I do not understand...

[catz07]

I am from Appalachia and do not understand how people who are tied to their heritage can be entertained by a comedian who is 1. Not even from the region and feels he has a right to criticize it (Atlanta is not a part of Appalachia) and is 2. Making money that reifies stereotypes meant to "other" people like me. These stereotypes were produced in the 1800's by literature geared to entertain the emerging middle class. This is not comedy; this is distraction from the real problems concerning the area. Hey Jeff, people don't have teeth because dental insurance is expensive and not every coal company that helped to build and power your city of Atlanta offered coverage like this. Not too funny, right? Making jokes about the same stereotypes over and over and over again is not funny, it's pathetic and unjust to the men and women who do their best to get by in an America that left them the moment they threw the Cherokee Indians out of the mountains.

So my question is this, what is so funny about depicting stereotypes that were produced for no other reason than to disvalue the Appalachian culture? Do not write that it's, "just a joke" because that is not answering the question. You are part of the problem but you don't care because you get your residuals at the end of the month which is the true problem, our society is so busy consuming that we somehow get lost and forget there have been many left behind. Not only left behind, but way more people who are so uninformed about the truth that they have no alternative than to laugh at the ridiculous jokes that are being made about them, their lives and their culture.

[JMidnight_99]

Originally Posted by catz07

I am from Appalachia and do not understand how people who are tied to their heritage can be entertained by a comedian who is 1. Not even from the region and feels he has a right to criticize it (Atlanta is not a part of Appalachia) and is 2. Making money that reifies stereotypes meant to "other" people like me. These stereotypes were produced in the 1800's by literature geared to entertain the emerging middle class. This is not comedy; this is distraction from the real problems concerning the area. Hey Jeff, people don't have teeth because dental insurance is expensive and not every coal company that helped to build and power your city of Atlanta offered coverage like this. Not too funny, right? Making jokes about the same stereotypes over and over and over again is not funny, it's pathetic and unjust to the men and women who do their best to get by in an America that left them the moment they threw the Cherokee Indians out of the mountains.

So my question is this, what is so funny about depicting stereotypes that were produced for no other reason than to disvalue the Appalachian culture? Do not write that it's, "just a joke" because that is not answering the question. You are part of the problem but you don't care because you get your residuals at the end of the month which is the true problem, our society is so busy consuming that we somehow get lost and forget there have been many left behind. Not only left behind, but way more people who are so uninformed about the truth that they have no alternative than to laugh at the ridiculous jokes that are being made about them, their lives and their culture.

Gee whiz. Everyone's a goddamned victim, aren't they? Has it occurred to that you make a good point, but no one cares? Erase it all. Erase the sports team Indian names, let gays marry, stop making fun of stereotypes... and guess what? Indians are still Indians, gays are still gay, and stereotyped people are still true to their stereotypes.

Gay marriage didn't make gays feel any more normal, because they aren't. At the end of the day you have two people of the same sex trying in vain to fulfill an instinctive urge to mate, with each other. It doesn't matter how "accepting" rest of the world is, they will never feel right. Don't you get it? Jeff Foxworthy and what he says or does -doesn't matter-.