We don't always live in trailers, but when we do, you still don't get to judge us.

[kayliemalinza]

I've been re-reading some Rambleverse lately, pretending that I'm going to finish the two fics left on my list, and I realized that on most of the posts where I write about McCoy in his natural habitat, I warn that the fic is not intended to be politically correct. These are the fic where I write most honestly, most personally and most

Comments

[rhia_starsong]

Yes, there is most definitely a divide between honesty and PC; otherwise, you wouldn't need PC to avoid offence and cover for what people really think.

Uh, I can see Bones sneering at NASCAR for being boring (what, they drive in circles all day?!), but tying that to a culture, and lumping everyone in the south together like that? Makes me deeply uncomfortable and kind of rage-like with you.

[kayliemalinza]

The fun part is that the commenter initially claimed that the "anachronism" of NASCAR was just a "pet peeve." And then, with very little prodding, all the above came out.

And, you know, I'm not claiming there aren't a fuckload of issues down here, but there's a fuckload of issues EVERYWHERE, and dismissing a whole region is not a solution. And to so blithely dismiss the nuance and diversity of Southern culture.... *shudders*

It doesn't help that making fun of Southerners seems to be totally acceptable, even in the most liberal and socially-conscious circles of fandom (which is probably why that commenter felt it was okay to say what they did.)

[prynne12]

I'm late to the party, but as a native Georgian, I understand.

There are *lots* of things about Southern culture that, when objectively viewed, are deeply offensive. However, there are the other parts of the culture, including a culture that cherishes education: VMI, Sewanee, Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC...

And yes, it is irksome that it seems to be alright to mock Southerners as being backward. I figure that the best way to combat it is to write stories like the one that brought me here...in which Bones said some things to Spock he shouldn't have.

I'll stop abusing the ellipsis now.

[kayliemalinza]

*GA fistbump*

[Note: The comment was given in reference to this fic (McCoy/not-yet-ex smut), which was my first significant Southern story. The NASCAR reference is in the first line (though I'd since changed it to "hover car race," a revision I'm still unsure about) and, given the goal of that fic, the comment really rankled.

But thankfully it hasn't tainted the fic, which I still regard as one of my best works. Therefore I'm shamelessly reccing it to you. :P]

An interesting thing is that a lot of "deeply offensive" parts of Southern culture focus on the treatment of black people by white people without really focusing on the experience of black people. Southern culture significantly overlaps with African-American culture, so referring to the Good Ole' Boy subset of Southern culture as if it's all of it is really problematic