Posted on 12/31/2013 6:45:28 AM PST by KeyLargo
December 31, 2013 4:00 AM Good Ol Boy, Inc. Reality shows about gold miners, ax men, and ice-road truckers are a far cry from the Kardashians. By Victor Davis Hanson
The hysteria over Duck Dynasty reminds us that cable TV is currently inundated with working-class, white-guy reality shows. Top-drawing, relatively low-cost realities showcase gold miners, oil drillers, hunters, locomotive drivers, off-the-grid backwoods eccentrics, fishermen, crabmen, truck drivers, ax men, moonshiners, or the new generation of Beverly Hillbillies. The list of the particular subspecies of the muscular classes is endless.
These shows share a few common themes. They do not take place in an office, where most Americans work. They are not Kardashian psychodramas about plastic surgery gone bad, or a Gucci purse that underwhelmed the latte bunch in Brentwood. The men appear a bit beefier, perhaps stronger, but not necessarily more fit than your average American suburbanite. A big gut can add gravitas to the moonshiners biceps in a way impossible to achieve at the gym.
These men dont quite shave each day, and close-up shots suggest that none use tooth whiteners. There are no Tony Robbinses on the chain-saw crew. Their speech usually is Southern-inflected, or at least rural-sounding. They are almost exclusively white, but do not seem to especially worry that they are. Whatever their actual income, the players clearly think of themselves as solidly middle to lower middle class. They work with the sorts of machines, many of them dangerous huge trucks on ice, four-foot-long chain saws, earth-moving equipment, industrial arc welders that most Americans do not even know how to start up.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
You get it. Thanks, much better said by you then my feeble attempt. Happy New Year!
Just occurred to me: The lefty-loony producers, much like those of “All in the Family,” conceived the show with the sole aim of mocking traditional, male, pro-American values-— and failed.
Like All in the Family, the people warmly embrace the people and values that the lefty-loony identify for scorn and elitist derision, thereby, inadvertently making the show a popular success.
As people say: “Even a blind squirrel. . .”
“in an office where most Americans work”
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I disagree with that.
Perfect. Cheers! Happy New Year!
“Just occurred to me: The lefty-loony producers, much like those of All in the Family, conceived the show with the sole aim of mocking traditional, male, pro-American values- and failed.”
Yes, you are correct.
Thanks for understanding what the purpose of the media portrayal of the male in our society is in their Leftist, elite, limousine liberal minds and how it has backfired on them.
Your post #20 -That is awesome! God Bless the sheepdogs among us.
Your post #20 -That is awesome! God Bless the sheepdogs among us.
There is nothing real about “reality tv”...anyone who believes otherwise is completely media ignorant.
This is a terrific essay. VDH is the man.
"I disagree with that."
I also disagree with the author's statement.
Although Obama is attempting to insure that everyone will be equally unemployed no matter their occupation.
That, is a very good one.
I believe in the ‘takes all kinds’ philosophy.
Yes, bean counters and (non-government) paper pushers, too, for the level of economic success that we enjoy.
Yes, these shows are scripted to some extent, but they are about real Americans doing very interesting American things, with real American values, real American humor, and real American pathos; the very antithesis of bogus Hollyweird excrement.
Yes you need bean counters to count the money the producers generate, problem is bean counters with ideological driven motives are making the rules of the game. They wish to destroy small business as a few large businesses are easier to control. It is not that bean counters are bad it is that they are in positions that allow them to destroy any business they deem to be bad. Regulations are written by faceless paper pushers that never have to admit what they have done. This is not the government our Founders gave or envisioned for us. We are foolish to let this go on. Just my 2 cents. Happy New Year!
That graph pretty clearly shows a majority working in offices.
“That graph pretty clearly shows a majority working in offices.”
That may very well be by looking at face value of the graph I found and posted. However I would have to see a detailed breakdown of the two upper categories of the graph.
For example “Professional and Management” would also include those thousands of field managers and supervisors who do not work in an office.
Also in “Service and Sales” the same would apply to that of the thousands of field service and sales personnel not working in an office.
Easily outweighed by millions of office drones...
Well, yes especially if you are referring to government employees.
Ha ha—but the lack of muscle tone is kind of cute.
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