Does the term redneck imply that person is a rebel flag waving, gun toting, uneducated person?

Yes, in most cases. It also seems to imply filthy, toothless, and squirrel eating traits in addition to what you have. I have no idea where people come up with some of this stuff.

i guess “i might be a redneck” i am from the south, i have a rebel flag, and i definitely own some guns- as far as the uneducated part- not so much.

i am not afraid of the term, i am a ‘break the mold’ redneck, i still have all of my teeth except for 2 premolars and my wisdom teeth, i don’t live in a trailer park, i don’t sit around drinking beer all day long (i am sober), i don’t smoke or chew tobacco (quit chewing 1 1/2 years ago), i drive a small S10 truck,my favorite fashion statement is not a wifebeater shirt, the list goes on and on.

the point here being is that the term redneck can be a rather generalized statement- i do hunt, i do own guns, and i am as ANTI-LIBERAL as you can be. i am fairly LITERATE as well, the term i do not fall under would be WHITE TRASH ( and i would take offense to that) if that term was being slung around there would probably be a fight.

yes i have dined on squirrel as well- they are really tasty in the crock pot.

using the term ‘redneck’ as a synonym for ‘self sufficient’ or ‘self reliant’

I think it depends on where you from and who uses the word on what is implyed when you say it. Im from Louisiana and i use the term redneck along with most of the state in a positive way. Most people from here are proud to be simple, blue collar, outdoor loving, people. We’re proud of our guns (we own four in our household), we build bonfires and drink cold beer outside, we eat dear, rabbit, alligator, crawfish, and the men like their big ol’trucks lol. I think the problem is that alot of people mistake rednecks for “trashy” when were not. We enjoy a simpler life, but most are just as educated as others, have all their teeth, etc.

Where I am the term is more closely related to people from the country, mostly farmers.

“Redneck” generally means “hick” or “yokel” around here, but etymologically refers to people who work in the fields for a living, under the sun, where their neck gets red.

Well at one time, I thought of myself as a redneck, but looking online, I do not fit the mold. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck

Varies. The term redneck came from the red necks farmers got from working in the sun all day. The term has a range of meanings but especially to urban Americans has a decidedly negative connotation of an unsophisticated, narrow minded, and often racist individuals. It is also use to simply mean someone who does physical labor for a living. There has also been a movement for people to reclaim the term and wear it proudly usually giving up the racist connotations but present themselves as simple, hard working, earnest, God fearing, and patriotic folk..

The “Redneck Manifesto” is a great book discussing the word, the connotations and the irony inherent in this grouping….

Basically, “Rednecks” and the hatred of them by the white middle class comes from their origins as a slave class. Yes, America had slaves before they discovered the African slave traders, mostly poor people from places like Ireland, kidnapped off the streets or tricked into the long journey with the promise of a better life. These poor people, from Northern climates, quickly became sick, sunburned, dehydrated in the hot Southern climate where sugarcane and cotton plantations made up so much of the slave work. They had incredibly short life spans.

Debt really is slavery - like the modern sex trade, these indentured servants were later kept as slaves through the process of banking and debt - they could live and work on their own land at a pace that wouldn’t kill them in one season, but only kept a subsistent amount of their wealth while the rest was paid to the plantation owners towards the “debt” that farmers incurred buying their “freedom”. Of course, this debt ended up being impossible to pay off in a lifetime, and so the cycle of slavery continued to what it is today.