More Anti-Appalachian Bigotry

[Clay Fink]

I'm outraged. There's no caves in Pikeville.

Lawyer Calls Jurors 'Cave Dwellers'
Oct 14, 8:31 AM (ET)

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A federal prosecutor in a high-profile vote fraud trial
has struck a nerve with eastern Kentucky residents by describing some
potential jurors in the mountain region as "illiterate cave dwellers."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Taylor made the remark in his effort to
persuade a judge not to move the trial of former state Sen. John Doug Hays
and several of his supporters back to Pikeville from London, about 90 miles
west.

Pretrial publicity has been so rampant in the region, Taylor said, that many
potential jurors in the Pikeville area would have to be disqualified because
they have formed opinions. "All that would remain to try the case would be
illiterate cave dwellers."

Residents of the mountain region have long been sensitive to anything that
smacks of the old hillbilly stereotype. And the furor that erupted last year
over the planned CBS reality series "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" has made
some even more vigilant.

"When you say something like this among your buddies at the country club,
it's one thing. But when you go out in public and make this kind of
statement, you've got to be stone-cold stupid," said Dee Davis, president of
the Center for Rural Strategies, a group that has led the fight against such
stereotypes.

[Sergio Zamora]

What a fucking idiot.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Originally posted by Clay Fink
There's no caves in Pikeville.

That's the reason the local cave dwellers are considered especially stupid.

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Clay Fink
Pretrial publicity has been so rampant in the region, Taylor said, that many
potential jurors in the Pikeville area would have to be disqualified because
they have formed opinions. "All that would remain to try the case would be
illiterate cave dwellers."

Maybe I'm offbase, but I read this as simply meaning that only someone who couldn't read and lived as a hermit would be sufficiently unfamiliar with the case to serve as a juror, not as any intended slight against people in Pikeville/wherever. The wording is really, really unfortunate, but I've heard more than a few people use the phrase, "what, do you live in a cave," to mean, "how have you not heard about this." I don't really read any animus into the prosecutor's statement.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Tanager
Maybe I'm offbase, but I read this as simply meaning that only someone who couldn't read and lived as a hermit would be sufficiently unfamiliar with the case to serve as a juror...

Hmm. That sound reasonable. You could be right. I'll take back my remark if that is the case.

[HenryMc]

let me tell you a story bout simple mountain folk
and the simple in the last line wern't just a joke
when theys mayhem in the valleys and shootin'in them hills
the hatfields and the mccoys ALL make out their wills
course they would you know if anyone could write
and sleepin'with your sister just keeps her safe at night
well safe-ish, you know, in context

oh I thought this was the place FOR Appalacian bigotry!!! My bad

[Captain Hate]

Mr. Fink,
Mrs. Hate and I are venturing to Mammoth Cave next week; any of your kin there in that hotbed of improvised music? If I say you're a good guy will that get me a free drink or the wrong end of a 12 gauge.

[bluenoter]

I agree with Tanager, and frankly, people who have taken offense seem to be weak in grasping abstractions--their thinking is too concrete--which is one of the things that IQ tests measure. Hence, the folks in Pikeville may not be illiterate cave dwellers, but they're not acting very bright in this matter. Having said that, I'll admit that (justifiable) defensiveness can also distort one's thinking.

[Clay Fink]

Originally posted by Captain Hate
Mr. Fink,
Mrs. Hate and I are venturing to Mammoth Cave next week; any of your kin there in that hotbed of improvised music? If I say you're a good guy will that get me a free drink or the wrong end of a 12 gauge.

I've never been to that part of the state, but from what I can tell most of the Hillbillies are in Eastern Kentucky, a long way away from the Cave country. What you got there is your generic redneck types with none of the ethnic charm of the Mountain people. Of course your ass is much safer at Mammoth Cave than it would be in Hazard or, especially, Hyden.

[Clay Fink]

Originally posted by bluenoter
I agree with Tanager, and frankly, people who have taken offense seem to be weak in grasping abstractions--their thinking is too concrete--which is one of the things that IQ tests measure. Hence, the folks in Pikeville may not be illiterate cave dwellers, but they're not acting very bright in this matter. Having said that, I'll admit that (justifiable) defensiveness can also distort one's thinking.

No, no, no Rita. We are the last group of people in this country that it's OK to make fun of. We will not stand for this. There aren't any cave in Pike County, for one thing. The irony is that caves are more likely to be found around London which is at the fringe of Eastern Kentucky. So the Hillbilly as Cave Dweller myth is just that, a myth.

Of course what the fuck do I know. I'm from freaking Plainfield, New Jersey.

[tippy]

Originally posted by Clay Fink
More Anti-Appalachian Bigotry

I'm sick of these foreigners coming to our country.