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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   30523 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 3, 2023

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the rednecks you describe are unlikely to provide a particularly warm welcome to even the most English speaking and talented Hindu(they'll resort to interpretive dance to befriend Jose the undocumented day laborer long before they offer to share their non-bud light beer with non-Christian H1Bs)

Have you ever met any rednecks? Because this sounds more like a San Franciscan or New Yorker’s extremely stereotyped mental image of a redneck than it does my many experiences with them.

If an Indian guy showed up to any of the gun clubs I’ve been to, brought some beer, and was happy to talk shit about Democrats, I’m willing to bet he’d be welcomed with open arms.

I am a redneck. The fact of the matter is that Indian immigrants are basically imported foreign over educated aristocrats and everyone knows it. Yes, rednecks are in general much less racist than the urban elite think them to be, and a sufficiently American-conservative East Indian bringing a case of kingfisher to your average bbq can probably secure an invitation to the next one(of course, eating brisket and bitching about democrats is strong evidence of not being like the other Indians). But everyone knows what the typical Indian immigrant is and overcoming that initial impression is likely to take some work, because Americans who don’t have an incentive to pretend otherwise are perfectly aware of which immigrants tend to get along well with the red tribe when language barriers go away.

Indian Americans have a tendency to overcompensate to try and "fit in" to the vogue but it backfires and they just come off as jarring, that's how you get the Mindy Kaling types going over the top woke than anybody else that even her white liberal comrades had to keep their distance after Velma. And then you have the constant race warring on twitter between mainland Indians and Black Americans... yeah after that if someone told me the "real" founding members of the KKK were actually Indian, I'd believe them. There were some LARPers but more than a handful of handles that I follow and know are actually Indian (usually HinduNat) were spitting slurs I doubt any Klansman has heard since the last century.

I’ve had to put up with my share of snooty Brahmins before, so I definitely understand where you’re coming from. I just don’t get the sense that self_made_human would be nearly as insufferable and off-putting to the red tribe as some of his countrymen. In my experience, as long as a stranger makes a good-faith effort to fit in, most rednecks will welcome him no matter his color or nationality. Shooting, drinking, and badmouthing Biden are probably the quickest ways to gain acceptance in the red tribe. I don’t think self_made_human would have a problem with any of those three.

If it makes a difference to you, I have online friends I'd call rednecks, and we've shot many virtual guns together in relative harmony. They're almost always deeply surprised when they learn I'm Indian, half of them need to check my IP on TeamSpeak. I don't even sound Indian for one, people think I'm Nordic.

I think I can finagle the difference if I ever meet their equivalent in person, the initial barrier doesn't seem as insurmountable, and they'd at least be touched to see me try.

I certainly won't be lying if I minge about the Dems, and I'll just keep mum on the parts of the Republicans I dislike too. Easy enough.

Hmm. I think that you might find acceptance among rednecks in the Northern US, but in the South I am not so sure.

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