#this is a niche niche appalachia joke | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

turnstileskyline · 3 years

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yall NEED to stop with your “haha appalachia faces disaster oopsie maybe they shouldve voted democrat” jokes they arent funny. the stereotype of a hillbilly of a guy covered in dirt with ripped up overalls, a scraggly beard, missing teeth, and a heavy country accent isnt funny. southern economy still relies heavily on agriculture, logging, coal mining and otherwise “dirty” jobs. those jobs are low paying, but theyre jobs that have to be taken to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. new clothes arent the top priority. dental care is a luxury, and dental hygienists arent exactly in a rush to come to appalachia. the image of a shack/cabin/trailer barely fitted with electricity isnt funny. its not.

yall need to understand WHY appalachia is conservative, because conservative politicians tend to be the only ones that actually come to appalachia and pretend to care!!! because conservatives pretend to be the working man!!!! because the liberal politicians write them off as just poverty porn bigots to ignore!!!! even then politicians only go to whatever is the closest city!!! SO MUCH of appalachia has the ideals that yall put forth!! (and because i know someones gonna get on my ass and twist my words: no, i’m not talking about bigots [even though they arent appalachia exclusive]) appalachia was built on unions and solidarity and community, and refusal of outside authority because communities were founded on loyalty to each other, but with booms of industrial advancement in the early to mid 20th century it was slowly lost to industry and economy and powerful politicians using them as cheap labor. schools are underfunded and curriculums are easily edited because appalachia is forced into the niche of the working class!!!!! and i didnt even fucking mention gerrymandering!!

appalachia isnt just the idea of violent, poor, prejudiced and stupid hillbillies– there’s poverty, but there’s community above all.

yall dont want actual change or else you would be supporting the work of black, indigenous, and latine people of color that are fighting to rebuild the roots of solidarity. and you would be supporting the work of lgbt+ people that are fighting past the homophobia and transphobia of the evangelical systems that forced their way into infrastructure. and you would be supporting the work of disabled activists fighting for access to healthcare and accessibility!! and this barely scratches the surface of the work these groups do. yall dont want actual change, you just wanna laugh at the image of hillbillies and rednecks you have in your head.

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