[Frankster]

This topic should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Southern history. We in the South have been harshly criticized for hundreds of years. I believe that this has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon efforts to destroy the culture of Celtic peoples. (Irish, Scots, and Welsh). (Despite what many may think, most white Southerners are of Celtic heritage.)
I find the term "redneck" as offensive as the "n" word. The only ethnic group left who can be freely criticized are white Southerners. Sadly, some of our own people have come to believe that their culture is inferior. I can't tell you the number of times I have heard Southerners apologize for their accents. I don't hear of any other group doing that.
If one looks at Southern culture objectively, one can see that there is a great deal of consistency with the Celtic culture of our ancestors. One can also see shortcomings, which may be found in all groups.
We need to reclaim our history. The textbooks now used in schools don't really tell our story,, and the popular national culture usually dismisses us as ignorant bigots.
I am not discouraged. We have a way of enduring, and we will continue to do so. DEO VINDICE

[robowombat]

Alas 'redneck' has become the equivalent of the 'n' word. While it was coined as a demeaning description, there was a time about 100 years ago when it was proudly worn by those who it was supposed to demean. Simply put 'redneck' did not mean yahoo or ignorant rabble. Rather it meant those men who plowed their own (or all to frequently their tenant farm)fields. A plowman necessarily leaned far forward over the horns of the plow shaft and thrust his head forward . In this way the plowman's whole neck was exposed to the sun even though anyone in the South would always wear a hat while plowing to provide protection from the sun. The result of years of being a plowman was to give such small farmers a perpetual deep brick red tan to their necks. Thus redneck meant plowman and small farmer, i.e. an honest son of toil; not a Poor White or yahoo.

The men who had the brick red necks took this name from those who coined it as a snobbish epithet and in places like Mississippi and Georgia made it their battle cry as that of the white small holder. A honest man and true son of the soil. To bad it's contemptuous meaning has come back in vogue.