Fnord wrote:
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary...
Redneck (n):
1) a white member of the Southern rural laboring class
2) a person whose behavior and opinions are similar to those attributed to rednecks
[opinion=mine]
Specifying the term "Redneck" to whites gives it racial significance. Thus, any attribution to the term "Redneck" is a racial attribution; and when used disparagingly, it is a racist term on par with the infamous "N-word" used against blacks.
So, when someone describes a "Redneck" as unsophisticated, unhygienic, uneducated, ignorant, incestuous, and violent, they are doing so solely against whites, and not against any other race or ethnicity. Thus, the term "Redneck" is racist, and its disparaging use should be a bannable offense.
[/opinion]
BS.
Rednecks happened to be White. But the term "redneck" is not a synonym for "Caucasian" , or "White", or "any light skinned person of European descent".
"n****r" refers to all Black people. At the very least to all native born garden variety American Blacks of the stock who are descended from antebellum slaves. And actually it refers to all dark skinned folks of African descent world wide including in Africa itself.
The rarely used terms like "Honky" and "Cracker" are the equivalent for Whites.
"Redneck" refers to a tiny subset of the North American White population who are of a particular region and class. Most of the folks who use the term are themselves White. It does not refer to the Queen of England, or to Putin, or to most Europeans or to most of the worldwide light skinned European descent population.
It is a slur. You might even call it an "ethnic slur" ( if you define southern white folks of Scotch-Irish descent an "ethnic group"). At worst its like Pollock or Wop ( and even THAT is a stretch). A slur against a ethnic tribal subset of the white race. But it doesn't refer to Whites as a whole. So its not a racial slur.
It is a derogatory reference to white people having sunburned necks. It is based on ethnicity/race and demographics. It is often used the same way as calling people "white trash".