MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

04 October 2008

Hey there, Joe Six Pack! Dugg, on LiveJournal, but definitely worth a read.[More:]

I'd like to add that I know two Jill Six Packs who work in factories, one in New Hampshire and one in Pennsylvania. One of them is a pagan lesbian goth and the other is a heterosexual virgin by choice, but loves the fact that German soap operas allow their gay characters to kiss on screen. I know another Jill Six Pack who is a nanny, just signed her very first lease for an apartment on the Upper West Side, loves Broadway musicals, and has an AA degree in education. And she's white.

And let's also take a look at the "rich and powerful" too. My 40-year old roommate, who was recently promoted to VP of logistics at a ready-to-wear label TPS would know, who owns two houses (the one I live in and one in Ireland), who can afford to take taxis home from Midtown if she's out late entertaining friends or clients, who is thinking of buying a third home in the Hamptons...

My roommate is still going to college to get another degree, and worked two jobs for 16 years to be able to afford her homes. She's in fact thinking of waitressing at her cousin's bar in Midtown because things are getting a little tight again.

Stereotypes suck.
I've actually been surprised that there hasn't been more commotion about the stupid "Joe Sixpack" crap. I've been hating this lazy insultonym for a long time, and remain shocked that it managed to worm its way into the mainstream. It's like a bare step away from calling people Tod & Tammy Trailer Trash or something.
posted by taz 04 October | 07:44
insultonym!
posted by Lipstick Thespian 04 October | 07:51
That is exactly the sort of term I'd expect the elite liberal media to use.
posted by Eideteker 04 October | 09:25
No, Eideteker, the elite liberal media is all about Little Annie Wine-box.

That's the name I'm coining for late-college-attending, museum-going, local-food-loving, low-income voters like me.
posted by Elsa 04 October | 11:15
It's like a bare step away from calling people Tod & Tammy Trailer Trash or something.

Hey, I sat in front of Timmy Trailer Trash in homeroom in 7th grade. Trust me -- little Johnny Six Pack is in a whole 'nother class.

Kidding! Kidding!

Seriously, "Joe Six Pack" is obnoxious because its use has totally made invisible the equally important demographics of Frank Flip Flops, Sammy Sweat Pants, and Jeri Lou Junior League.
posted by mudpuppie 04 October | 14:24
I have never been and will never be a Joe Six Pack because I don't need six beers to make my view of life make sense.
posted by wendell 04 October | 15:35
I think it's hilariously sad that it has actually entered the lexicon and been used by the right the way it has been. It was originally a demographic/pollster shortcut.

I am virtually certain that George Will or someone like that wrote a column twenty years ago deriding the term as an insult and blasting the media for spreading it.

In fact, searching Google News Archive, it looks like Pierre S. "Pete" du Pont (remember him?) actually got in trouble for using the term to refer to Delaware voters.
posted by stilicho 04 October | 17:48
It was originally a demographic/pollster shortcut.

So was "soccer mom," which people proudly adopt as a self-descriptor now.
posted by Miko 04 October | 18:17
Reducing anybody to some three-word definition is insulting no matter who does it.
posted by jonmc 04 October | 19:57
BASTA! || Why I traded in my £100,000 car collection to save the planet.

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN