Saturday, March 14, 2015

Simplistic, cliché-ridden, moronic, xenophobic pissed-off rednecks

I took my title from the first comment here (my thanks to Peter Hilton). The post is by PZ Myers, analyzing a new country-western song that seems even more idiotic than most:
There’s a cheesy country-western song that is getting quite popular. I admit, I’m not fond of the genre; while there’s the occasional spark of brilliance or great performer, most of it is smug white folks crying about how miserable their lives are while blaring out either fist-pumping patriotism or treacly self-pity. It’s still the music many people grew up with, though, so it’s fine if you like it. You don’t have to rationalize why you like it here, OK?

But some things need explaining. This new song, Pissed Off Rednecks Like Me” is getting a lot of undeserved attention because it is “controversial”. It isn’t — it’s dumb. It feeds a lot of bigotry, though, so bigots are enjoying it.

He then goes through the lyrics, line by line. I won't copy it here - I urge you to read it at Pharyngula - but let me just say that my title is appropriate.

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