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Thread: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

  1. #31
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by Yachtzee View Post
    I can see how Mountaineers can get a little testy about jokes made at their expense. Cleveland has also been the butt of jokes for many years. Ironically, I think the source of a lot of those jokes are people who were once Clevelanders themselves. Some of the most anti-Cleveland people are people who moved away. Once they move away, they start joking around about what it's like to live Cleveland. Then of course others pick up on that and start thinking it's funny to joke about Cleveland. A Bob Hope makes cracks about Cleveland and suddenly everyone who thinks they're funny jokes about Cleveland. A Drew Carey jokes about Cleveland and again, everyone things it's funny to poke fun at Cleveland.

    That being said, I think the best thing is to either politely laugh or ignore it. One day, all those outdoorsy yuppie types will realize that WV is a natural playground and will suddenly want to build resorts there. Having driven through the state many times myself, WV is a lot like Vermont, only less expensive.
    I agree. And things are getting better. My post wasn't meant to say that I take all of these things personally. I said what I did because it seems that many people don't quite see why we get upset about this stuff, and I understand that.

    fwiw, if some of the things said here recently about Terre Haute were said about us, we'd likely get upset about that, too. My father (who was from PA) taught at Indiana State for a little while, and when I went to visit him there, he said the same kinds of things about Terre Haute. There's a natural tendency to do this kind of thing.


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  3. #32
    Reds fan for life!!!! WVPacman's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by tixe View Post
    I know that it was a brief, somewhat enigmatic comment that likely wasn't even noticed by most. And I know that people can be too thin-skinned.

    However....

    There is a difference in being made fun of by the people on the other side of town or in the next state and being a national joke. And too often, we are a national joke. The result is that we are often viewed a certain way when people find out where we are from. In a recent job I experienced this often, particularly from residents of states that were far away and who had likely never met a West Virginian. Assumptions are made; programmed reactions set in.

    This can get very, very old.

    When I was in high school (in the seventies), there were still researchers who believed that people from the Appalachians were genetically inferior. Seriously. Our history textbooks featured pictures of poor West Virginians who could possibly be helped by LBJ's "Great Society" programs (again, this was the seventies, proving we needed new textbooks ), and until very recently, any report on the national news from West Virginia was certain to feature the most stereotypical person available.

    In the eighties, I worked for a local newspaper. One of the newswriters was from a large city on the east coast. He regularly referred to West Virginians in general as illiterates and fought to have pictures of people riding mules and the like on the front page of the paper every given opportunity. This was typical of West Virginia, he said. I still remember a profile he wrote of a school's valedictorian in which he told me that he thought it was important that people get a picture of her as someone who lives "a mile up a hollow". And no, he wasn't talking about her overcoming adversity; he was talking about the way she was portrayed in the story.

    I try not to be too sensitive, but I also can't pretend this isn't a problem. The poverty here is real. Our education system is in need of repair. But when we are constantly portrayed as not having the capability of being better than we are, this grates. It grates bad.

    This also affects our view of ourselves in insidious ways. One of the things that holds us back the most is that we become hopeless and feel that we have no say in our destiny. We are poor hillbillies, and we should be satisfied with our station in life.

    And so we become satisfied, and the cycle continues.

    Sorry for the rant.

    (btw, I tried not to mention specific states or cities because none of this was directed at anyone here. In spite of my ranting, I'm not particularly upset or offended at the moment. I really just shrugged off Pete's comment; he's like the crazy uncle you kind of overlook. This is just a natural flow.)

    Great post!! I agree with you 110%
    I can spell,I just can't type!!

  4. #33
    Big Red Machine RedsBaron's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by tixe View Post

    There is a difference in being made fun of by the people on the other side of town or in the next state and being a national joke. And too often, we are a national joke. The result is that we are often viewed a certain way when people find out where we are from. In a recent job I experienced this often, particularly from residents of states that were far away and who had likely never met a West Virginian. Assumptions are made; programmed reactions set in.

    This can get very, very old.

