How did America let this man become an icon of the working class?

[Fidena]

 

[jamespowers]

It is all a con. He isn't really even a hick like that. Don't take it too seriously.

 

[Lefty]

The same way that this is authentic Italian food.

 

[LizzieMaine]

He's only an icon of the working class to people who've never actually met a member of it.

 

[dhermann1]

Uhhhhh . . . errr . . . ummmm . . . . Who is he???

 

[Gregg Axley]

Yep, I agree with everyone on this thread.
His accent is an act, but according to what I've found, he grew up on a farm...a pig farm.
He's not working class now of course, because just last year he brought in $20 million.
It's hard to say why people embraced him as their working class icon.

 

[jlee562]

Uhhhhh . . . errr . . . ummmm . . . . Who is he???

Dan Whitney, AKA "Larry the Cable Guy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_The_Cable_Guy

 

[Rats Riley]

Just a stereotype!

Nothing more than an Al Bundy, an Archie Bunker....Pee Wee Herman or an Andrew Dice Clay...

Then again...anyone ever watch Swamp People... or visit Missouri or Kentucky???

Hell we have em here up north, so I shouldn't complain!

 

[rue]

Trust me... they are everywhere.... even in California and Ohio. In fact a couple of them live across the street from me.

 

[Rats Riley]

To be honest I have to agree and say that's probably typical dress for farm folk or back woods folk. I have in laws(outlaws) in Missouri who are kind of the same. I swear I walked in on an episode of Hee Haw about eight years back.

God love em! They are a seriously healthy and hard working bunch!

They used to call me they're "Elvis from up North" or "Yankee Elvis" I kid you not! Only reason they put up with me is my military service and I could drink as good as any of them!

 

[Pompidou]

If I had to choose an actual spokesman for the working class, it'd be Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. He certainly tries hard enough to be the advocate of such. That said, Larry is at least superficially representative of a specific niche of the working class. His ability to really nail the stereotype is the key to his success. There's a very fine distinction, and sometimes none at all, between stereotype and representative.

 

[C-dot]

I never thought of Larry as an icon of the working class - He's just funny! The whole hillbilly thing is obviously an act, and the funniest one of the Blue Collar Comedy group lol

 

[Atticus Finch]

I haven't paid much attention to Larry, recently. When he first became nationally known, about eight or ten years ago, I was a fan. I liked him because he had that particular sterotype so down pat. Heck, the first time I saw him on TV, I thought he was actually somebody I knew from New Bern. The more I watched him, the more I realized he was fifty people I knew from New Bern.

AF

 

[LizzieMaine]

*Real* working class icons:

How quickly people forget.

 

[C-dot]

I particularly like this one. That large beam they're sitting on holds up the building, but they put it in place.

 

[Gene]

Larry the Cable Guy is really good perpetuating stereotypes that hurt the image of the working class. He's definitely pigeonholed all hardworking people as unintelligent, disgusting, trashy rednecks. And no one says boo because he's just a "redneck" himself. O RLY?

[video=youtube;Nqm-vKWEkoU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqm-vKWEkoU[/video]

Plus he's not funny.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I'd vote for Rowe as well.
Great pics Lizzie...

 

[Feraud]

Don't take media too seriously. I haven't heard any recent labor discussions invoke Larry the Cable Guy.
I'd suggest he equals working class like Lady Gaga represents artists..

 

[Fidena]

If I had to choose an actual spokesman for the working class, it'd be Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. He certainly tries hard enough to be the advocate of such. That said, Larry is at least superficially representative of a specific niche of the working class. His ability to really nail the stereotype is the key to his success. There's a very fine distinction, and sometimes none at all, between stereotype and representative.

Completely this. Rowe's speech to congress was very moving.

 

[Bourbon Guy]

This Larry guy is not an icon. I have finally stopped getting furious at the mere sight of him.

He's an insulting stereotype composite intended to ridicule and demean America's Scots Irish cultural heritage. That Larry David show is no different. A traitor Jew willing to perpetuate every negative Jewish stereotype. Nothing new. This guy just follows in the grand tradition of Minnie Pearl and String Bean, as well as the black minstrel players doing step and fetchit jive crap to ridicule and demean black folks and keep them in their place in the minds of everyone who laughs at it. Not that I have an opinion on it.