mid-80's 'Bobcat' model produced by American Archery) which I had graduated to completely unsupervised. By the time I was 10 I was considered old enough to go fishing in any river I could bike to so long as I had at least one other 9 or 10 year old with me in case the undertow or the current got me. At age 11 I got my first 12 gauge shotgun and started shooting competitive trap as well as had at that point reached the age where I was permitted to use any power tool I wanted completely unsupervised with the exception of the chainsaw and the welder. Likewise, hunting and fishing was not only a hobby...but also just something that was expected of males as a means to put food on the table and supplement what was purchased at the grocery store. In short, I have been hunting, fishing, using power tools, living in small-town communities, etc my entire life.

I then went to college and moved to the big city became one of those "city-folks". Since then I've lived in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, & Cleveland and ultimately moved to back to one of the more developed areas in Wisconsin just south of Green Bay about 10 years.

That being said...let me lay out the realities of these Redneck Myths:

1. Hunting and fishing is not particularly difficult. Small children can do it successfully. Deer are not "smart"...in fact...they are so damn stupid they routinely won't get out of the way of speeding cars and instead opt to simply "freeze" and see what happens. Any douchebag with a weapon can kill a deer. Any douchebag with a somewhat larger weapon can kill an elk or a moose. It isn't rocket science. Likewise, if you want to grow your own food all you have to do is take some seeds and add some dirt, water, and sunshine...then wait. If you are particularly motivated you might want to spread some crap on it. That's it. Nothing more...the damn plant grows all on it's own after that. Just be sure not to plant coconuts in Minnesota and you should more or less be allright.

2. As an avid supporter of the 2nd Amendment your guns will be all but useless in most circumstances. Depending upon the nature of the calamity at hand...you might not even be able to use them at all. If it's some sort of martial-law takeover having a big stockpile of guns is as good as painting a target on your forehead. Rest assured Big Brother knows who are and will be coming to neutralize you first. If it's some sort of natural disaster/disease pandemic/collapse of modern infrastructure your guns are only as good as the shells you have for them. Even if you own all of the equipment to reload your own shells and know how to do so YOU STILL NEED ACCESS TO THE POWDER TO CHARGE THEM!! Unless you happen to live on a sulfer and saltpeter mine w/ an ample supply of willow trees to turn into charcoal in order to make your own blackpowder you are S.O.L. Even then...a modern firearm won't last real long shooting such primitive and dirty ammo. If you want to be a "tough guy" learn how flint knap and make and use an atlatl. It's infinitely more practical for the long-haul and allows you to conserve your ammo for when you REALLY need it.

3. Any douchebag can use a power tool. There might be a little bit of wasted material if a novice picks one up for the very first time until they get a feel for it...but again...it isn't rocket science. You pull the trigger and then the tool begins to drill, cut, or nail things together.

4. Small towns and churches have brought you such wonderful things as institutionalized slavery of the most brutal varieties, witch-burnings, lynchings and the Hatfields and McCoys. As an individual who was born and raised in a rural small town I will attest to the fact the NASTIEST, MEANEST, MOST SELFISH, AND MOST SMALL MINDED elements of American society are from all those small towns in the "real America" or whatever. I'll take my chances in Compton over being stuck in a small town with a bunch of hillbillies ANY DAY!!

Certainly there are many, many, more of these sorts of statements...but you guys get the idea. What gives? Are these people crazy...or is it just some sort of social identity they have? Do they just have an inferiority complex and need to justify their existence somehow? Note...many of these sorts of people are my friends and family. I have nothing against them personally...but as time goes on they just seem to keep getting nuttier and nuttier. I just don't get it.

Thoughts?

I think the show "doomsday preppers" definitely lends popular culture towards thinking these people are NUTS.

I mean, who creates a large stockpile of guns, food, and water, then goes on TV to tell everyone about it?

reply to post by milominderbinder


I'm the opposite of this post completely. I am from the big city and moved to a small town in western mountains of North Carolina. I stayed here during the summer as a kid and loved the simple life with no noise or pollution and the small simple atmosphere. I'm not Christian(more agnostic) but i loved going to church and seeing my family and friends of the community where everyone knows everyone(and the food is amazing!!!). The city is just not for me everyone seems cold and self absorbed every time I head up north. If i waved at anyone in a big city like I do in the south I would be labeled a madman. Southern hospitality is real. There is a difference between rednecks and good ole boys.

I also don't think using power tools and doing construction work is easy and brainless...

