Cheney, Appalachian humor, and American imperial logic
Dick “Don’t Let the Door Hit Ya” Cheney made headlines yesterday after he made a joke at the expense of West Virginians in front of the National Press Club, a joke centering around the oh-so original image of Appalachian incest. West Virginia’s Democratic governor Joe Manchin promptly slammed Cheney for disrespecting his state and his people, demanding an apology—funny, coming from a politician whose eerily Republican policies have done more harm to West Virginians than any demeaning joke ever could.
But Cheney’s joke—and subsequent apology—is but the latest in a recent string of demeaning references to Appalachia in the media, set off by Hillary Clinton’s recent victories in Appalachian states such as West Virginia and Kentucky. The Appalachian Front Porch blog focused recently on the way the media—especially the so-called “progressive” media such as Jon Stewart, Grist, and the New York Times—reacted to Obama’s “Appalachia problem.”
But c’mon—Jeff Foxworthy, Jon Stewart, Dick Cheney—they’re all just making harmless jokes, right?
Wrong.
Appalachian stereotyping, like all stereotyping, is not harmless. Regardless of whether or not Appalachian stereotypes correspond to reality (most, of course, do not), Appalachian scholars have shown how images of the region function socially and politically as expressions of power and superiority, rendering an entire people inferior and thus worthy of exploitation. Coinciding with the physical colonization of the region through resource extraction and industry was the invention of Appalachia as a distinct region within the United States. Since the 1970’s, numerous studies have examined the development of the idea of Appalachia and how this idea functioned in post-Civil War American society. Allen Batteau, for example, writes:
The image of Appalachia as a strange land and peculiar people was elaborated at the very same time that the relationships of external domination and control of the Southern Mountain Region’s natural and human resources were being elaborated…. For better or worse… the imagery of Appalachia and the social forms of its propagation are implicated in federal policy and the stance that public and private social agencies have taken toward the region…. Appalachia—read-about Appalachia, personally experienced Appalachia, laughed-at Appalachia, inspired-by Appalachia—is just as much a social construction as the cowboy or, for that matter, the Indian. This invention was accomplished not in a professor’s study but in the hurly-burly of politics and commerce and industry. And further, it was pursued with some very specific political ends in view.
Most Appalachian scholars locate the origin of the idea of Appalachia within various literary narratives, particularly the popular postbellum “local color” writers who constructed fiction centering around the curiosities of regional cultures which helped to define middle class American values by creating and gazing at exotic “others.” As has been the experience of other colonized peoples, a number of scholars have noted that the creation of a distinct, homogeneous region called Appalachia, as well as its colonization, was also facilitated by the missionary activity of the churches after the Civil War, who spread the political ideologies and values of middle class America to the people they served.
Take William Frost, for example, a missionary and president of Kentucky’s Berea College from 1892-1920. In the face of dwindling enrollment and funding upon taking office, Frost actively recruited students and money with speaking tours highlighting Berea College’s mission to mountain people whom he called “our contemporary ancestors,” and “belated Americans” who had fallen into a “Rip Van Winkle sleep.” In the process, he appealed to the mountain people’s ties to colonial America as well as their ethnic purity, claiming that the region was free of foreign immigrants, and he became the first to name the region, calling it “one of God’s grand divisions, and in default of any other name we shall call it Appalachian America.” According to Batteau, many of the most vivid images of Appalachia come from the efforts of figures like Frost, “that of Appalachia as a region behind the times that needs help catching up, that of Appalachians as a wilderness ‘folk,’ and the image of Appalachia as a suitable expanse for pioneering.”
Despite the complex sources and forces that contributed to the development of the image or idea of Appalachia, what developed, and continues to exist today, is a two-sided and contradictory image of Appalachians: that of a romanticized proud people steeped in tradition and “original” American values, or its opposite, a culture of backward, ignorant, and violent savages. Both images have been intimately related to definitions of mainstream American middle-class values, either by providing sentimentalized, inspiring images of the nation’s origins, or by presenting an image of the boundaries of civilization. In his 1987 book Apples on the Flood: Minority Discourse and Appalachia, Appalachianist Rodger Cunningham connects many of the loose threads described above, such as Frost’s “discovery” of Appalachia, early missionary activity, and economic exploitation and reads them in light of the United States’ colonization and extermination of indigenous peoples. Cunningham suggests that the “dynamic of ‘American’ character” requires a frontier to be conquered, and with the increasing extermination and displacement of Indian peoples, he says “’America’ was on the lookout for another barbarism to subdue.”
In the course of his argument, Cunningham points to two statements made about two different groups in Appalachia: Indians and mountain people. The first is a quote from an 1818 House Committee on Indian Affairs report:
In the present state of our country one of two things seem to be necessary, either that these sons of the forest should be moralized or exterminated.
A Virginia newspaper editorial, about a century later, read:
The majority of mountain people are unprincipled ruffians. . . . There are two remedies only—education or extermination. Mountaineers, like the red Indian, must learn this lesson.
