Hillbillies is alright for me

With the annual Hillbilly Days celebration upon us, it would behoove us, at this point, to reflect upon the term “hillbilly” and the pejorative sense in which the word is generally used. Upon hearing this term, an image is immediately brought to mind, and it is usually not a pleasing one. I will do the reader the service of not describing the stereotypical hillbilly, but suffice it to say that the inhabitants of those regions wherein these stereotypes are said to dwell are none too happy with it.

This unease with the use of said term extends even to our little celebration, and there have been rumblings of late against the use of the title “Hillbilly Days” for the few days in April when clans from all over the nation get together and search for, as an on-air personality over at WMMT radio terms it “our inner hillbilly”. (I’d credit the coiner of this phrase by name, but it escapes me at this particular moment.)

This can be troubling for those of us who have no problem parading around in our “best” bibs, whilst imbibing some good homebrew, and generally “swangin’” around the town of Pikeville some.

Believe it or not, however, this is not the only instance in the history of “Hillbilly-dom” where the user of the term “hillbilly” has come to grief, and overcome the situation, I might add.

Over in the town of Richwood, West Virginia, there once lived a man by the name of Jim Comstock, a newspaper editor by trade, who published one of the best local newspapers ever in the history of our great land. This is a broad statement, however I’m convinced I can back it up.

The newspaper that was put out by our intrepid hero was entitled “The West Virginia Hillbilly”. Mr. Comstock had what must have been the most well developed sense of humor of any person who ever worked a position such as his. The motto for his paper, for instance was “A weakly (SIC) paper, edited by an editor who can’t write, for people who can’t read.”

Frequently included in his paper were stories such as this tongue-in-cheek saga about the 1960 presidential primary which catapulted John Kennedy to the Democratic nomination that year, entitled “Pa Ain’t Gonna Sell His Vote to No Catholic.” (One reason given was if a Catholic were elected, you’d soon have hot and cold running Holy Water in the White House.)

The name “West Virginia Hillbilly” upset many a delicate constitution within the Mountain State, what with its great motto “Montani Semper Liberi” or “Mountaineers are always free”. Many an appeal was made to Mr. Comstock to “please take that degrading name off your newspaper!” and at length Mr. Comstock acceded, and actually changed the name of his newspaper.

The very next edition of the “West Virginia Hillbilly” came out with a new title, Jim Comstock style. In small normal type at the top of the paper were the words “The Mountain Laurel, formerly”-and in its usual bold banner type-“The West Virginia Hillbilly.”

(“What?!? I changed it!”)

The fact of the matter is this, the intelligence of Jim Comstock showed through in every edition of his newspaper, and he had fans all over the country, and as great as the outcry that brought about his mock name change was, the outcry at an actual name change would have drowned out the former quite easily.

Jim Comstock was at ease at who he was. He knew and loved his state of West Virginia, his town of Richwood, and its inhabitants. And he did not cower in the face of those who know nothing of the joys of being a hillbilly.

And I would suggest to all of you who are in town to celebrate with this great Hillbilly nation that you take heart as Jim Comstock did while he was alive, and own up to who you are. Do not let the Philistines cause you to forsake your heritage.

There are those whose butts are too tight to ever ease up and have a good time. And if that is the case, lets hope that they stay in whatever uptight state they may find themselves in. As for the rest of us, we’ll all be in Pikeville this week, enjoying being what God in his Wisdom made us to be, and what everybody sensible would want to be for a few glorious days in April-Hillbillies!