Blog for Anthro 104, Fall 08, UMass Amherst

I happened to be reading something from the BBC on-line today, entitled “Why rednecks may rule the world”, while at the same moment that I was listening to the radio and hearing a short person-on-the-street interview with someone who had just voted in the Presidential elections in Ohio.  The somewhat inarticulate interviewee [frankly, he sounded drunk] was saying that he made his because “I like the Vice-President choice, I think that [that person] knows regular folks and sounds a lot like me”.   And, as anyone who knows me knows that I’m open about my political choices, well, I have to say, I cringed, thinking I most certainly don’t want a person who sounds like that guy as VP.

Anyway, as I looked at the “rednecks” article, I glanced at a subheader that I quickly read as American Ethocentrism.  But, a second glance made me see that it said American Ethos.  It got me thinking, how much is a national ethos unavoidably a national ethnocentrism?

I’m originally from New Hampshire, a little ways upstate which is probably as redneck as place as you’ll find in the Northeast.  So, the ideas in the Rednecks article kinda hit home for me, because I grew up with a lot of them.  I’m cutting and pasting some of them here:

• Belief that no law is above God’s law, not even the US Constitution.

• Hyper patriotism. A fighting defence of native land, home and heart, even when it is not actually threatened: ie, Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Haiti and dozens more with righteous operations titles such as Enduring Freedom, Restore Hope, and Just Cause.

• A love of guns and tremendous respect for the warrior ideal. Along with this comes a strong sense of fealty and loyalty. Fealty to wartime leaders, whether it be FDR or George Bush.

• Self effacement, humility. We are usually the butt of our own jokes, in an effort not to appear aloof among one another.

• Belief that most things outside our own community and nation are inferior and threatening, that the world is jealous of the American lifestyle.

• Personal pride in equality. No man, however rich or powerful, is better than me.

• Perseverance and belief in hard work. If a man or a family is poor, it is because they did not work hard enough. God rewards those who work hard enough. So does the American system.

• The only free country in the world is the United States, and the only reason we ever go to war is to protect that freedom.

Here is the original article, Why rednecks may rule the world, from the BBC.  Whattaya think?  Is the BBC writer being fair?  Is this the American ethos?  The redneck ethos?  How ethnocentric are these ideas?

And consider this part of the “ethos”:  “Personal pride in equality. No man, however rich or powerful, is better than me.”  What if it is, “Personal pride in equality. No person, however intelligent, is better than me”?  I talk positively about egalitarianism in my Anthro 104 lecture, don’t I?   But don’t I sound like a snob when I’m writing, above, about the Ohio voter who is making his voiting choice based on his  “personal pride in equality”?

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