As part of the Appalachian-as-savage myth, the “inbred white trash” stereotype emerged around this time, positing that Appalachian “poor whites” were set apart from other whites as a result of genetic deficiencies caused by inbreeding or race-mixing. Indeed, “poor, lazy hillbilly whites” were included in the well-known eugenics projects in the United States just as Native people were. Contemporary forms of inbreeding jokes and “white trash” humor are every bit as racial and political as these earlier patterns of thought. Then and now, the term “white trash” designates a white person who has crossed the boundary of acceptable characteristics or behavior for “being white.” The notion of “white trash” combines racism and classism into one pejorative term that is insulting to the person being ridiculed, but which is also inherently racist in its insinuation that “only people who are not white act that way.” “White trash” humor says that there is a standard for “whiteness” that must not be crossed.
Whether ridiculed as the inbred barbarian or romanticized as the “contemporary ancestor”—the result is the same: Appalachians become dehumanized, childlike “others,” spoken for by the dominant culture, who as Cunningham says, “can fulfill their destiny only by becoming essentially like the observer.” Even in the case of the idealized, traditional pioneer, Cunningham says, “sentimentalism only replaces the injunction ‘Grow up!’ with the injunction ‘Do not grow up!’—and both injunctions are equally false to the subject’s real maturity and integrity.”
And just as Appalachian stereotypes developed in tandem with the beginnings of economic exploitation in the region, the same stereotypes continue to serve the interests of capitalism and U.S. political and cultural imperialism. Appalachian politicians such as WV’s Governor Manchin “sell” Appalachian poverty to outside companies by advertising the region’s low wages, “docile” work force, low unionization rates, etc. The “throw away people” of Appalachia also continue to bear the burden of environmental injustice such as the ongoing practice of mountaintop removal mining, all for the “common good” of America’s energy needs.
And not only are a disproportionate number of Appalachian bodies exploited, generation after generation, to serve in the U.S. military, Appalachian stereotypes are invoked as part of the mythological narratives that drive U.S. imperialism, especially the War on Terror, as Carol Mason demonstrated in a recent journal article. Mason provides a fascinating analysis of two female soldiers from West Virginia, Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England, who made headlines over the last few years and who embodied the two contradictory hillbilly images we referred to earlier, Lynch representing the good country girl rescued from barbaric Iraqis, and England representing the barbaric savage who was photographed torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Attending to the role of class, gender, and race in the two stories, Mason showed how each used Appalachian hillbilly stereotypes either to inspire support for the war on terror or to explain away U.S. torture tactics by blaming them on a “gender-bending hillbilly.”
In light of the connections between “harmless” Appalachian stereotypes and economic exploitation in the region, we should not be surprised by Cheney’s remarks. His obviously dehumanizing view of Appalachians fits well with his administration’s policies which are animated by a contempt for “throw away people” of all sorts, all over the globe. While the internal colonization of Appalachia continues, Cheney’s heartless parroting of Appalachian stereotypes reveals the continuation of the American imperial logic that colonizes peoples both foreign and domestic. In the minds of many Americans—and of one of America’s chief imperial architects—Appalachians continue to be one of America’s strange “others”: “trash” to be exploited in the service of capital, bodies to be mobilized in defense of a self-centered way of life, and scapegoats to point to when America’s dysfunctional tendencies come back to haunt it.
I have always appreciated hearing from you. Your loyalty to West Virginia, and specifically your concern for Appalaichia, has been very instructive since I first started reading this blog.
I would only make the point that (and in no way apologize for the media) that I was a little shocked at how West Virginia was represented in recent weeks. I saw the Daily Show clip and, to be honest, I was less shocked at what Stewart did than at the fact that they were borrowing footage from some other news interview (and they couldn’t have picked more stereotypical footage if they had interviewed the Hatfields and Mccoys).
On the other hand, I was also a bit taken aback by the footage itself (particularly, the ‘hussein’ lady). While the footage was chosen to aid in contriving a particular image, there is still something of Appalaichia (and some larger American phenomenon) in it. I certainly do not subscribe to the stereotype but I make no pretensions about what potential there is for people who have less opportunities to be informed, educated, and make opportunites for themselves. (My ‘home’ is a small town in Wisconsin where the sentiments was once expressed by the ‘country boys’ from my church that ‘if that woman gets elected, we’re gonna have to put a bullet in her’) All of my friends, and I mean all, have joined one of the military’s many branches. The whole western Wisconsin region is very similar to this.
The thing that has kept me interested in your blog is that your particular concerns has always been instructive in my own concerns, though I would not dare deny that the kind of oppression extant in the Appalaichan region compares to none in this country. In light of all of this, I guess my question is how do you help people not succumb to a particular stereotype?
As oppressive as it is, it seems stereotypes are almost willfully embraced, if only for the sake of certainty of where one might stand. How then does the Church issue forth some other identity while not obliterating the real, ‘good’ content of what it means to be part of a particular, regional community?
It seems that Appalachians are the only ethnic group left that people can legally make fun of without any repercussions.
Yet at least 50% of Americans get their electricity from a coal fired power plant. That seems to be the only thing people think we’re good for.
I found Cheney’s comment very insulting to say the least. Is that how Americans perceives West Virginians?
