Here's a more personal blog for those interested: How I grew up partially 'redneck' and became a liberal quaker and radical

HOW REDNECK have I been in my life, besides the fact that red is my very favorite color?

And that I grew up on the edge of a small village of 250 people in southeast Nebraska, have done farm work, etc. ?:-)

Plus, when growing up, to get into the country, all I had to do was walk through our corn and potatoes, etc., hop the fence, to a farmer's fields, and walk down into the woods and creek.
HERE’S MY SCORE, me an old Cornhusker who has never lived in a large urban city.
And a few ways that I am definitely not a cliched redneck!

What about you?
Take the test too.🙂

(I’ve adapted another anonymous test that had a few errors and was missing some major redneck ways.)

10-20 maybe redneck
20-30 basic redneck
30-40 real redneck

1. Worked outdoors and gotten a red neck sunburn? Yes
2. Owned a BB gun, rifle, and shot gun and carried a pocket knife? Yes
3. Gone rabbit and pheasant hunting? Yes
4. Fished for catfish, bullheads, and trout? Yes
5. Owned a truck, driven tractors, disced fields? Yes
6. Repaired fence and strung barbwire? Yes
7. Plucked a chicken and fed cows? Yes
8. Gathered wild ginseng? No

9. Eaten deer meat and crawdads? Yes
10. Eaten fried liver, tongue, and oxtail, grits, cornbread, and hushpuppies? Yes
11. Milked a cow, fed a baby animal with a bottle? Yes
12. Gathered fresh eggs? Yes

13. Driven stick shifts and driven an old car around in a farm field when only about 12? Yes
14. Started a vehicle using a manual choke? Yes
15. Worn Stetson cowboy hats, snap shirts, large belt buckles, and western boots? Yes
16. Husked corn? Yes!

17. Waded barefoot in a creek? Yes
18. Caught fireflies in a jar and put around finger? Yes
19. Drank sweet tea and homemade beer? Yes
20. Gathered wild blackberries? Yes

21. Used outhouses? Yes
22. Ridden horses, worked on a farm and a ranch? Yes
23. Smelled the scent of cured tobacco and chewed tobacco? No
24. Carried in wood, taken the ashes out of a wood stove or wood heater? Yes

Here's a photo from me working on a huge ranch in central Montana near White Sulphur Springs, , me and my horse bringing down stray cattle from out of a box canyon in the Crazy Mountains. The reason that the photo is such poor quality is that I am shooting the picture from on the saddle of my horse with a cheap instamatic camera:-)

25. Listened to country music most of the time? Yes
26. Walked barefoot down a gravel or dirt road? Yes
27. Slept in a tent? Yes
28. Been attacked by a rooster? No

29. Eaten raw apple, potato, or turnip off the blade of a pocket knife? Yes
30. Wrapped a Bull Durham cigarette? Yes
31. Eaten homemade snow ice cream? Yes
32. Used a pump to draw water from a well? Yes

33. Been on a hay ride, baled hay? Yes
34. Jumped on a pile of raked leaves? Yes
35. Carved your initials into a tree and elsewhere? Yes
36. Sucked on a piece of water hose to siphon gas out of a gas tank? Yes

37. Gotten a tattoo? Yes
38. Split wood with an axe? Yes
39. Hung laundry outside on a clothes line to dry? Yes
40. Parked and necked? Yes

My Redneck Total: 37 out of 40

HOWEVER, how am I NOT a cliched redneck?

I’m totally opposed to nationalism, (for definition see below)

am strongly for equality for all humans,
think race and nation are unimportant,
am a human rights worker and demonstrator against wars,
am against border walls,
never voted very right-wing,
am not a fundamentalist in religion,

don’t own a Confederate flag at home or on my vehicle,
and don’t put out a Stars and Stripes on the 4th,

don’t use rough language,
curse words, or nonstandard English,

don’t go, regularly, to car races (though I have years ago)
don’t park my truck or car in my yard,
(though I have done that years ago:-),

and lastly but not least, I never tasted beer until after

I was almost 20, when I was living in Haight Ashbury as a spiritual hippie. When a roommate heard I had never tasted beer, he got me one from the fridge and watched when I opened it.
I took a sip, and spit it out! I had expected it to taste like root beer!

