The Great Divide: The division between rural and urban and its links to white supremacy.

“I'm proud of my hillbilly, white trash background. To me, that keeps you humble; that keeps you good. And it doesn't matter how hard you try to outrun it—if that's who you are, that's who you are. It'll show up once in a while.” --Dolly Parton. When you think of small towns, one of two images typically comes to mind. The Hallmark channel version-Where it's so charming and quaint that almost something is out of a fairy tale. Or your mind takes into the more sinister associations that often depict scenes from the book "Deliverance". There's no in-between in the perceptions of the "country bumpkins" living in rural America. And thanks to Jason Aldean's song "Try That in a small town"--those perceptions are being plastered all over social media platforms with no end in sight. But does that song reflect the stereotypes that are heavily associated with rural folks in the "one-horse" towns? Thanks to Jason Aldean, everyone and their third cousin now have opinions on small towns and what goes on in them. And some of those opinions make it sound like rural folks are buying white bed sheets in bulk while running around in the woods like a bunch of feral heathens. Or that rural folks are "living their best lives in the" back forty". Neither point of views are exactly accurate and ties back into the white supremacy talking point about poor people. Oh yes, white nationalists hate the working poor just as much as they do minorities and the LGBTQ+ communities. So, let's dive into that lesser talked-about aspect of white supremacy and the way it affects small towns. It might come as a shock to folks, but the white supremacist system targets rural areas. Only they use classism instead of outright racism or bigotry. That's why the planters' class created colorful stereotypes like "hillbilly", "redneck", "saltine brigade", "white/trailer trash", etc. with some super ugly associations to target rural. Like being uneducated, dirty, inbred, criminals with dueling banjos, etc.

A good example of this tactic is Reagan and his infamous "Welfare Queens" speech, which really was a declaration of war on the poor and minorities by the GOP. Even back then, the folks that were primarily on public assistance were the working poor that lived in both rural and inner cities. It also might surprise people to know that rural and inner cities have a lot of similarities when it comes to social and economic problems. For example, poverty rates, high crime rates, drugs, defunded public schools, lack of housing, lack of access to health care, and so on. And that's not even mentioning the "school to prison" pipeline that was solely designed to target minorities and the poor. We even get cases of police brutality in rural America, but they don't get as much media coverage because it doesn't fit the divisive narrative that folks like to eat up like "apple pie" and gets swept under the rug. Thanks to the "good 'ole boy" system (The classist the thumb on the white nationalist hand) that always runs rabid in rural America.

Despite that statistics prove how similar inner city and rural places are, but people just can't quite get past the divide between cities and small towns. And, if you ever work a campaign for an election, you get a closeup of just how much of a divide there is between the two geolocation. And a ton of old southern cliches come out in troves by people that should know better but ultimately don't care due to needing a scapegoat, especially if that election doesn't go the way people want. But what folks are not seeing is that White Nationalists are trying to hijack the cultural identity of rural folks and glamorizing the negative stereotypes of the poor and trying to sell them to the urban and suburban groups as a "Anarchist" wet dream. So not only do they intentionally target the middle class with their nonsense, by giving a completely fictional story on what life in a small town is like. (Yes there's more to it than hunting dogs, jacked up 4 wheel drives, and shotguns),

but also delivers the fears that city folks have about rural areas.

