I typically cannot stand to listen to country music. Some of it is downright painful. The main reason for that is the phenomenon that I call redneck elitism. It’s this odd theme that I’ve noticed flows through country music and country-western culture in general. It seems much of it stems from a sense of patriotism that is often distorted into ethnocentrism. Whenever I hear country radio stations for any length of time I am just aghast at the bloated pride that comes with “redneck” culture and the blanket mocking of anything outside of it. It disturbs me.
I know that it is the nature of enclosed cultures to form a sub-context of elitism over time and this is by no means exclusive to “redneck” culture. I just seems to me that this particular brand of elitism is particularly dangerous. When it is in defensive mode (like it is most of the time) it is simply disturbing but when it finds cause to shift to an offensive position, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to count it as a factor in the continual wars the U.S. finds themselves in.
