In the minds of [writer Jonathan] Taplin and his like, the adjective “white” implies racism; “male,” in combination with “white,” “rural,” and “old,” implies sexism; “rural” implies backwardness, stupidity, and the degradation of “mind-numbing” physical work; and “old” implies political incorrectness on all accounts. It is not supposed that these qualities may vary in intensity or degree from person to person, but rather that they are absolute and fully descriptive of everybody. The only response to this that I can think of, that would not be of the same kind, would be this:
Come to see me. Follow a Kentucky backroad to my house. Shake my hand. Meet my family. Accept our welcome. Sit down at our table. Take part in our hunger, our food, and our thanks. Let us tell you about our country here, its history, its economic history. Let us show it to you, pointing out everywhere the signs of what is happening to it now. Let us introduce you to some of our people with problems, to some who are trying to help–to, especially, some of our good young people who are working in factories in order to keep their farms and their livestock and the work they are called to do. Let your visit be shaped by your questions, and let it last until your questions are answered so far as they can be, for here we live with many unanswered questions. You will of course make your own judgments and come to your own conclusions. But if, after such a visit, you could draw a line alongside us, stand on the other side, and look at us with fear and hate prefiguring war, I would be sorry, but I hope I would remember my good reasons for inviting you here. I would not start carrying a pistol.
Wendell Berry, The Need To Be Whole, 420-421.