I understand and respect your perspective; it is a perspective of a younger generation that really did not have to battle the powerful, negative stereotypes of the people of the Appalachian regions.
I was raised in the poorest county in Tennessee. (At least at the time I was a child it was the poorest)
I remember the jokes and insensitive remarks my cousins from NJ and Michigan would make about ignorance in the South, to their parent's chagrin. Those jokes were one of the reasons I determined to lift myself from the poverty I endured as a child. Even though we were poor, contrary to popular stereotypes of the day, we did not have chickens and pigs in the house. We had both, but they were a source of life for most poor, rural families in the South, especially in the regions left behind by much of the industrial age.
I understand how younger Tennesseans might not feel the sting of such hurtful jokes, but those of us who lived through poverty in the region understand that our homes were just as clean as those in the better neighborhoods, if not as superior.
The piece by ESPN was very insensitive. It dug at the memories of a generation that overcame the harsh rigors of want and poverty. Its easy to say theres nothing there to offend if youve never been offended by the personal distaste of need. Its easy to dismiss such things if youve never experienced true poverty, the kind where parents were overheard at times, in hushed tones discussing what they were going to do for groceries for the next week.
It was times like that when those chickens in the coop, and those pigs in the pin began to look more and more like a life-line, and less and less like a joke.