And I didn't start drinking beer until I moved to to a kibbutz in Palestine-Israel, and drank Israeli black beer (had only about 0.5 per cent alcohol. I drank it at the end of the day, after driving a caterpillar discing fields on the hills near where King Saul was killed by the Philistines.

And all the years as a teacher, I never drank beer partially to be a model to my students who often did drink and do illegal drugs. Besides, I didn't like the taste!
Obviously not following Dierks Bentley (the "Beers on Us" tour), Thomas Rhett, and a host of other country singers and "Rednecks" in general.


**Nationalism: A nationalist is one whose whole focus in on himself, his kin, and nation, who thinks US ought to come FIRST!:-( indeed, people who don't care about others around the globe, refugees, etc. Before the U.S. did this, nationalism was the FIRST strong policy of the British Empire, like when it went to war in the infamous 19th century against China to force it to buy opium so that British merchants could get wealthy, the evil Opium Wars:-( THAT is entirely different from having a love of country, patriotism, which I do support, even got my God and Country Award as a Star Scout:-)

The End
Thanks to the anonymous writer who started this list on FB.


In the Light,

Dan Wilcox

WHY DO millions of dedicated Christians accept obscene cursings and unjust actions by their Christian leaders?

Tragic, absurd times--when famous Christian leaders, supported by millions of Christians, CURSE at others:

Look at a few of these statements from famous Christian leaders in the U.S., many of whom have strong support from millions of Christians:

--“Mother [F obscenity], I'm aloof with you because I don't want to talk to you.”
--“That’s a great asset, more inflation...What a stupid son of a [B obscenity].
--Calling another government leader, “a [F obscenity] idiot”!
--“They’ll be hit so goddamn hard. If you don’t support me, you’re going to be so goddam poor.”
--Calling another Christian leader, “That [F obscenity] and a “corrupt [MF obscenity].
ETC.

And some Christian leaders also lie, bully, demean, are cruel, proud, etc.
VERSUS

...Put on hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience-endurance.
Colossians 3:12
altruism, joy, peace, goodness, generosity, modesty, self-control, fidelity...
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Galatians and I Corinthians 13



In the LIGHT, the GOOD, the TRUE, the JUST,

Dan Wilcox

Hymn for the 81% who voted for Trump

--

"In 2016, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump after (among other things) hearing an audio recording of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.

Maya Angelou famously said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

In the years since, even after enacting deliberately cruel policies to rip families apart and put children in cages at the southern border, evangelical support is as fervent as ever.

I was raised in the Evangelical world. It shaped me. I learned to take the words of Jesus seriously - love God, love your neighbor, feed the hungry, fight for justice for the oppressed. I thought that things like love, kindness, gentleness, and self-control MATTERED. I have been so confused and deeply saddened by the unflinching loyalty to a man who so clearly embodies the opposite of these values.

This song is a lament. It's a loving rebuke. It's a plea for the 81%, to come home to the way of Jesus."

Songwriter Daniel Deitrich

Our Lack of Sensitivity and Empathy for Others

Looking back, especially, on the last 30 years of public discussion, debate, and argumentation, it seems that the chief failing of most of us humans is our lack of sensitivity and empathy for others.

Of course, this is probably the chief failing of homo sapiens generally throughout history. The harsh unfair rhetoric of the bitter 1800 Presidential contest between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson comes immediately to mind. It, like many others, was filled with ad hominem, distortion, etc.

Or consider the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to empathize with each other.

But rather than dwell on the past, or even the current rash, demeaning political and social debacles in the United States and other countries around this swirling globe,
I will give one brief personal encounter from my own life.

My career consisted of trying to get thousands of 14-to-17-year-old teenagers interested in the significance of their high schools' required literature courses.

Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

So, not only did I employ all the motivations, skills, and whistles that I had learned from my university classes and the methods used by the amazing teachers who had taught me, I--being of a hilarious sort by nature--also used many funny jokes, puns, and stories to help make those heavy textbook tomes as user-friendly as possible.

But a few times, I spoke before I considered all the real-world ramifications of the humorous comments I was making.

For instance, I used to tell a joke about a guy named Al Alzheimer not understanding the thematic point of a short story we were studying.

One day, a somber 9th grader on left side of the class raised her hand.

I wondered why she hadn't laughed. Most teens did.

