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Proud to be a Redneck

I’m from the backhills of southeast Kansas – and damn proud of it. I grew up going mudding, wearing camo, attending bonfire parties in pastures, swimming in the horse tank and watching tractor pulls & demo derbys (and loving them). In addition to those ‘ignorant’ activities, I helped my family raise and train horses and care for the small ‘herds’ of show string livestock.  Calling me a redneck isn’t an insult but saying that you’re better than I am is.

Bryan Monell, animal activist who specializes in undercover efforts, proclaimed that “Those people are rednecks,” in reference to all people work with animals AND “we are superior.” Wow, if you want to fire up a bunch of agriculturalists who already despise you and your efforts, no better way to do it than saying that you’re better than the people who raise and produce our nation’s foodsupply.  Now, I already told you that I don’t mind being called a redneck and that I’m proud of it.  But I looked up ‘redneck’, and Google’s definition reads:

An uneducated, unsophisticated, or poor person, typically used to describe residents (of either gender) of the rural US.
Now, I’m definitely of ‘either gender’ and am from the rural U.S. and am sure as hell poor – but by God, I’m not unsophisticated or uneducated.  Good thing Mr. Monell wasn’t in rural Kansas at a farmer-laden coffee shop when he said that, he might have wound up in the hospital instead of jail (where he currently resides until his court date in September regarding an ‘incident’ in California at a circus). 
Why is it that activists continually insult our nation’s farmers and ranchers and then continually eat the food those same farmers and ranchers produce?  Major slap in the face to our producers.  We should all be thanking our farmers every day for providing us with a very safe and healthy (not to mention affordable) food supply that we can count on year round.  Mr. Monell may be winning the name-calling battle, but all he has really achieved is ticking off farmers, ranchers and agvocates around the nation. Especially since his slander was written in a recent http://www.cattlenetwork.com/ article.
In closing, I’ve included some words of wisdom for agvocates and producers: 
1. Be the bigger person — don’t resort to name calling.
2. Use insults to fuel your agvocacy passion – I’m so ticked off right now that I can’t wait to get to the grocery store and spill my agriculture guts to some unsuspecting shopper.
3. Tell your story — utilize twitter, facebook, blogs, snail mail, telephone, word of mouth, the coffee shop – let consumers in on how you care about the land and animals that contribute to our food supply.
4. THANK A FARMER! 
Until next time,
~Buzzard~
p.s. – that link to Bryan Monell’s court case is not my opinion of how the incident occurred but it gives you a more detailed description of what happened than I can provide.  I’m sure he wasn’t ‘innocently and peacefully’ protesting a circus.
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