#and on the other we've got ''isn't appalachia so depressing...so hashtag ethel cain core...shame it's got no value beyond aesthetics''

[batemanofficial]

hello upper middle class northern usamerican tumblr user. i want to play a game. you will notice that you are in a super america convenience store in rural kentucky - you have three minutes to purchase a snack and drink of your choice and make normal small talk with the cashier. however, if you use the word "cryptid" or generally make reference to appalachia and its inhabitants as "wild", uncivilized, or lacking restraint around alcoholic beverages during your time here, i will personally tie you to the chassis of a four wheeler and tip it into the river. live or die. make your choice

#speak friend and enter #i can appreciate mothman as much as the next guy but can we stop treating appalachia like it's the subject of a richard attenborough doc #i come from a long line of hillbillies and i like to think i've got a good sense of humor about it but sometimes i am tested #like. this is not a lawless land with a moonshine still in every holler and nameless voices in the woods!! this is a normal town!! #idk maybe i'm reading too much into it but i'm just tired of the cultural fetishization of appalachia by people who aren't from here #and who don't know anything about it. like yeah you know mothman and what hooch is and that's all well and good #but do you know what the opioid epidemic really is. do you know about the structural injustices that keep people like mcconnell in power #i'm not saying you have to apply dialectical political analysis to every issue that occurs in the region to be able to have an opinion #but also like. i'm tired of people looking at places like where i grew up and making them into things they aren't #like. on the one hand we have ''ooh spooky hills!! run if you hear the trees whisper your name'' #and on the other we've got ''isn't appalachia so depressing...so hashtag ethel cain core...shame it's got no value beyond aesthetics'' #and on yet another hand we have ''i - a person with no ties to the region - am going to take up the cause of every social issue #occurring across the entire appalachian region so the world will see just how bad these poor hill people have it. i am very smart'' #and like. it's frustrating #i'm not saying you should never speak about appalachia if something we have is interesting to you #nor am i implying that i want to gatekeep discussion of the region's issues to the community bc that won't accomplish anything #i'm just saying that like any place it's complex. it's got its good things and it's got its bad things. #and you shouldn't isolate the good from the bad or vice versa - especially if you don't know the context in which those things happen. #and for the love of god dont let your own ignorance cause you to boil down those issues into a reductive and inaccurate set of stereotypes #learn about us from us. not from tiktok not from movies and for christ's sake not from hillbilly elegy. i hate that fucking book #anyway that got weirdly serious but i mean it. putting appalachia as a talking point up on the shelf until y'all can speak intelligently #ok to rb