Crazy West Virginia Hillbilly - Jesco White

A couple nights ago I was browsing through the Netflix streaming movies in the documentary section and came across one called "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia"

I'm not sure what caught my eye about it, but something did, because I started it up, to play in the background while I was working.

A few minutes in, I heard them mention Jesco White, which caught my attention because it sparked a memory about a line from the Big and Rich song "Coming to Your City", in which one of the lines mentions that same name.

I'd always thought they were saying Jessica White and could never figure out who that was, but after watching this movie, I finally put two and two together. It's Jesco White that they're talking about. Now the line about "partying like real hill billies" makes a lot more sense.

I found a couple clips on YouTube that show Jesco in his younger years. The guy is a total maniac and probably has about 3 brain cells left with one on the critical list.

However, one thing about him, he just oozes charisma. You just can't stop watching him. It's understandable why all the country 'rebel' singers can't get enough of him.

I'm not sure what it is about these hillbillies that makes so many of them this way. I remember working with an Okie down in AZ that was the same way. The guy was a total train wreck. In and out of prison, always in trouble, always down on his luck, but somehow, just drew people like flies.

Maybe it's just the reckless lifestyle. People like the idea of freedom, but, thank goodness, usually don't want to pay the price.

I was reading this in an article today. It's exactly what I was saying a couple years ago about moral relativism i.e. people losing their moral certitude and not calling a "spade a spade". It also touches on what I've been saying about virtues being redefined.

It's not all bad news, to be sure. The elite minority's general acceptance of racial and sexual equality as important values has been a moral triumph. But not without costs. As part of this transformation, society has embraced what social scientist Charles Murray calls "ecumenical niceness." A core tenet of ecumenical niceness is that harsh judgments of the underclass — or people with underclass values — are forbidden. An added corollary: People with old-fashioned notions of decency are fair game.

Long before the rise of reality shows, ecumenical niceness created a moral vacuum. Out-of-wedlock birth was once a great shame; now it's something of a happy lifestyle choice. The cavalier use of profanity was once crude; now it's increasingly conversational. Self-discipline was once a virtue; now self-expression is king.

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