School bus driver fired for flying Confederate flag from truck; 'I'm a redneck. It's a way of life.'

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/03/10/2011-03-10_school_bus_driver_fired_for_flying_confederate_flag_from_truck_im_a_redneck_its_.html

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you would think to keep his job that he would simply take it off... I mean it's only for a couple hours a day...

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

LOL; they fired him for the flag, but they didn't fire him for being a moron?

I see kids around here with Redneck stickers on their cars and trucks. There's even a kid here in town with an "American by birth. Southern by the Grace of God" bumper sticker and he was born and raised here. Southern New England maybe?

I really think the racial connotations escape them, they just want to be hicks. It's not so different than the suburban kids who want to be "gangsta." Although from the looks of Mr. Bus Driver Dude, he's taken it up a notch.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

If you were proud of your flag why would you emblazon a derogatary word on it?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I never understood that mentality in CT...I knew a few kids who really embraced the confederacy when I was in HS. None of them made it to college.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that there are exceptions that take it too far. I think most kids around here that show the flag and bumper stickers just want the agricultural/hick/independent connection. A kid who works PT for us has the word "Redneck" across the tailgate of his truck in 8" letters. The racial aspect never really dawns on most of them.

A swamp yankee is essentially New England hick. Which comes without the negative racist stereotype and with benefit of some branches on the family tree. Maybe I need to go on an education/promotion tour.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

"REDNECK" is hardly a derogatory term. Can you explain?

Redneck- The glorious lack of sophistication.(Jeff Foxworthy)

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

When did redneck become a derogatory term?

Well, heck, here it is on wiki.

wiki description of redneck

I had never considered it a derogatory term and am sitting here wondering if wiki could possibly be wrong. The wife and I both are pretty proud of having a good bit of redneck in us and would not have it any other way. I've been to the city and seen how they live and that is not the life for me. I don't consider myself racist either. Over my lifetime I've lived in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Thailand and have had the opportunity to see how other cultures lived. I always looked forward to the day I would return to south Ga.

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Jim

I think that's part of my point Jim. I'd never want to consider you to be anything other than yourself. Over the years I've stopped attaching terms to people because they just cannot be accurate. It also just seems more respectful that way. These days I've even stopped saying Democrat or Republican when referring to politicians.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Isn't Oregon slightly North of the Mason-Dixon line?

i doubt that very many who fly the stars and bars miss the racial implications.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Where I grew up, being a redneck (rural south in the 1950's and 1960's) was not a compliment. It was an euphemism for poor white trash. Hard-drinking, narrow-minded, in-bred, and contemptuous of anything they didn't understand. Educated white people looked down on them and black people feared them.

The term has undergone a transformation over the past 50 years or so. Foxworthy's definition is notable for its utter lack of historicity.

Moving to the battle flag, it's a curious symbology. It is derived from the Scottish flag, the Cross of St Andrew, and symbolized a heritage shared by many southerns states and in defiance of the New England Yankee who would prefer the cross of St George. The English flag is a combination of both.

Early in the civil war each state, northern and southern, carried their own state flag into battle and may or may not have carried a national flag. The federal army was quick to recognize the confusion of so many flags and pressed hard for adoption of the national colors. Even so, you'll notice that the troops were generally deployed by state and some state's armies were purposely kept distant from other states. The Southern states had a much more difficult time adopting a national flag as they believed in state vs national gov supremacy. There ensued a confusion of possible banners, among them what we have come to know as the confederate battle flag. But it was not universally adopted. It was only AFTER the defeat of the confederacy that the battle flag became generally accepted as the flag of the Confederacy. Over a decade later it was adopted by the resurgent KKK as a symbol of unity. Many former confederates hated to see its adoption by the KKK, prefering it as a symbol of southern pride rather than racial domination. They lost. In the 20's and 30's the infamous Mississippi governors, Varner and Bilbo, took advantage of the racism and combined it with hate for the northeastern bankers whom they blamed for the economic collapse and used that unwholesome brew to consolidate white power and further oppress black people. Other states of the former confederacy made use of that tactic to lesser degrees.

And this brings us to the civil rights movement of the post WWII generation.

Thanks for the history lesson Botnst.

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Jim

X2 on the history lesson.

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K