Hick night at a local high school...you have to understand what these hicks are all about...

[Freedomofspeech]

I am a retired High School librarian and I work on occasion at my friend's flower shop. One day a young girl came in to plan her wedding...it was a camouflage theme. The flower girls were wearing camouflage dresses with hunter orange sashes. The men were wearing camo vests, the centerpieces were beer bottles with a single rose and the boutonnieres were empty shotgun shells with flowers in them. They are so proud of their guns and their low brow lifestyle. You cannot make this stuff up...trump central here in Southwest PA. It truly is horrifying.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

1. Yeah, that's classy. n/t

[msanthrope]

2. Pennsytucky. nt

[karmaqueen]

3. I grew up in Pittsburgh and left in 1971.

When did all this redneck stuff happen? I was young so maybe I don't remember but the inner city was filled with very liberal college people and union workers. There was not one registered republican in our district. I was born & raised in Arlington Heights on the very top of the South Side Slopes. (Was not called slopes & flats back then) I am horrified to read this, heaven help us!

[Freedomofspeech]

4. This happened when the tea party started...

It appealed to the uneducated. Also, when Richard Mellon Scaife bought up every local newspaper, his goal was to turn this area red. He would never allow a Democrat on the front page of any of his newspapers and every editorial and cartoon was red. I do not recognize this place anymore.

[femmocrat]

8. I think it goes back a little further than the Tea Party.

I remember a lot of Perot support around here in '92. We moved here in 1985 and they were pervasive then. I couldn't believe how backward some of the kids were in the schools. Now we are seeing second and third generation redneck families. Heck... they still have their trump signs in their yards!

Remember how vitriolic the Tribune-Review was toward the Clintons? Hateful publication. I'm glad they went belly-up. LOL

[karmaqueen]

14. I do remember hearing about the newspaper takeover.

I can still hear the concern in my niece's voice as she was telling me about everything being in the hands of a few. Whatever it is I am saddened that our Country has come to accept all of this and Donald Trump as normal...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. Pittsburgh seems like a liberal oasis.

Thirty miles north of Pittsburgh, or thirty miles south, and there are more important issues than education and equality: hunting and fishing.

[Orrex]

32. The death of unions and the steel industry are at the root of it

1971 might as well have been a thousand years ago. All of western PA is a sewer of Rightwing madness.

[msongs]

5. perfect candidates for a life in the coal mines. except coal is fading fast. well there's welfare oh

wait repubs want to kill that too. future looks bleak

[jpak]

6. So?

[femmocrat]

7. Have you seen any camo prom ensembles yet?

There was a picture of a lovely young couple all decked out in camo for their prom photo a couple of years ago. Yep.... same neck of the woods.

Also.... a few years ago, there was an episode of "My Big Redneck Wedding" filmed at a local mud hole.

This is about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. We are surrounded by them.

[Freedomofspeech]

13. Well...

You are close to me!

[jmg257]

9. Is this why we lost PA? How prevalant is this culture in PA?

[Freedomofspeech]

11. South and North of Pittsburgh and central PA.

They say between Philly and Pittsburgh is Alabama.

[Freddie]

27. Truer words never printed

I'm in suburban Bucks Co. and there's a surprising Pennsyltucky element here too. Like my son-in-law's family. We got him on the correct (left) side.

[jmowreader]

48. Voter intimidation in the Philadelphia area and Jill Stein are why we lost PA

Voter intimidation:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-over-half-of-voter-intimidation-complaints-today-are-coming-from-pennsylvania/

The report says precincts in Philadelphia were demanding voters show ID, which is against state law. Trump also mobilized poll watchers in that area to protect against "voter fraud." Philadelphia was reporting very heavy turnout and it's a very Democratic area, which makes one suspect that perhaps things aren't on the up-and-up there.

Ballot totals:

https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania,_2016

Trump: 2,970,733
Clinton: 2,926,441 (difference of 44,292)
Johnson: 146,715
Stein: 49,941

[Sinistrous]

10. Shades of "The Deer Hunter"

[hatrack]

12. Well, clueless is pretty much universal . . .

There's a book called "Cold New World", which was written about 20 years ago.

