Appalachian Hick culture

[Duke_Leto]

I’m from Tennessee, albeit not the more rural areas. Like @Sunstone said, they’re just people. Media like to depict Appalachians as uneducated, dumb, racist, or whatever, but from my experience that generally isn’t true, with the exception perhaps of education — which, still, doesn’t make them stupid. They’re typically relatively accepting and friendly; though, especially to Northeners like yourself, they (and this applies to a lot of rural Southerners in general) smile less and act less outwardly “warm” when they’re being friendly than Northeners do, and I think this, along with simple old-fashioned classism, is why they tend to be depicted as racist gun-toting slackjawed idiots, possibly conflated with other rural Southern stereotypes.

The region has always struggled economically though. In east Tenessee, I think things were a bit better when Knoxville was more of an industrial city, but now I don’t really know how that area is doing — especially since I don’t live in Tennessee anymore — and I suspect Knoxville’s mostly a college town now, so I doubt it can really prop up the rural economy too much.

 

[Revoltingest]

I’m from Tennessee, albeit not the more rural areas. Like @Sunstone said, they’re just people. Media like to depict Appalachians as uneducated, dumb, racist, or whatever, but from my experience that generally isn’t true, with the exception perhaps of education — which, still, doesn’t make them stupid. They’re typically relatively accepting and friendly; though, especially to Northeners like yourself, they (and this applies to a lot of rural Southerners in general) smile less and act less outwardly “warm” when they’re being friendly than Northeners do, and I think this, along with simple old-fashioned classism, is why they tend to be depicted as racist gun-toting slackjawed idiots, possibly conflated with other rural Southern stereotypes.

The region has always struggled economically though. In east Tenessee, I think things were a bit better when Knoxville was more of an industrial city, but now I don’t really know how that area is doing — especially since I don’t live in Tennessee anymore — and I suspect Knoxville’s mostly a college town now, so I doubt it can really prop up the rural economy too much.

 

[BSM1]

I’m from Tennessee, albeit not the more rural areas. Like @Sunstone said, they’re just people. Media like to depict Appalachians as uneducated, dumb, racist, or whatever, but from my experience that generally isn’t true, with the exception perhaps of education — which, still, doesn’t make them stupid. They’re typically relatively accepting and friendly; though, especially to Northeners like yourself, they (and this applies to a lot of rural Southerners in general) smile less and act less outwardly “warm” when they’re being friendly than Northeners do, and I think this, along with simple old-fashioned classism, is why they tend to be depicted as racist gun-toting slackjawed idiots, possibly conflated with other rural Southern stereotypes.

The region has always struggled economically though. In east Tenessee, I think things were a bit better when Knoxville was more of an industrial city, but now I don’t really know how that area is doing — especially since I don’t live in Tennessee anymore — and I suspect Knoxville’s mostly a college town now, so I doubt it can really prop up the rural economy too much.

Like my Virginia Grandmother taught me, just because you hate someone's guts that no reason to be rude.