We did think that, we should have gone over and said hi, established common ground. Except Jamie had waved at a boat not half hour before, and he yelled 'fuck off' to him, so he was feeling a bit weird about it anyway. We should have left then - hindsight's all well and good! I agree though, talking to them can often allow them to see you as a person and not an object of disdain or a punching bag for their own inadequacy or issues. You often get 'oh, he's English, but he's okay' or 'they're not from here, but they're alright really' - small concessions but valuable life savers in tricky situations. They won't beat on someone they've identified with in the smallest way.
We're pretty streetwise, and we get along just fine with rednecks too - but not rednecks in the way we see them here, which is just pure asshole and no amount of cameraderie will help. Funny though, it's these same people who crap on about patriotism and helping fellow Aussies in crisis ie bushfire. Hypocritical they can't treat fellow Aussies the same way in this situation.
I believe this phenomenon of irresponsible localism cut across divisions of race, gender, and culture.
I tried to tell that to my English husband who was really angry at Australians as a whole, as if they were unique in that regard. But the comments on this post have just proved to him that it's not unique to Australia, it's a problem with people.
No, I totally understand. Getting a "fuck off" in return for a friendly wave is just way low. Also, I think I should clarify my definition of rednecks, which I don't consider offensive nor derogatory, simply meaning white country folks in the US. And yes, I have been friendly with lots of them, and received warm-hearted friendliness in return. And by that point both of us were ready to completely overlook our major differences in culture, social class, education, or political opinions.
However, this is a far cry from ignorant, inconsiderate assholes. Those are much worse! I have also encountered them, even among people who were much closer to me in terms of culture, social class, education, and political opinions. In fact, as minimal and insignificant as our differences were, with those folks they just got magnified to the extreme. Also, simply seeing their disregard for anyone that's not them made me feel anxious to get as far from them as possible. So my point is, the issue is not with rednecks per se, but with the ignorant assholes.
I absolutely understand and feel precisely the same. We walked past quite a well to do family and overhead a conversation trivializing the BLM movement, showing such ignorance about the black experience I felt ill. 'Redneck' is just a term I was grasping for - but that kind of attitude or disregard for others takes all forms, doesn't it?
absolutely