The Stereotypical Southern

By Ryan Dettmann

When people think of the stereotypical southern identity, many think of several things such as football, pickup trucks, hunting, alcohol, and possible a good ole southern draw. Before we had even gotten this assignment there were several ideas and stereotypes that came to mind about views on southern culture which included the ones mentioned before. So when we got the assignment I found a youtube video that further skews people's views on the people of the south.

This is a video about a man who bet his tv on the Washington Redskins winning against the New Orleans Saints and sadly lost. Now his friends are cashing in on that bet. He explains also in the video what they might do and show what they actually do, which is shoot up his tv while having some beers by their pickups and big southern accents. This video offers a stereotypical view of the south as a bunch drunk guys or hillbillies shooting up a tv over a football game. This is not what I view most the south as but it does show strengthen people's stereotypes that its a bunch of unintelligent drunk people who are not very smart have nothing better to do than shoot up a tv and this is shown in the video.

Though many people could view this video as a representation of the south, for me it does not accurately portray the it. Not everybody shoots up their friends tv, or drink beer and shoot up things, or even have pick-up trucks (though many Americans do). Though I do believe that many people live by football or other sports, this is true all over the world like europe with soccer. Although this video wrongly portrays southerners as a bunch of drunk stupid rednecks, some underlying things are popular in the South like football.