The issue with all those rednecks is that they don't value education very much. Their view of education was that it was something they had to endure until they got their high school diploma (if they didn't drop out first), and then they just went to work in some factory or plant in their hometown that paid a living wage. Those jobs don't exist anymore in most places, but these people won't accept that. Instead of facing reality and working to change themselves and their culture, they just blame everyone else (usually minorities and immigrants) for "taking" their jobs (automation has actually taken most of their jobs), and keep hoping that the factories will somehow return. And they hate large urban areas in their states for getting "all of the good jobs", even though most of them don't have the education or training to work in those "good jobs." Go to almost anywhere in rural or small-town NC and you'll see this attitude everywhere. It is a real problem, and it's only getting worse.