I think you are oversimplifying the issue over loss of skills. You are absolutely correct in that anyone with an IQ over room temperature can be taught the skills required for hunting, fishing and farming in a few minutes. The issue is how do you process the harvest. It does you no good if you have hundreds of pounds of food that is inedible or worse, kills you because it wasn't processed properly. Just planting seeds and waiting is a recipe for disaster. If you plant field corn thinking it's sweet corn, you are going to have problems when you try to eat it. Same issue with rhubarb. How many people know that the leaves are poisonous?

There are similar issues with power tools. The skills to use them are quickly acquired, but how many people can make a new tool from scratch when the stator shorts out?

reply to post by JDmOKI


Yea, I dont know what small town the OP lived in but it wasnt the same one I lived in.
I lived in small town in East Tx for my last 3 years in High School after my parents moved us there from Dallas and everyone was very friendly.
When you drive down the road, everyone waves. Sometimes I would walk to the store, the nearest one was 5 miles away, if I walked on the road, someone would always offer me a ride but usually I would cut through the woods so I could shoot my .22
It was not a bad place but there was no work there, you would have to commute to Dallas for any high paying job.

reply to post by milominderbinder


Hunting and fishing successfully does take skill and practice. Ever go fishing and just cast and hope like most people? Or do you know the areas where the different fish hang out in different lakes around your area. Deer are stupid animals in the road, but smart in the woods, unless of course you want to go speeding around the highways hoping one will jump out in front of you before you starve. Know how to clean that deer without totally making a mess of it or poking the bladder open with your knife and ruining all your meat? I'd absolutely love to see someone thats never hunted pull the trigger clean and cut up Bambi. It would take em forever and they would not know how to use all the animal that they could let alone how to smoke/dryout some meat unless youre gonna eat a whole deer in one sitting. I'm proud I'm country, I'll be OK when TSHTF because I live "redneck" I have neighbors and a community that is small and everyone looks after one another. I think maybe you're just trying to make yourself feel better about living in a city or something OP.

reply to post by milominderbinder

IMHO, you are just wrong on so many levels.

The people that you think are 'nuts' are scared of what they are watching unfold in our world in general and our country in particular. The only thing we can do responsibly is prepare! It is difficult to understand how or why you disagree with that perspective and to make some of the comments in your post; however, you have a right to your opinion.

For me, I will continue to prepare, you can think of me as a nut if you wish but this country boy and his friends will have a better chance of survival than most!!

Good Luck!

With a title like that, how can I exist?

Hunting and fishing is not particularly difficult.

You're right... anyone can walk into the woods with a gun or get a hook in the water. Of course, that's not the purpose, is it? To start with, deer might not have the developed cerebrum, but they have some pretty good instincts. A car with headlights and a horn is a sure kill (for both the deer and the car), of course, but that's not a very efficient method of acquiring food.

No, deer hunting requires a few more things. You have to know where the deer are, for one. That means knowing how to track where they have been going (deer are creatures of habit), and being able to spot where they are likely feeding and bedding. Secondly, you have to be able to get within sight of the deer. That entails an understanding of how deer use their senses and what causes them to become alarmed. Wind direction, the ability to remain still and quiet, and the resolve to stay put despite the cold or the rain are all parts of this.

Then there's the shot... even if you are an experienced hunter, you will not be able to walk right up to a deer for a point-blank shot. You'll have to be accurate to a couple hundred yards at least. And you have to do more than hit the deer; you have to hit it in the right place. A wounding shot means you probably did kill the deer, but you won't be able to eat it because you won't be able to find it! Deer do not stand around still after being shot so you can eat them after they die... they run if possible, as far and as fast as they can. A good marksman can cause the deer to fall dead in place.

Marksmanship is not a simple task; it takes practice.

Fishing? Oh, sure, easy... as long as you know how fish migrate, how they feed, what water depth they will likely be at based on conditions, what bait will work at what times. etc.

your guns will be all but useless in most circumstances.

Yep! No argument there. Still nice to have a little firepower handy, but they're not the only survival need out there... not even in the top ten IMO.

Any douchebag can use a power tool.

Sure... they can use it to lop off an extremity. Power tools are dangerous if used improperly. Please stay away from them with this attitude.

Small towns and churches have brought you...

Allow me to correct you here. Assuming your truthfulness in your biography, you were never a country person despite the location of your birth. You were born city. It happens. Some people simply cannot stand the fresh air, depth of morals, hard work ethic, and love of independence that are inherent in country life.

I congratulate you for your decision to move to the city. You obviously need it.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


well said my friend.

I miss the old days when there was only 2 classes of people.
There was Rednecks and then there was
Hippies living in communes.
You could switch back and forth between the classes,
with something as simple as tucking your hair up under hat.

