Careful, blue collar and redneck aren't always synonymous.

Dear David,
I have been there and have nothing but the greatest respect for the 'servant' classes. Without them your toilets would be shitty and your coffee cold.Please be more considerate in applying your 'funny' labels in the future.
Barbara

People... take it easy. I came from a blue-collar/farming family and worked in numerous "servant" type jobs while putting myself through the college. Honestly, I'd rather be called "blue-collar" than redneck. The reason the picture's so funny is because it's so true. (I can totally see my father writing such a reminder on his hand! I forwarded him the link... he'll think it's a riot.) I can't imagine any of my "blue-collar" friends or family thinking DA's use of the term was insensitive or otherwise being offended by the post. It's been my experience that only those who are ashamed (on the inside) of their "blue-collar" upbringing are offended by such things.

I received this same picture last St. Patrick's Day, only then it was entitled "Irish Palm Pilot"; it was sent by a friend who is also of Irish heritage. Come on, it's (moderately) funny, and you have to be awfully PC-uptight to get yourself indignant about it.

(Is that really Barbara Ehrenreich, or is someone spoofing? Ms. E -- get back to work!)

David -

Please don't succumb to the knee-jerk politically correct apology for possibly offending anyone here. You posted a funny photo - nothing more. These days somebody will be offended no matter what you say.

As a guy who grew up in a trailer park and remains a self-proclaimed redneck, I thought it was funny, and appreciate the fact that you can lighten up. Too bad your readers don't always follow your example.

Another vote for funny here, from an ostensibly redneck area too (Nevada).

Thanks David!

-Dan

As someone raised as a "redneck", I've had this picture forwarded to me countless times from my relatives and elsewhere. Everyone involved got a good laugh out of it. This post is not malicious, and should not be treated as such... get a grip!

Perhaps it's like most ethnic jokes--OK for members of that group to tell or post, but not necessarily OK for outsiders to do so. You never know whose feelings you might hurt, and for very understandable reasons.

Also, Barbara Ehrenreich doesn't talk about "servant classes" and very likely knows how to space her sentences properly. Nice try, troll.

I hate to be a crank here, and I do have a sense of humor, but I find this elitist in the context of this particular blog. I love GTD, and I always thought (hoped?) it was for everyone, not just upper-echelon white-collar execs. But the message of this joke to me is, "GTD--blue-collar workers need not apply."

Sam

David here - I grew up in Louisiana (that's Loo-zi-ana for you foreigners), had 35 professions before I was 35 (including cleaning toilets and keeping coffee hot), and have had more $100 cars than anyone I've ever met. So I take permission to say whatever the heck I want about my own kind.

Speaking as a redneck, and as, dare I say, authentic "white trash," I am always shocked at how the elitists come out and get offended when someone makes a joke about the "working class" or the "blue collar" demographic. As if they know anything about the people they are defending or sticking up for.

I am a small business owner, using GTD on a daily basis, with a overly pedantic liberal education, and, on top of that, I am a wine snob as well. That all being said, I am from a town of 4,000 in Southern Missouri, I am the first person in my family to get a real college education, and the redneck is still alive and well in me despite a West Coast relocation and fancy education. My roots go deep into the ground behind the trailer.

Now with my pedigree justified- "My people" would think this is hilarious. I am surprised my dad hasn't already forwarded this to me. As for the chastisement of David over the equating of "redneck" and "blue collar", if the famous "redneck comedians" can have the "blue collar comedy tour", then it seems that the usage is at least well established within the culture of those being joked about, but not in the culture of the offended. (Therefore, the offended are culturally removed from the joked about.)

As for me, I am going to get a bag of pork rinds, a can of Vienna sausages, and six-pack of Bud Light and go over to Ojai and BBQ cheap pork steaks with David. Maybe us rednecks will do some danged ol' high level brainstorming for his new book. "Git'er Done: Stress Free Productivity for Rednecks."

"If your project list contains the item, 'take transmission out of bathtub' you might be a GTD redneck."

GTer Done,

Coffeeboy

I'm not from the US, so not too sure why an obviously funny picture gets taken so seriously by a few. It's simply a bit of tongue in cheek and I don't think the blue collar workers (including myself) are as easily offended as Barbara and Marianna and certainly don't need these sensitive types sticking up for me!

i guess if i had to consider my family roots collar-wise, i come from one extreme to the other and everything in between. that said, i laughed outloud when i saw this image... cuz no matter how much DAC training/experience/etc i've had, this photo most closely matches my inner palm pilot. xo

As if they know anything about the people they are defending or sticking up for.

That's the thing--I readily admit to not knowing anything about the people I'm worried about offending. That's why I myself prefer to stay away from jokes that might offend, because I couldn't possibly presume to know that they wouldn't.

(By the way, I'm willing to admit that I'm a 30-something Bucks County-born-and-bred WASP with a so-so state university education, and I snickered over the original joke because it describes my beloved husband, who was born a coastal North Carolina Marine brat).

I'm born & raised Yankee, went to college in Savannah, Georgia and lived there for a few years afterwards. My boyfriend down there was a redneck and proud of it. Now I'm in Yankee land again.

As I said on my blog when I linked here (I linked because I found it funny, not offensive) there's a difference between "blue collar" and "redneck". "Redneck" is a lifestyle. It's not just about the job you have, it's about what car you drive, what music you like, what political beliefs you have, etc. All the rednecks I know are proud of it. "Blue collar" is more of a job description and in that context, the photo can be seen as insulting. Some of the smartest, technically-minded people I know have what you would call blue collar jobs for whatever reason.

