West Virginia Stereotypes: Don’t Believe the Hype
Written by Jason Keeling on December 4, 2007
Generalizations are often made about more rural states within America, and West Virginia is no stranger to being portrayed stereotypically. Skewed representations of this state have existed since its inception, were proliferated during the early days of industrialization, and remain part of the local and national subconsciousness today.
On occasion, circumstances arise that illustrate the need to no longer brush aside such ignorance. Last week CBS Sports columnist Mike Freeman decided to fan the flames of stereotype by referring to a potential football match up between Missouri and WVU as “Hicks vs. Hee-haws.” If he would have stopped there, then little attention would have been paid, but he took it a step further: “The West Virginia mascot is the Mountaineer. He carries a rifle and wears a coonskin hat. Why not go for the stereotype trifecta, Mountaineer dude, and date your sister?”
As Freeman even anticipated within his column, this offended many, and West Virginia Web browsers have been abuzz in referencing and commenting on his opinion. An online petition for his removal has generated over 1,600 signatures to date. CBS is no stranger to such controversy. In 2003, the company ventured to several Appalachian states to cast a “Real Beverly Hillbillies” reality show, but later reneged after opposition from various advocacy groups.
Fatalism or Forward-Thinking?
Though Freeman’s generalizations are unacceptable, what’s even more ridiculous are those state natives and residents who buy into the stereotypes, and even promote them. They accept that the “hillbilly” label has always been and always will be. It’s “only a joke” they say, ignoring their personal responsibility to represent the best of West Virginia. The nation will never take us seriously if we don’t respect our own image, no matter the amount of advertising or PR campaigning.
The other critical element in the equation to establish aBetterWestVirginia is greater civic involvement, for without continued public policy modifications at the local and state levels, social and economic struggles will fuel the circumstances that reinforce stereotypes. Perhaps we should just buy into “Appalachian fatalism,” and believe we can’t establish lasting change. Indeed, much of our history is blemished with injustice, but unless we take it upon ourselves to improve conditions and stop blaming everyone else, we’ll always be perceived as “hicks.”
Posted in Culture, Government, Media, West Virginia
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December 4th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Here’s what I think: his remarks reflect his ignorance, insensitivity and cultural immaturity.
So what should we do? I say we ignore the remarks and return our focus to our important work. We cannot let episodes such as these consume our attention or positive energy. Plus, it seems like weakness on our part (West Virginians, that is) to cry foul and ask that the offender be reprimanded or punished. Sometimes, we are just too thin-skinned.
I respect the fact that some will differ with this viewpoint.
December 4th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
OK enough about those insensitive cultural persons who do not even know where their own history comes from. I would be safe to guess that most people who give West Virginia this kind of ignorant press really have no idea what they are speaking about. I agree with Skip. Ignore the under-schooled people who speak without ever having been to this beautiful state. On second thought…I guess a good old country spanking out behind the wood shed is out of the question huh?
December 10th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
It’s a tough one. I used to cringe when I lived in LA and WVU would win a big game. The idiots would get the couches out and then that’s all I’d hear about the next day. People’d poke fun and I had no response - what can you say to that? The burners are morons and it’s just a shame that the media tends to focus more on negative stories than positive ones here (and ignore similar things that go on in other regions).
Having said that, I agree with Skip. A bigger problem seems to be that other states (and other countries) often have NO stereotype of West Virginia. To me, it’s about making good things happen and then doing the work to market those good things ourselves. And especially to not let other West Virginians get us down with their own internal image issues. Ask anyone who’s moved here from somewhere else. If they haven’t heard “Why’d you move here?” 50 times, they’re unique.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:22 am
I think Justin Seibert’s comments are a bit overstated. He categorizes WVU couch burners as idiots. Let’s face it…college students as a whole could fit into this category. Can you remember being young and on your own for the first time ever??? I KNOW I was an idiot. And, how does couch burning qualify us as a hillbilly pastime anyway? It’s certainly a dangerous tradition. It’s certainly a stupid tradition. But, I don’t see how it qualifies as a hillbilly or redneck activity? It’s a college tradition. Doesn’t everyone in college own an old worn out, sit-on-at-your-own-risk couch? Well…why not burn it? (jk, but really what’s the big deal) Besides, half of the people that go to WVU are from NJ, PA, and NY.