My husband has been an underground miner for 30 yrs. He was injured and disabled in Oct. 2004. Peabody coal has seen to it that he never got treatment, took away his worker’s comp benefits (what he was promised if hurt in the mines so he could take care of his family) and will not let him get treatment for a herniated disc in his neck. First they said he added an injury because he thought it was an arm injury (he’s not a doctor and only knew where the pain was) and now they say there was no injury because he didn’t report it before leaving company property. If he never reported an injury why did they give him 3 checks, a claim number and say he added an injury (after they saw the MRI report).
He was forced into early retirement so we could pay our bills and eat too. He had surgery on his legs (not related to his injury) last June. The coal company’s insurance refuses to pay for his surgery and doctor (even though the doctor’s office had the surgery pre-approved) so now we’re being billed a total of $20,000. After they used up my husband they have tossed him to the side. He can no longer make money for them so he’s disposable to them. Out of 30 yrs in the mines he only came up with 27yrs of service towards his pension so he gets a whopping $1,030. a month. I’d be interested to hear from people in other states with other jobs to compare their retirement and health care to a coal miners.
I like Patty have lived in the same general area for the better part of 50 years. My family helped to settle this area back in the 1700’s. My husband also worked for Peabody Energy and was also humiliated. He worked 23 1/2 years underground so this VP of ours could turn on his lights, give poorly thought out speeches, and make fun us. WE ARE NOT UNLIKE ANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THESE UNITED STATES. This where men have been called to active duty to support our country as well as “KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON FOR AMERICA” and most of those people don’t even care about where the power comes from including him. He HAS MADE his millions.
I would love to invite cheney on a hunting trip in appalachian and put his dead a^& down into a surface to never be heard from again.
I would like to say Thank You to Dick Chaney for finally coming out with what they all think of us. Now maybe we can do something about it. West Virginians are the backbone of this country. (What we have left of a backbone anyway) Our fathers, grandfathers brothers and sisters have died for the not only this country at war but for this country in the coal mines and in coal mining communities. There is Halliburton trucks enter our communities full and leave empty. Wonder what their hauling in here???... Let me say that we as WVn’s are not as stupid as the folks in DC would like to believe. We know we are being sacrificed for energy. Our state is becoming the Bowels of the county. It is sad to hear the truth of what Cheney and his minions joke about over diner but is necessary to stop this attack on who we are. We are the proud people from the mountains that have give it all up for country. Chaney owes us more of an apology than what he’s admitting. The current administration owes all of WV’s residents {current and future} more than an apology. We would like to have our futures back. O yeah and the rest of country can tend to their own waste we don’t want it either..
I am a proud West Virginian and I would dare Chaney to make such a comment in my presence. Chaney’s involvement in coal is killing our miners and our communities only so it can travel to other communities to be burned to further kill people there. I would have to remind him that we all share the same planet and what he has done to ours will go down in history as criminal. Mountaintop removal is a crime and Dick Chaney is one of its many criminals.
West Virginians don’t need a corrupt politician speaking for us. So Joe Manchin should sit down and admit that he treated us much the same in March of last year in our state capital because we ask for a new school in Sundial which is one of our disappearing communities. Thanks to coal and our wonderful government our elementary age students attend school at the toe of a 2.8 billion gallon coal sludge dam. No one including our own government cares what we have to put up with. This only confirms what I knew all along. WV is considered the A$$ of this country until Election Day. The SCREAM for renewable energy is coming from the coalfields in southern WV. This is where the current administration has been playing for the past 8 years. We don’t even want coal…. its killing us! We know we need renewable energy and Green jobs now before its to late. Not even Dick Cheney knows that. Hmmmm and he thinks he can refer to us as the unintelligent ones… Please….
Thanks Dick Chaney for pointing out who is really the “stupid hillbilly” and its not us…..
^ ...All this and yet WVA voted Cheney & Co into office TWICE and is likely to go for McCain this year. Why is that?
Excellent insights. And as a native eastern Kentuckian, I appreciate it on a personal level.
When the government, the media, and the culture use dehumanizing language and rhetoric when talking about the people from Appalachia, they are doing nothing different then they did when they called the Native Americans “redskins” or other derogatory names in order to justify killing them and taking their land. The Empire uses this language to render the Appalachia people voiceless for many reasons, the first one to come to mind is the raping of the land known as “mountain top removal coal mining.” The rest of the country might feel guilty if they knew that the reason that their lights come on is because Appalachian peoples are having their lands destroyed. It is hard to feel guilt for people who you have brushed off as “inbred white trash.” Trash doesn’t have the right to clean water and family land. White trash is sub-human, just like the niggers, spics, and Tutsis.
What boggles my mind is how easily this rhetoric seeps into people’s everyday conversations. Even, God help us, in the church.
This is one of the most insightful posts I’ve read on your site Mikey, and that’s saying a lot.
Thanks, all!
This post has led me to reflect considerably on my own attitudes towards Appalachians.
It wasn’t pretty.
Thanks for bringing the harm of Appalachian stereotyping to my attention.