"Mr. Wilcox, I don't think your joke about a person being named Al Alzheimer is funny. Because my dear grampa suffers from Als Alzheimers. It's very sad, not funny at all."

I felt regretful and apologized and still feel sad about my callous remark that day.

I realized when I had made that joke I wasn't being fully aware, nor sensitive. At the time I knew little about dementia and Als Alzheimers, and didn't know anyone suffering from such mental illness.

My harm wasn't intentional. But that was no excuse.

Tragically, much of the modern invective, obscene cursing, demeaning references, and false statements that pollute the media and discourse are very intentional and cruelly meant.

I don't know how to help stop such intentional harm.

In contrast, our 9th graders were taught the dangers of connotative attacks, informal fallacies, and other forms of propaganda. In debate, courtesy and respect were watchwords.

So why do Christians, Muslims, and atheists, lawyers, business leaders, political spokespersons (many of them with PhD's), and so many others fixate and obsesses on exactly those harsh forms of miscommunication? I don't know.

But my limited focus here is on those of us who inadvertently fail to empathize with others who we meet, and how we often forget to intentionally be sensitive to them.

Being sensitive and empathetic to the tired grocery clerk, the bad driver in the right lane, the harsh critic, all of the political and ideological leaders is very difficult.

It gets even harder to be empathetic and benevolent toward enemies and criminals as Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out.

Yet King spoke of how empathy for racists is very important! He emphasized that even after he was attacked by a racist during one of his speeches.

Yes, that is our calling as ethical beings-- to be aware, to be sensitive, to be emphatic,

To live in communion with others in the Light.

Daniel Wilcox

Pure and Profane Speech

Notice how humans, mostly, seem given to extremes, especially when it comes to speech. I grew up in the corner of one extreme, a religious community in the Midwest. I couldn’t refer to my rear as a “butt,” had to say “my seat.” I was instructed not to say “golly” or “heck”—those are “minced oaths.”

Sounds a bit like in the late 19th century when a woman’s pregnancy couldn’t be mentioned in mixed company. Supposedly, people in polite conversation didn't even speak of the "legs" of a table.

The advantage to my fundamentalist upbringing is that it taught me the importance of words. I learned to take great care to moderate my speech as Scripture says, though I did find myself saying “Shoot” a lot when frustrated. I wonder what minced oath that refers to;-) And I became a literature and writing teacher—dealing endlessly with words both spoken and written.

And I suppose I don’t need to inform anyone who has been out in public, gone to work, watched a movie, surfed the Internet, listened to radio, especially paying radio, or seen and heard TV or served in the military, etc. that the other extreme from minced oath prohibition is to be overtly vulgar, obscene, and profane in one’s speech, especially when one is mad or in great spirits.

I used to drive a truck for a chrome company after college (before becoming an English teacher) and at that job I learned plenty of words that our Sunday School teacher never taught us.

The most popular word today heard almost incessantly is the one whose etymology is “to strike” or “to plough.” Notice how in so many situations people use this “ploughing” word for nearly everything from bad drivers to great food or nosy neighbors or non-functioning equipment. Sometimes it is even used to refer to its central meaning…

What’s the point? Why skewer daily conversation with vulgarities? I mean I can understand Mark Twain’s caustic comment that cuss words are important for certain situations. But what is the purpose of running every conversation through the sewer?

And don’t forget profanity. For uncertain reasons, many people speak of Jesus Christ much of the time, in any and all situations, sometimes even give him a middle initial, and say his name louder than the other words of their speech.

I wonder if these same individuals would be happy if people around them constantly, anytime they were angry, or when they were shocked, or when they had nothing else to say, kept using the personal first names of these same individuals’ sweethearts/wives as throwaway curse words?

But Jesus Christ is the love-heart of humankind, the one who chose loving sacrifice instead of violent rebellion against the ruthless invaders of his country.

Why do so many flip off his name, as if he were dung?

I must admit, I am baffled by this lust-affair that so many humans and the media have with vulgarity and profanity. Maybe my confusion comes because of my background at the other extreme.

Could we not agree, however, obscenity and profanity don’t fit in the pursuit of the good, the true, the beautiful, and the loving.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Obscene, flippant, or vulgar talk is totally inappropriate. Instead, let there be thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:4

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox