No Compassion for You!

Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to be a redneck.

At first, I was slightly amused to see the story of Gene Cranick of South Fulton, Tennessee, making its way onto national television, Youtube, and Facebook. You can get a piece of the story from MSNBC here; it has now crossed the Atlantic and was carried in The Telegraph in London, as well.

(Let me clarify: I am NOT amused that Mr. Cranick and his family lost their home to a fire this past week. Having experienced it myself, that is something I literally would not wish on my worst enemy.)

What was initially amusing to me was the way the national (and now international) media were so fascinated by "backwoods politics" and rural culture, as represented by the aforementioned Mr. Cranick. Those of us who grew up there understand the difference in living "out in the county" or living "inside the city limits." In many ways, to paraphrase Kipling, "town is town and county is county, and never the twain shall meet." But the big news guys apparently don't get it.

Interesting and a little funny soon moved to outrage and disgust, however, when I came across the following clip from conservative paragon Glenn Beck's treatment of the story:


Here's the link if the video won't play on my blog: Beck Dissing Gene Cranick

Okay, Mr. Beck, you certainly have the right to your opinion about fees and taxes and public service and the like. But it is APPALLING that you would choose to mock a decent, hardworking, American citizen based crudely on his regional ethnicity. You play all too willingly into the "all Southerners are dumb" stereotype, and cloak it in terms of a "national discussion" that all Americans must have.

Heaven forbid that we should be driven by  "compassion, compassion, compassion, compassion," as you so aptly put it. And, besides,  who are you to tell me I can't let my neighbor "sponge" off of me if I want to?

I guess we could appoint Mr. Beck and his producer/sidekick, Al Gray, to serve as the "public services Nazis" in the new pay-for- play era of lower taxes, less government.

No compassion for you!