The Hippies had checkbooks,
but the Rednecks always had better food.

Well if they intend to neutralize 3 million people instantly who own guns, they better use aliens to do it.Otherwise they will be overrun in about a month depending on what countries they could actually convince to show up.So you think we'll just be stopped in our tracks if Martial law is declared because we will be prime candidates for catching bullets?I've seen government planning,execution and operations they depend on rules to function correctly,countless charts,manuals,infrastructure protocols....I could go on for hours.We are VERY skilled at operating under chaotic conditions.It is about as flexible as any crowbar in the German Army.
Yeah,"expert" been there done that,I can do it again.MYTH CONFIRMED.
If each of that 3 million kill ten,not that hard by the way,we still have more ammo,plenty more to finish.Then we have archery,rocks to bash in heads,kill bad guys and take their guns,Lethal slingshots,chemistry sets,all someone needs is a little imagination.

Yes, a lot of them seem to be crazy and getting crazier. The real issue is that America has changed drastically over the last 30 years, and people that haven't "evolved" are mad, scared, feel left behind, etc so they need to be obsessed with shooting, hating the government, etc to cover up for their feelings of inferiority.

With the cost and complexity of life going way up at the same time that the education and caliber of middle America is nose diving crazy talk (and actions) are unfortunately predictable and inevitable.

Yes, people that think they can survive just with guns and without society are deluded, but at this point it's too late and expensive for most of them to become successful even if they wanted to.

There have been some "preppers" lately that went crazy and ended up being shot and their hideouts, guns and supplies were a complete waste.

You speak of your home and upbringing in the country with a great deal of disdain... Did something happen there while you were growing up there?

I come from a small town that was very much like the mythical Mayberry. My family is about as country as they come, and after I grew up... I moved even further into the country.

I am a redneck and country bumpkin. I also have a college degree. Most of the people I know are just plain country and some of the nicest, most industrious, and ingenious people I have ever met.

They can engineer something from nothing, know how to turn nothing into a dollar, and when the lights go off or the car or truck won't start...I can think of no one else to have around.

They are volunteers at the fire department, sheriff's patrol, local events and fund raisers, at tragedies that strike a community like a fire or storm or plowing roads after a heavy snow or just riding around checking on elderly and pulling people out of ditches.

During fundraisers they give generously be it time, food, donations...often showing up for a stew sale or BBQ plate dinner... and even though the plates are 6 bucks.. they only have a 20 and say keep the change.

They work hard and farm or drive trucks or work for the local town as a maintainance guy or a forestry agent...

As for hunting... it takes more than just showing up in the woods with a gun... you actually have to be still, know the habitat and the habits of the deer... do your scouting homework... know wood lore and craft... and have patience and persistance..... same with fishing. Anybody can do it, but time and experience is needed to do it well.

As for those churches... they brought food to hungry people...white and black and hispanic... they donate wood and furniture and home repairs... clothes and building materials... fundraisers for people with medical bills for cancer... offer facitilties for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, food pantries and food banks, help for unwed mothers, and a host of other services to many to name.

If the SHTF... country folks would be ok. I lived in town for a while back when Hurricane Fran hit NC back in 1996... city folks weren't doing to spiffy. Waiting in lines for food and ice and water... country folks did fine. Most are aware that the pwer during and after a storm is not a certainty... and most have stocked pantries because a trip to town for 1-2 items is out of the question... and you never know when company might come by and suddenly you're feeding 6-8 folks instead of 2-4.

And just because of the culture country folks are self reliant... very independant minded... stubborn, hard headed, and distrusting of outsiders.

The biggest myths are the stereotypical lies of inbred, race car driving, cousin marrying, racists, Klan membered, tobacco chewing red neck...Budweiser nearby... watching the race. There are always a few in every crowd, but most country folks I know are plain salt of the earth kind of people.

They love God, Mom, apple pie, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, pick up trucks, Farmall or John Deere, Sunday Dinner, Andy Griffith, Cokes, Lil Debbie, and bisquits and gravy... have a flag on their house or lawn... and they know that steel from China sucks.

If you want to survive the Apocolypse with some sense of normality and security... I suggest you get to know these people.

Just because we talk slow does not mean we are stupid.

Originally posted by TheRedneck
No, deer hunting requires a few more things. You have to know where the deer are, for one. That means knowing how to track where they have been going (deer are creatures of habit), and being able to spot where they are likely feeding and bedding. Secondly, you have to be able to get within sight of the deer. That entails an understanding of how deer use their senses and what causes them to become alarmed. Wind direction, the ability to remain still and quiet, and the resolve to stay put despite the cold or the rain are all parts of this.