It focused on four communities/areas on the way down - New Haven, East Texas, Yakima Valley and Lancaster, CA - and specifically what's happening to young people in those areas.

One interviewee for the book, a local teacher or librarian, was talking about Lancaster, an ostensibly middle-class community. Lots of problems with gangs, homeless kids, and increasingly clueless adults - no sense of responsibility or decorum or just common sense.

A high school girl killed herself, apparently on a dare with friends. The local teacher mentioned how her father showed up at the funeral in a yellow suit. In her words, "A yellow leather suit."

[meadowlander]

15. How is it "horrifying"?

If it doesn't spook the cattle, who cares? It actual sounds really creative and fun to me.

We lose votes from these people because they think we are "mean" and "snobs". And calling them hicks and low brows and being horrified and judgemental about some harmless fun is kind of proving their point.

If people want to having a hunting themed wedding who cares? One of my friends had a Star Trek themed wedding and another had a werewolf themed wedding. Are those "horrifying" and "low brow"?

I would draw the line at an actual racist KKK or confederate themed wedding, but if people want to have fun and get creative around their hobbies on their special day then who are we to judge?

[treestar]

21. those same people are pretty judgmental

when it comes to other lifestyles.

[Marengo]

23. How do you know this applies to those particular individuals?

[treestar]

37. just in general, they are likely to be

some might not be, but we know there are more rural conservatives.

[meadowlander]

43. Not really an excuse though, is it?

I can't believe people are falling for this bullshit from a "librarian" who can barely write grammatically correct sentences in English who happens to tell an extremely judgemental anecdote, apropos of nothing, using loaded classist language which happens to insult a swing voter group in key electoral college states.

[Henry Krinkle]

16. "Hick night"... "low brow lifestyle"... seriously?

Part of the reason Trump won, is because of stereotypical and disconnected angst posts like this...
and I'm a 60 year old, life long Boston metro resident.

I'm not a hunter (although I do own a number of firearms), but your hateful and blind attitude is no better than the
other sides criticism and scorn of gay/diversity/ themed celebrations.

Who the fuck are you to judge about these people without even knowing them?

They may or may not be Trump supporters, but as long as the couple and wedding party were happy, good for them...
at least they weren't wearing klan robes.

[MadCrow]

35. Stereotypical West Virginians just across the border from PA

I was born in NY in 1940 and moved to WV in 1972. Living in NY, my concept of life in WV was I saw on television. The only things covered were disasters, Buffalo Creek comes to mind; and coal strikes, striking miners in the local beer joint passing time, playing pool, and listening to Johnny Paychek singing "Take this job and shove it, I ain't working here no more." WV was solidly Democratic back then. There were few, and sometimes no Republicans on the ballot. I registered Democrat so I could vote in the primaries and have been a loyal Democrat ever since.

It wasn't until I lived here that I discovered how WV has been misjudged in the national media. Sure, there are a few people that fit the image, but the vast majority are not like that. WV is very provincial in its attitudes. As a high school teacher, I had kids in my class who had never been to Charleston which is about 100 miles away. School virtually closed down the first day of hunting season. The school couldn't schedule activities on Wednesday evening because that was Church night. ROTC was a major player in our high school. The military came in and gave the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) to our entire sophomore class. Then used the results to aggressively recruit students to join the Armed Services. Many of these kids had no other options. Coal mining was declining, and college was out of reach to many of them. This is still true.

I am alarmed that this state went for Trump, but I can understand why. Our economy has been failing for years. Our tax base is deteriorating. In my county we are down to one major coal mine. Our largest employers are the schools, the hospital, and Walmart. WV has the largest prescription drug abuse problem in the country. We are losing our traditional mountain culture. Our kids don't see a future. Voting for Donald Trump was a way to be heard. To say that the status quo hasn't worked for us for years, and it's time that the country woke up and realized that. Unfortunately, I don't think that my fellow West Virginians are going to benefit from what was essentially a protest vote against the establishment.

[meadowlander]

44. "I am alarmed that this state went for Trump, but I can understand why."