The stereotypes that WV needs to overcome are not those defined by its institutions of higher learning, but the ones defined by its lack of education–and lacking economy.
But before WV legislators sign off on educational programs to teach people better eating habits and personal hygiene, we need to address the main plight of our state. We need jobs in WV. We need jobs. Ask just about anyone who’s in college where they see themselves in five years. You know the answer and it’s not WV. Stay here…work at a call center. Move, find a real job. It’s that simple.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I welcome the tag “hillbilly.” As a native West Virginian and a son of the coalfields, I have a great love for the hills and hollows of this state. In fact, some six generations of my family lie in little family plots all over the state. My accent is as thick as a piece of mountain farm sausage, and I sometimes think coal fines run through my veins.
Yes, I welcome the tag “hillbilly.” For Freeman and others the term is an epithet. I see it as a compliment. In fact, my family has been “hillbillies” for almost a thousand years. The Headley family was one of the Border Reiver families of the Borders Region of England and Scotland. In fact, I can trace my family back to the Norman invasion of England in 1066, when my ancestors came ashore with King William the Conqueror.
Yes, we are clannish, and perhaps a bit too contrary and abrasive for some, but that is part of the independence we cherish.
Yes, my accent may be a bit thick, but I hold an MBA in finance from WVU, an MA in public relations from Marshall and I speak three languages. I would match that up against Freeman’s credentials anytime. My grandfather and father were coal miners. My grandfather died of black lung at a far too early age. I cherish my family and the fact that most of us still live within earshot of each other on land my great-grandfather carved out of the mountains. His Kentucky rifle rests proudly on the wall of my great-uncle’s home. Oh, and you know, there just might be a moonshine still somewhere along that hollow.
Go Mountaineers!
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
[...] January 2008 McStereotypes January 23, 2008, 12:55 pm Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: wv A Better West Virginia, an excellent WV resource, poses an interesting question. [...]
January 28th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hi -
I’m a West Virginia expatriate living in Virginia and I’d like to offer a bit different perspective:
The problem of WV’s world stereotype is that much of it is true. I grew up in the head of the hollow in the coalfields, and worked my way through poor schools and - far worse - an all-pervasive cannot-do atmosphere - to eventually attend medical school at WVU, working in the mines during the summers to make ends meet. I loved WV, warts and all, but after a lifetime of living there, I realized I couldn’t stay and wanted my kids out.
The voters in West Virginia have to wake up and realize that their problems are of their own making. A one-party legislature, run entirely by trial lawyers for their own benefits, continues to strangle the state. As Warren McGraw once told me, “Doctor, if you don’t like it here, you are free to leave.” I have. My malpractice insurance here is 1/4 what it is in what the US Chamber of Commerce calls a “judicial hellhole” - West Virginia. Business is welcome here and taxes are low. My practice now brings into the VA economy more than two million dollars a year that would have been brought into WV’s. And I’m just one of many.
When West Virginians clean house and institute a progressive government, then they will prosper - and the rest of the country will stop calling them hicks.
Thanks for your ear.
Jim Wills
February 17th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Jim Wills’ comments got me thinking about my business experiences in West Virginia and how I haven’t had to worry about the “stereotypes” too much in my case, for all practicable purposes.
I live in Virginia and do business in West Virginia. I have a great time doing business in WV. The drive is relaxing and I enjoy getting outdoors on my trips when I can.
People wise - I work with over 300 great WV business professionals. They are ethical, easy to approach, and serious about business. I have felt very welcome doing business in West Virginia.
Here is part of the reason why I think my business experience in WV has been so enjoyable. Simply, I am NOT trying to attract “everyone, everywhere” to my business. My customers come to me almost always by referral, very often from existing customers.
If you are in a position to do more of your business by referral, please do it or learn how to do it! Why? You can actually choose your ideal future customers and have them referred to you. Dr. Wills described above the “all-pervasive cannot-do” attitude that he has observed some exhibit. I have seen some who have that attitude too, but I simply choose to work with positive can-do people, and I have met an abundance of these folks throughout WV!