The deer where you live sound amazing. Maybe instead of learning all that crap, people can just move here. Deer are all over the place and all you have to do to hunt them is load your gun. There are two deer at the end of my field as I type this. I see deer everyday. What is wrong with the deer where you come from?

Rednecks never brag about, what they can, and cannot do.
That would be letting the wildlife, and other humans onto,
the possibility of bumping into you.
I know the wildlife watches me more then I watch them, and with current tech.
I think the humans do the same.

Nature does not accept modern society,
but some humans are accepted by nature.
And it is society that has a name for them,
nature just allows you to coexist, or eliminate you.

reply to post by habitforming

I see them every day too. The only time I don't see them is when I'm looking for them with a gun or bow in my hand.

Deer are not stupid. They will not jump in front of your bullet or arrow. They will not walk right up to you. They can be in the wide open and at the least hint of danger run into cover and blend away. That's why they have survived so long as a species.

I take it you don't hunt much...

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


These deer walk right up to my back deck and eat out of the garden while I am standing over it. Are you suggesting that they only do this because they know I am not armed at the time? The only thing that makes hunting them here is the law regarding hunting but the deer all around just wandering into sight. It is a huge problem on the nearby expressway. Well I was just wondering. Still sounds like you got some fantastic ass deer over there to me.

Originally posted by JDmOKI
reply to post by milominderbinder

 

I'm the opposite of this post completely. I am from the big city and moved to a small town in western mountains of North Carolina. I stayed here during the summer as a kid and loved the simple life with no noise or pollution and the small simple atmosphere. I'm not Christian(more agnostic) but i loved going to church and seeing my family and friends of the community where everyone knows everyone(and the food is amazing!!!). The city is just not for me everyone seems cold and self absorbed every time I head up north. If i waved at anyone in a big city like I do in the south I would be labeled a madman. Southern hospitality is real. There is a difference between rednecks and good ole boys.

I also don't think using power tools and doing construction work is easy and brainless...

edit on 22-6-2012 by JDmOKI because: (no reason given)

Really? How complicated is it to drill a hole or cut a board? I'm not saying that there isn't a some truth to the idea that "practice makes perfect"...but it's not exactly rocket science.

Originally posted by Doc Gator
I think you are oversimplifying the issue over loss of skills. You are absolutely correct in that anyone with an IQ over room temperature can be taught the skills required for hunting, fishing and farming in a few minutes. The issue is how do you process the harvest. It does you no good if you have hundreds of pounds of food that is inedible or worse, kills you because it wasn't processed properly. Just planting seeds and waiting is a recipe for disaster. If you plant field corn thinking it's sweet corn, you are going to have problems when you try to eat it. Same issue with rhubarb. How many people know that the leaves are poisonous?

There are similar issues with power tools. The skills to use them are quickly acquired, but how many people can make a new tool from scratch when the stator shorts out?

True enough. I suppose it depends on badly TSHTF. If it were of a truly civilization-ending event or an extinction-level event such as global thermonuclear war or a (very large) meteor impact we might be in a bit of trouble. Although....under such circumstances everybody will have trouble farming regardless of what seeds they use.

But I would wager that for the bulk of situations we would being experiencing more of a civilization-interrupting event. I would speculate that most likely a new disease pandemic would at worst be at the level of The Black Plague wiping out 30-50% of the population. This is just a guess, but I would think that an event such as the 90%+ mortality rate of smallpox in North and South America in the 1500's would be exceedingly rare if for no other reason that the bulk of humanity now has at least a basic and rudimentary understanding of how disease is transmitted and that it's probably a good idea to wash your hands after touching the open wounds and whatnot.

If we are looking at a civilization-interrupting sort of event would you really need to be able to manufacture or rebuild your own power tools? Hundreds of millions of units have been sold over the last the 60 years or so. These things are EVERYWHERE. How hard would it really be to scavenge, trade, or borrow another one?

Also remember...our evolutionary advantage is predominantly our ability to solve problems and communicate those solutions to one another. Let's say you wind up in a small band of fifty or so people. You only need ONE of those people to have a little knowledge about seeds, know how to preserve food, ....or even think to just run down to the library and grab a book about how to do these things. If Hurricane Katrina was any indication...the library should be one of the only places in town that remains un-looted and in good shape...and a bicycle can usually get you there.

It's not like you are going to be the sole survivor of a plane crash in the dead of winter in a mountainous region or something. That is a whole different sort of "survival" and admittedly ANYBODY might be in a bunch of trouble in those kinds of circumstances including park rangers, special forces military personnel, and world-class athletes.
But in this sort of a situation...there will be at least some resources around you.