    When I was in high school (in the seventies), there were still researchers who believed that people from the Appalachians were genetically inferior. Seriously. Our history textbooks featured pictures of poor West Virginians who could possibly be helped by LBJ's "Great Society" programs (again, this was the seventies, proving we needed new textbooks ), and until very recently, any report on the national news from West Virginia was certain to feature the most stereotypical person available.
    Excellent post. What offends me, and makes me sensitive to such ignorant comments such as the one Rose made, is the damage that those type of comments and jokes can do to the people of this state and their aspirations, especially when thrown out to a national audience as somehow truthfully depicting our people and their culture and abilities.
    Part of my reaction also depends upon who the person is, and his or her attitude and motives in making the comment. For example, earlier this week I spent the day with a representative of an insurance company I do work for. During the course of our discussions he mentioned a dental malpractice claim he was handling. I asked if the claim was against a W. Va. dentist. He replied: "No, we don't write dental malpractice coverage in your state as we didn't think anybody there had any teeth." Well I laughed out loud, because (1) I knew it was good natured teasing, (2) his joke wasn't being broadcast all across the nation, (3) I knew that the insurer did write coverage in W. Va. because I've defended several of their insured dentists and (4) he's an Ohio State fan, so he's obviously hopeless anyway.
    When I mentioned the joke yesterday to one of my partners, another West Virginian, he told me that he understood that toothpaste was invented in West Virginia--if toothpaste had been invented somewhere else it would have been called teethpaste.
    So yes, you can joke about my state, depending upon how and when you do it. As the title character said in "The Virginian" when called an S.O.B., "when you call me that, smile."
    "Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."

  5. #34
    Member RollyInRaleigh's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Good post, RedsBaron.

  6. #35
    Strategery RFS62's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Yep. You can call your brother ugly, but if someone from outside the family does it, you've got trouble.

    We kid each other, but it gets pretty old hearing it from people who have never been to West Virginia or ever met a West Virginian.

    If you look at any one of the jokes or insults on its own, it would be easy enough to laugh it off and ignore it. But the sheer volume of years and years of hearing it over and over is what gets to me.

    Like most stereotypes, there is some truth in the image. There certainly are poor and ignorant hillbillies in West Virginia. I grew up there so I speak from experience. But there are also a lot of intelligent and normal people, just like anywhere else.

    It's just as ignorant as assuming that all New Yorkers are mean-spirited jerks. Some are, hence the stereotype. To imagine that all are is just ignorance.

    Prejudice is the most pure form of ignorance.
    We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut

  7. #36
    Dunnilicious creek14's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    All of my relatives are from either Kentucky or West Virginia.

    I spent about 2 years in a wheelchair.

    What do those two have to do with each other?

    Well you think people say bad things about WV and KY, spend some time in a wheelchair. People talk down to you. People talk about you like you can't hear them. People make fun of you. And if they aren't treating you worse than a Geico caveman, you just become invisible.

    Pete Rose is an idiot. Lots of people are idiots. Life goes on.
    Will trade this space for a #1 starter.

  8. #37
    Strategery RFS62's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by creek14 View Post

    Well you think people say bad things about WV and KY, spend some time in a wheelchair. People talk down to you. People talk about you like you can't hear them. People make fun of you. And if they aren't treating you worse than a Geico caveman, you just become invisible.


    Wow, I would have never expected that.
    We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut

  9. #38
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Most of the Kentucky and WV jokes I've heard.. were from people from Kentucky and West Virginia...

    Try being short... or fat... or wear glasses.. or be tall... skinny

  10. #39
    15 game winner Danny Serafini's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Sorry, but I couldn't help but think of this thread as soon as I saw this picture:



    Be prepared for another round of illiteracy jokes everyone.

  11. #40
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    I hadn't seen that shirt. Ugh.

    What I'm worried about there has to do with the state of Michigan, and it has nothing to do with insults or jokes.

    Beilein's buyout is 2.5 million, though. That may keep him at WVU.

  12. #41
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by Danny Serafini View Post
    Sorry, but I couldn't help but think of this thread as soon as I saw this picture:



    Be prepared for another round of illiteracy jokes everyone.
    I couldn't help but think of the title of this thread.
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

  13. #42
    Member CTA513's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by Danny Serafini View Post
    Sorry, but I couldn't help but think of this thread as soon as I saw this picture:


    Be prepared for another round of illiteracy jokes everyone.
    Heres one with players wearing the misspelled shirts:


  14. #43
    Big Red Machine RedsBaron's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Quote Originally Posted by CTA513 View Post
    Heres one with players wearing the misspelled shirts:

    i understand that the shirts were furnished by the NIT (at least I hope so! )
    "Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."

  15. #44
    Member marcshoe's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    Prufreeding cann bea harrd, yu no.

  16. #45
    Reds fan for life!!!! WVPacman's Avatar
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    Re: Pete Roses cheap shot torwards West Virginia!

    You know what the excuse was for the mistake on the shirt?? They said they was in a hurry b/c the game was about over.(rolleyes)
    I can spell,I just can't type!!


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