[UA] Become a Minister!!

[David M Jacobs]

At 12:55 PM 19/04/02 -0500, Tyrant wrote:

>I have to agree here... While most "Hillbillies" are indeed poor 'white
>trash'  and oft very undereducated, most of them hold high ideals of "honor
>and family values.. part of the whole incest myth I believe is the tightness
>of the family unit itself

Most of the "hillbilly" myths date back to (at least) Roman times.  The 
word "pagan" derives from "paganus", meaning "hill-dweller", with all of 
the same delightful connotations; Christianity inherited the Roman biases, 
but applied the term to anyone who wasn't Christian or Jewish, instead of 
those who were merely uncivilised.  Of course, now, the term "pagan" has 
all of its New-Agey, in-touch-with-mother-nature connotation, but I do 
still come across the occasional self-professed pagan that strikes me as 
particularly unwashed, inbred, under-educated and unintelligent.  #%o)

OTOH, the Romans used to accuse the Christians of more-or-less everything 
that the Christians would accuse witches and Satanists of: malicious 
sorcery, human sacrifice, cannibalism, lurid sex rites etc.

It's good to know that although centuries have passed, and empires have 
risen and fallen, our prejudices will forever remain the same.  #%o)



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick


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