When I heard “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” was coming back on TLC for another season, honestly, I was thrilled. Pageant queen Alana cracks me up with her smart comebacks and the whole family is a country-fried ball of fun and laughs.
But some people don’t think it’s funny at all. In fact, they find this show to be insulting, disturbing and ridiculous.
Those people are from the South like me, but they don’t want to be perceived in the same light as this show, along with other “redneck” themed shows.
“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is just one of the many redneck reality TV shows sweeping across our nation. All seem to depict a Southern, country way of living in a highly entertaining and enhanced way. These shows are made for fun.
When it comes to these shows, I’ve heard people say “they make us look like white trash,” and “I can’t believe people really act like this.”
The redneck stereotype creates an image of a burly, hairy man in overalls, wearing a trucker hat, sporting a beer in one hand and a shot gun in the other, while barely speaking English. His favorite quote is, “Hey ya’ll, watch this!”
Television and other media love to portray all southerners like this. Look at shows like History Channel’s “Cajun Pawn Stars” and MTV’s “Buckwild.”
These shows are made to exaggerate the redneck stereotype; they’re not made to be true southerners.
These shows are strictly made for drama and entertainment value. “Cajun Pawn Stars” is really in Alexandria, nowhere near Cajun country. You want Cajun? Go take a trip down to Houma or Lake Charles.
“Buckwild” is simply a pathetic excuse for being southern or country. All they do is party, shoot random objects and ride four-wheelers.
“Buckwild” is filmed in West Virginia. If the temperature isn’t 90 degrees or higher in the middle of June, it’s not southern, honey.
At first, the characters of “Jersey Shore” depicted New Jersey and other New York residents with their drunken bronzed distain called a “guido.”
But eventually people soon realized this was just another northern stereotype. Those dang Yankees.
Even though a few parts of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” might not be exact, the West Monroe based show portrays a loving family with wholesome values; something that is totally different from this redneck spectrum. It’s one show we can be proud of in this mix of redneck reality.
I get why some people would be upset, but you have to take these television shows with a grain of salt.
Just about every culture is made fun of these days, and country folk just happen to be at the top of the list at the moment.
But when you’re the butt of the jokes and are able to laugh along with everyone else, there comes an understanding of the popularity this culture has with our fellow Americans. So in the end, we get the last laugh.
These shows are more fake-ality than reality, so why is everyone getting so upset?
So what if everyone else around our nation thinks we act like this? People will soon realize that sure, there may be a few crazies thrown into our sweet tea, but we’re not all like that.
Before the South gets offended about how our part of America is seen on TV, we need to “redneckognize” the cultural stereotypes in our nation and how we see them. If they are able to laugh at themselves, why aren’t we?