So can I. Apparently it's fine to call them classist names and not get your thread locked on sites like DU.

[pintobean]

17. Did you wish her well?

Appreciate her business? These young people are going to have some fun and, for some reason, you're bitter about that.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. This sounds like an affordable wedding

It makes more sense to me than some exotic "destination" wedding that imposes huge transportation and hotel costs on the guests. I wish them the best.

[nikibatts]

20. Aren't these the people that Pres. Obama was talking about clinging to their guns and religion?

He was soundly criticized for telling the truth.

[blueseas]

26. Seems like there is a part of the US

That glorifies camo wear and cannot think without a gun.

[dalton99a]

22. It's their wedding - they can wear clown suits and red noses if they want.

[Marengo]

24. "Hick", eh? You sound rather proud of your obvious prejudice.

[RedWedge]

25. WTF is this shit right here.

"Proud of their low-brow lifestyle"? "Horrifying"? You're a snob. It sounds like they had a lot of fun and hurt exactly nobody.

[Kali]

28. All classes of people include those with shitty taste as well as judgemental assholes.

Democrats used to be about helping and educating poor rural people, now we call them hicks and ridicule them. I wonder why we lose elections?

[treestar]

38. helping and educating poor rural people?

These people want none of either. And vote in your best interests, not because someone made fun of you. You want to have an economy against your interests and lose your family in wars, voting for Republicans because some Democrat wasn't obsequious enough? What snowflakes!

[Kali]

41. Obsequious isn't necessary or even productive,

but arrogant ridicule of entire populations is just ugly bigotry and doesn't advance ANYBODY'S interests.

[pintobean]

45. I was thinking about

starting a thread about librarian stereotypes.

[Freddie]

29. What happened at the HS "hick night"

Was a basketball game. Fun, right? 99% white school. There were a number of black players on the opposing team. Things got ugly.

[HoneyBadger]

30. Their life, their wedding day

Dream weddings do not make or break a marriage, I doubt that camo weddings do either.

Interesting take on the proverbial "shotgun" wedding. Will a bride with a baby bump "escort" the lucky groom with a 12 gauge?

[jmg257]

31. Guess those young folks could have done a destination wedding, hired a personal planner,

fly to some resort with all their low brow friends, frolic in the ocean while sipping champagne.

Maybe some fireworks...now that would have been a wedding to be proud of!

[democrank]

33. Attitudes exemplified in posts like this help explain

why our party lost about 1,034 state and federal seats in the last eight or so years, and why Republicans have complete control over about 32 states.

Most people I know who wear camouflage clothing and/or hunt are the absolute salt of the earth. These are folks I'd call first if I needed a problem solved, a favor done, or a member of my family protected.

When my beloved Vietnam Vet was dying, men in camouflage were the first ones to offer a ride to the VA or show up with a pot of soup. I don't care about wedding centerpieces or what kind of vests men wear, I care about good deeds and kind hearts.

Let's get past this broad brush painting and get on with connecting with each other on a human level.

[milestogo]

34. That is the grossest thing I've ever heard.

[nolabear]

36. Those "hicks" are my family.

I don't think any of my family members would do that but it's a cultural thing and snarking at those people for things that don't harm you a bit but just give you a chance to feel superior is unbecoming. It's not liberal; it's the same kind of prejudice we claim to hate if it's leveled at others.

[treestar]

39. I know some of these people too

they have plenty of cases of feeling superior because they "work" (liberals don't and depend on the government, they will allege).

[meadowlander]

46. I know some of them too.

They're working class democrats who enjoy hunting.

I wouldn't extrapolate from the people I know to make assumptions about all people who hunt or wear camo because that would be, you know, kind of the definition of prejudice and bigotry.

[nolabear]

47. I know. But we claim to be inclusive. I hate so much of what they do but wont abuse them.

[linuxman]

40. So? What's it to you?

[sl8]

42. So, was the wedding held in the local high school, or ?

It may be just me, but how does the subject line relate to story?

The subject line indicated that the local high school played a significant role, but the narrative doesn't mention the high school at all.