For businesses, the more you are able to choose your next customer, the less impact the things Dr. Wills mentioned above will have on you, from my experience. The negatives are still there and you wish they weren’t, but they don’t keep me from being successful in WV. I truly enjoy doing business in WV and drive a long way to do it.
I believe that positive, successful people seeking out and choosing to work with each other, will create more of them in the future.
A lot of what Dr. Wills outlined above makes sense to me, and we all need to push for positive changes, however I also think that there are many ways to make it work great, right now, by the actions we each choose to take each day. My thoughts? The more can-do, positive West Virginia folks you can work with, learn with, socialize with - the more successful you will be and West Virginia also. I think the more you choose to hang out with positive people in work and play, the less these negative stereotypes will impact you. There is a bounty of opportunity - all around us - please don’t let someone else’s negative attitude (either in or outside of WV) keep you from being a success in WV. West Virginia is a wonderful place to be. I’m an “outsider” who knows!
March 4th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I came to West Virginia when I was 17 years old from Seattle Washington. I found the area a cultural shock. I find these people clannish, and very defensive about thier State. The most disturbing part is that they are as sterotype of each other as the rest of the country is with them. But thier worse. Yes I was teased about my accent when I would call my friends in Seattle but as far as hurtful jokes never happened. The truth is that half this country does not even know where West Virginia is most people think it is the western part of Virginia. I wish I had a dollar every time I had to explain it.And most people in the West Coast found my accent, very charming, reminding them of a Georgia peach, or a southern belle. The biggest problem this State has is its Goverment Reprentatives. They keep this area down. Like old money.As long as your average you can get along, but if your not and want a better life, and are assertive, these people can make your life miserable, because they do not understand, that assertivness and go get em and I deserve the best is not arrogant. I agree with the comment the others posted it is a judicial hellhole, because if they can sue that will just add to thier SSI and welfare check and they wont need to buy a lottery ticket everyday, and that is just fine with them. And yes I have met alot of people from Ny and New Jersey that come here, and the most recent comments have been, do these people work here? And when they do they have to sign forms when they work at these plants that if they get any cancer they cant hold the factory responsible. And yes if you have enough brains not to sell your health out oh yea thier is always the call centers.
March 4th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I certainly appreciate Mr. Alcorn’s point of view, and particularly his expressing it in such a positive way. Without a doubt, turning West Virginia around requires men such as he, although I do note that he, also, lives in Virginia. Perhaps what my father said about “Pretty is as pretty does,” applies.
However, in my opinion, putting West Virginia on the national map also requires much, much more than a positive attitude and kind words. In the same way that the alcoholic must first admit his disease, West Virginia must come to understand in its bones that its problems are not that the rest of the country makes sport of it. Its problems are very, very real and West Virginians need - like that alcoholic - to sober up and face those facts. Secondly, it needs to understand that, while kind words like Mr. Alcorn’s are pleasing to the ear, real medicine comes in needles - not on sugar cubes, and doing things the old way is what got you where you are - which is to say, nowhere.
I have told my wife, make me king, and I’ll solve WV’s problems in fifteen minutes, but those solutions won’t be pretty: completely revamp the tort system - outlaw the contingency fee; go to the English loser-pays system, so that plaintiffs have more at stake in a lawsuit than just a $75 filing fee. Consolidate 55 counties into five. (There are fewer people in all of WV than in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny county, and they manage with ONE school system, and ONE sheriff’s department, instead of fifty-five.) Close two of the state’s three medical schools.
Would West Virginians do things like that? No. They don’t have the foresight - or the fortitude - to do anything daring or effective.
That’s why I’m now a Virginian. My children will be Virginians. The mountains of my Scottish ancestors will be a long-forgotten memory.
Sorry - I didn’t want to keep perpetuating an unpleasant thread; but as Carl Sagan said about religion, “Better the uncomfortable truth than the comfortable lie.” I’ll sign off this thread and this blog now. Thank you again, and fare-thee-well. I mean that.
Yours from Virginia,
Jim Wills
Farmville, VA