Words, and the people who say them.

Who here hasn't been around the redneck crowd and hasn't heard one of them say something like, "he made me so made I could have picked up my shotgun and shot him." It just occurred to me that being redneck gives you a license to say things like this without repercussion. In fact, it's part of their heritage. Yet, if anybody else says them, they'd be referred to Homeland Security.

Anybody else pick up on this? I'm just wondering, has the time come to take these comments seriously, no matter who says them?

responsibility for the speaker's emotional reactions in the other person. "He made me mad." This is a common pattern in abusers and bullies. They can't accept responsibility for themselves.

Two days ago I interviewed a guy who was in jail for sexually molesting a 13 year old girl. He kept talking about how the event was impacting him. I asked, "What about the girl?" His response--"I really don't hold it against her that she got me in all this trouble." Migod, how generous of him!

This is in reference to your comment, "he made me mad," or I would add, "he made me do it" and not in reference to the very twisted guy you talked about.

Here's the question: What would be the civil response to a situation where someone was really being bullied or exploited? If you can't rely on the civil courts, because you don't have money for a lawyer; if you can't rely on the criminal courts because of political obstruction; if you can't rely on community support because the bad situation is endemic, what civil option do you really have left?

The simple answer is, withdrawal.

That's why I have a real problem with the courts mistaking someone's silence for agreement. I mean, if a person gets raped, and the person who raped her had strong political connections, would you confuse the victim's silence for acquiesence? Of course not. So, why would silence ever be used as proof that someone was okay with the exploitation?

So, in a nutshell, if the law isn't going to allow us to take justice into our own hands, it should also atleast give us the dignity of suffering in silence, without further injury to our welfare.

It's all a mess, because we're living in the era of chaos. We can't even blow off steam by threatening someone bodily harm. What crazy time we live in, since it surely does appear that we're all being trained to be well-behaved victims of a dysfunctional society.

or when there are no good options. Seeing the situation for what it is and withdrawing is probably the wisest course in many instances. The I Ching counsels this course in the face of overwhelming power. Withdraw and build your resources while waiting for the correct moment to act.

Another issue your question brings to mind is that of learned helplessness. To keep trying and losing in the face of insurmountable odds will eventually teach you that "resistance is futile." Nothing you can do will matter. I think a goodly share of the public is already there, and what we see as apathy is really the result of people having bcome convinced that nothing they do will change the course of things; they are not in charge of their own destiny, so they might as well relax and enjoy the ride. No point in looking out the window because they can't do anything to avoid the rapidly approaching wall anyway.

I'd love to see more analysis of this kind. I think you're spot on about the I Ching comment of "Withdraw and build your resources while waiting for the correct moment to act" as well as, "learned helplessness."

I really think you're on to something, because, if those of us who have taken the time to study a community and who have tried to change it, have decided that withdrawal is the best remedy, then it certainly would explain why everybody else is walking around like zombies too.

Or how it's "part of their heritage"?

Way to generalize and stereotype.

fling this threat, easily. Sorry, but that's just the way it is around here. I'm not going to stifle my experiences in order to protect your comfort zone.
In fact, I think it's an issue that needs to be discussed, because some of us feel threatened by these comments.

It went along with a conversation where they also made remarks which most people on this newsgroup would consider racist. In other words, the conversation would jump from how the local high school's academic standing went down because the rezoning required the school to take in "those Puerto Ricans" in the so-and-so division, to how nearby construction in the area may have cut off someone's water while they were taking a shower and the person said, "I could have gotten my shot-gun and shot them." And the person in question, is not a nice person to begin with and has done things that most reasonable people would not do.

Some people that say things like that are just talk, most of them are, I guess, but I wouldn't like that sort of talk either. Especially since s/he's already done "things that most reasonable people would not do."

I was eating dinner once in Europe and asked "if anyone was gonna kill off the rest of the potatoes."
The people at the table were rather shocked at that idiom which became a conversation and discussion
for the rest of the dinner.

There are plenty other examples we find in American English which are not necessarily redneck but
are indicative of our historical development which wasn't exactly peaceful.

That may have something to do with my reactions to it, when I hear it.

until then.

I've used that all my life - I don't even know if it is a common phrase, or if it is only because I grew up on military bases.

I think we can all visualize exactly the sort of crowd the OP is talking about. I know- I grew up around 'em. (Yes, I had friends...)

By the way, the OP exactly describes people I personally know and work with. They call themselves rednecks.

I mean, really. Don't be so 'concerned'.

Rarely with a shotgun though.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

Probably because I know how I feel when I hear it, even in casual conversation. It's interesting that you don't feel quite as repressed. And I do believe, that repression is probably the right word.

I ended my community activism with a group, just because one of the guys thought it was funny to talk about putting a mail bomb in someone's letter box. My blood literally ran cold. I knew he was joking, but I also knew I didn't want to be associated with anybody in community activism who was stupid enough to say something like that while they were hanging around City Hall.

He was a Republican, by the way.

i am sure and educated white person could say that too and not just 'rednecks'

I think that those very rough white supremacist groups are very much on the FBI's watch list, but I don't believe that it's given as much public attention as, let's say, an hispanic gang group, and I believe that's because the FBI is afraid of stirring up another WACO incident.