QUOTE:
''Local color'' writers made brief visits to the mountains, then wrote fanciful books about the queer, violent mountain folk. As realistic as Harlequin romances, local-color books like Mary Murfree's ''In the 'Stranger People's' Country'' were read and reviewed as journalistic accounts. (O"Brien, 2003)
REACTION:
It is outrageous that anyone would take a book and use them as a journalistic account. The fact that people in today's modern society still use information like this to stereotype is unreal to me. I personally did not understand how West Virginians were being stereotyped this way until I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. When I would tell people that I was from West Virginia they would look at me funny. Several of them even thought that I meant western Virginia. I had to explain to them that West Virginia was a state itself, separate from Virginia. They would assume that because I was from West Virginia that I was uneducated and only knew how to do things such as farming. Categorizing any individual because of the location of where they were born and raised is ridiculous. All people are unique individuals and should be treated well and appreciated for their differences as well as their commonalities.
REFERENCE:
O"Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html
RELATED SOURCE:
http://www.abetterwestvirginia.com/2007/12/04/west-virginia-stereotypes-dont-believe-the-hype/
This is a link to an article written by Jason Keeling. In the article he describes how the image of the so called "hillbilly" has followed the state of West Virginia. The stereotyping of West Virginians is not perhaps the worst issue that we face, it is that there are a lot of native West Virginians that believe it themselves.
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ReplyDeletePeople think Appalachian people are uneducated yet they don't even know West Virginia is a state not a part of Virginia-Unreal! As your related source references a "Real Beverly Hillbillies" show think about how many Appalachian people would try to get on the show? How many would watch regularly? I think the first step to ending stereotypes is to get West Virginian's to stop promoting it and feeding into the frenzy!
ReplyDeleteBy the way this is Alyssa Farley-Wouldn't let me comment using gmail but did let me use aol.
ReplyDeleteJessica Battin
ReplyDeleteI too have expirienced a lot of confusion and prejudice when explaining that I am from a state called West Virgina. I have lived in many different states and countries and I can remember a specific time while I was living in Honduras, I was interviewed on the news (in Spanish) and when I said where I was from I didn't expect the reporter to know what I was talking about because my Spanish wasn't great and I was pretty far away. Well I was wrong. The reporter got a huge smile and proceeded to make fun of me on a Honduran news channel for lots of people to see. It was pretty insulting but interesting that the stereotype seems to be worse the further away you get.
I agree. It is amazing how people do not know that West Virginia is a state, or how people look at you when you tell them where you are from. I never think twice about where a person is from, and it seems that people are always making some kind of judgment about me being from West Virginia. I also can't believe that Jessi was being made fun of clear in Honduras! It's amazing how people just hear something and do not let go of it.
ReplyDeleteTeri, I totally agree with you. My dad was in the Military, so I have lived in many different places; and what I have learned is that people have the perception that if you are from West Virginia, you are uneducated, inbred, or barefoot and pregnant! When I used to tell people I was from West Virginia, I usually heard snickers, or I was constantly asked "are your mom and dad cousins?" I remember the last time someone asked me this question and asked them "Do you believe in Adam and Eve?" and they answered yes and my response to their question was then I guess we are all cousins. I guess the reality is that no matter where you go stereotypes will follow.
ReplyDelete