The original photograph he linked to didn't say anything about "blue collar." Mr. Allen put that in, and while I have tremendous respect for Mr. Allen (his methods are saving my life) I think the criticism here is justified. Just my 2 cents.

Why would one equate blue collar with "servant class"?

The Redneck Chronicles: Volume Two: The Diatribe

I think it is worth pointing out that, in a sense, their is something beautifully "redneck" or at least "blue collar" behind GTD. The system acknowledges that human beings are not built to be running around like mad men, answering a cell phone, and getting 300 e-mails a day. We would probably be most happy living in "real time" and having more defined edges to our work. The farmers and ditch diggers are not freaks, we are. GTD helps us take our bizarre post-modern amorphous feverish world and break it into bite-size tasks that are basically "cranking widgets", so that it doesn't kill us. Rednecks don't golf on their day off, because they don't crave moments of clear completion.

Now, I agree that "redneck" is a lifestyle of music, cars, etc. But it is more than that. In the words of world redneck authority Jeff Foxworthy, redneck is a "glorious lack of sophistication." I show my dad my cool new Fisher Space Pen and tell him how it writes under water and fits neatly in my pocket so that I can distribute cognition on the fly, for only $30 and he looks at me like I am nuts. They see what is essential to life and what is a distraction.

Once again, if what you're working on was your life, why would you want to get it done quickly and with as little effort as possible? I work on some pretty cool and important stuff, but that is not my life. It exists so that I can have my life. A redneck would not go into work if he won the lottery, because he's sane. You get things done, or Git'er done, so that you can go do your life. I think that's the fundamental difference and the part of me that is no longer redneck is the part of me that is impressed with my stuff to the point of addiction.

If you think this is mere hyperbole, ask yourself, "How much of what I am doing would I do for free?" I bet not much. It is for the sake of an end, but, as Aristotle taught us, what we do for its own sake is better than what we do for the sake of something else. My dad has never heard of Aristotle and thinks Plato was the stuff I played with when I was a kid, but he knows what's work and what's life. Not to say that redneck lottery winners live the life of pure contemplation, but they are sane enough to want out. (Plato and BBQ are hopefully not mutually exclusive.)

In conclusion, I wish I didn't need GTD. Is that heretical? No. I wish I could have three solid days of camping with no cell phone and no nagging fear of a client problem awaiting me. When my dad goes fishing, he's thinking about fishing. At its best, rednecks are Zen. Life is not easy, and most don't have a lot of money, but how much would you pay for three solid days of no cell, no e-mail, and no fires to come back to. I am currently balancing this equation in my mind. So the next time you see a member of the "servile class" doing some job that you would never consider, think about his life when he gets off and then ask your multi-tasking knowledge worker self when quitting time really is.

We've got the "knowledge", but maybe they're the smart ones.

Sorry, it's hard to tell how long something is when you're typing in this little comment field. Just something I've been ruminating on.

Regarding the Fisher Space Pen,

First of all, I used to have one and liked it but paid less than $20 for it.

Second, the Americans spent zillions developing a pen that would write in outer space in zero gravity. Apparently, there were problems with fountain pens and ball points then prevalent.

The Russians just used existing technology: pencils.

Who is smarter?

Time for this chemist who used to sell equipment to big pharma Ph.D.'s to go milk his organic cows.

In the winter my collar color changes daily depending on what turtleneck shirt I wear to the "barn." For church, I still tend to wear a suit.

WRT palm pilots, after a couple of hard resets on the road I went back to a notebook/folder with business cards in sheet protectors. I still mostly use this system. I suppose I ought to run those sheets through the copier to back them up. It is easier and safer to use on the highway than a computer or worse, a palm pilot, but still you probably ought to pull over as the print is mighty small v. your velocity (you cover about 110 feet per second at 75 mph)

Paper is an extremely durable technology.
Best regards.

There's an old blue collar saying, "The dog that barks is the one that's been hit with the stone."

In this case it means that it's the elitist who would see this humor as a slap at "regular" people. Regular people could see this as a dig at technology obsessed, pretentious yuppies.

This convo is much too serious.

Jeff Foxworthy describes "redneck" as a "...glorious absence of sophistocation..." to which I proudly raise my hand (as my wife would agree).

But, alas, a true "redneck" would write the "Get Beer" in permanent marker.

;-)

Bob (Redneck Extraordinaire)

I like Charlie Daniels definition of a redneck (it sounds pretty blue collar to me):

What most people call a redneck

Ain't nothin' but a workin' man

And he makes his livin'

By the sweat of his brow

And the calluses on his hands

Now you intellectuals may not like it

But there ain't nothin' that you can do

Cause there's a whole lot more of us common-folks

Then there ever will be of you

from the song: "What This World Needs Is A Few More Rednecks" by Charlie Daniels

Cool it Barbara- Watch Blue Collar TV!:
http://www2.warnerbros.com/television/tvShows/bluecollartv/

Oh would you all please stop quoting an email forward as fact?

http://history.nasa.gov/spacepen.html

During the first NASA missions the astronauts used pencils. For Project Gemini, for example, NASA ordered mechanical pencils in 1965 from Tycam Engineering Manufacturing, Inc., in Houston...
Fisher offered the pens to NASA in 1965, but, because of the earlier controversy, the agency was hesitant in its approach. In 1967, after rigorous tests, NASA managers agreed to equip the Apollo astronauts with these pens. Media reports indicate that approximately 400 pens were purchased from Fisher at $6 per unit for Project Apollo.

The Soviet Union also purchased 100 of the Fisher pens, and 1,000 ink cartridges, in February 1969, for use on its Soyuz space flights. Previously, its cosmonauts had been using grease pencils to write in orbit.