I mean, all you got to do is look at the demographics that are supporting Aldean right now- Which is basically a class of entitled, white folks between the ages of 20-50 years old that are angry about a system that promised them a life of "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" never happened for them and left them as inconvenienced millionaires. And it's fair to say that those folks wouldn't survive a day in an area like mine regardless of how much they listen to Bocephus. I mean, one storm can knock out power and cell phone service for days on end. Never mind the low-water bridges flooding every time it rains, or the permanent collection of dust from the old dirt roads. Or the fact, that we have to drive for an hour to get to anywhere that remotely looks like civilization. But again, these are things that folks don't see due to the constant pushing of the division between the two groups. But there are other things that folks swear happen in small towns that the images "Try that in a small town" implied, but actually don't. No, I'm not saying "sundown towns" aren't still around, because they are, but it's in very remote and "off the grid" places. Although, I would argue that the GOP is determined to make sundown towns "Great Again" and mainstream America. However, aside from the problematic lyrics that looks like someone watched Fox News for a solid week and decided to write a terrible song. It's the imagery used in the video that is just as obtuse--showing the full intention of the song. Let me explain why this song is problematic for more than the obvious reasons. First off, 95% of the small towns that Aldean is trying to speak for don't have stoplights. We have 4-way stops, and sometimes there's a blinking caution light. But most of the time, we don't even have that. We just pray to whatever traffic gods there are and hope that if we meet other drivers at the 4-way, they know and respect the rules of the road. While we're riddled with crime, carjackings are almost unheard of. Sure, they happened in small towns once in a blue moon, but usually, the perpetrator isn't a local yokel. Most of our crimes are theft, vandalism, and drug-related. You might read in the paper about an occasional cow napping, but that too doesn't happen very often. And most certainly "Grandpa" isn't running down main street with an AR style of "Old Betsy" into the local grocery store to protect himself from the "gun packing" 2% gallon of milk either. Most of the time, the only time you see rifles is when it's the national holiday of "Deer season" and even then it's at the check-in points. Although folks do like their guns and proud 2A supporters within reason. Because hunting and fishing are the favorite pastime and puts food on the table. Or they're protecting their livestock from predators. When protests for BLM erupted nationwide, folks weren't worried about Antifa, because they knew our little towns don't have anything worth destroying. The particular region that I call home had BLM protests, LGBTQ rights protests, Pro-choice protests, voters' rights, etc, with wide community support. The cops would stop by and check on folks off and on, and nobody attacked them or vice versa. Folks even had a protest over the laxed state laws on pedophilia after a dude was charged with some truly gruesome things and wasn't QAnon related.

In fact, the only "MAGA" themed protest we had related to COVID Vaccines held in the Walmart Super Center's parking lot. (Yes, I know very on brand for MAGA) And it went over like a lead balloon that was on fire. We just rolled our eyes and went about our business, because we all thought it was dumb, but hey they was exercising their First Amendment Rights, after all.

And it just wasn't my area that had this phenomenon, either. Rural America had several solidarity protests that made the national news with the same kind of response as the ones that happened in my own metaphorical backyard. Doesn't sound like the "Deliverance" stereotypes protesting with their "dueling banjos" you might hear about now, does it?

This brings us to the final point. Why would Jason Aldean believe it was okay to release a divisive and hate filled song about a culture he's not from? Well, that's not too incredibly hard to figure out when one really thinks about it. Considering that when rural folks organize, people notice and real changes happen--in both politically and in policies. Historically speaking, when the rural folks got tired of everyone's nonsense, they organized and sparked some of the biggest progressive movements in US history. From the Coal miners' strikes to sharecropper strikes. They showed the rest of the country that they were tough as nails and people everywhere deserved better. And interestingly enough, we're seeing that same spirit come from rural Americans everywhere. They're starting to organize and attempt to mend fences with urban folks (although that's not always a two-way street). They're starting to get loud and refusing to accept the "status quo" or how things are.

That has the GOP (who is nothing short of being the Confederacy 2.0) running scared because they no longer have influence or the metaphorical "boot heel" on the backs of the rural folks. It's also the "Ultra MAGA" have "superstars" doing tours in once MAGA strongholds to stir the pot. But fortunately for us- those "superstars" getting met with a lot of disdain and dismissal by the locals.

It's a safe bet to say that they thought since the Rhinestone Incel Cowboy genres is falling on deaf ears with rural folks- Why not make it a national embarrassment? Because what possibly goes wrong with trying to get folks to accept white nationalist talking points aimed at an angry mob to cause division among people? With all kidding aside, that is their end game. Getting folks to accept those glamorized white nationalist narratives one step closer to achieving their fascist dream. Make no mistake, rural folks are completely aware of this and why they're raising hell about that song, and that whole scene.

I mean, we have to give our unofficial spokeswoman Dolly something to be proud of, afterall. She is truly the reflection of what hillbilly culture is all about.

So, please remember that the next you hear a Brantley Gilbert tractor rap song or tractor rap songin generally and really listen to the lyrics--That it's not a reflection on the "Country Bumpkins" or small towns, but a reflection on the Rhinestone incel cowboy-- white nationalist propaganda polluting the airwaves. Oh and if you wanna hear songs about small town life, John Mellencamp, Brooks and Dunn, or Willie Nelson would be the ones that depict the struggles of the American people. As always be good and be good to one another, Much love, Jojo