Saturday, January 4, 2014

Words Mean Things

  Last spring I did a post titled COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE OF WIND IN LITTLE APPALACHIA, it was about an outreach specialist Marion Trieste (Trieste Associates), she was hired by British Petroleum in 2008, to do "outreach work” for their proposed Cape Vincent wind complex.

The focus of this post was a webinar that highlighted the methods used by Trieste to facilitate a community’s acceptance of wind.

 Among other things in this webinar, Trieste described rural New York as little Appalachia.

 What exactly did Trieste mean by Little Appalachia?
Was she drawing on the typical stereotypes associated with Appalachia?


Was she saying that the people living in rural New York are naive, inbred, illiterate, toothless hicks in bib overalls, swilling moonshine from jugs hanging from their belts?

 Was she painting Cape Vincent with the same stereotypes used to entertain people? 

Things like the Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw, the Dukes of Hazard and Deliverance?

Or was Trieste referring to the economic hardships in Appalachia, created by companies much like BP, that exploit the natural resources for a profit, exacted at the expense of the people, and the environment.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting point. In her webinar, which floored me when I heard it, she was whipping up class warfare. I don't think she was being particularly cute by referring to the Cape as 'Little Appalachia'. If I recall she also called the Green Shirts her kids, which included the Burtons who were not exactly kids. She had labels for everyone, put them all into little categories. She was patronizing to leaseholders and a lying propagandist to anyone else. You've got to hear her to believe it.

Anonymous said...

Yup!

Anonymous said...

Marion Trieste is a mercenary, a professional industry whore, who will use propaganda, and every promotional tactic available, to further the cause of her current pimp.

Her self-professed dedication to environmental issues is a front, nothing more than an advertising gimmick used to scam unsuspecting suckers like "Voters for Wind",who can't see beyond the promised dollars signs, to realize they are being used.

Anonymous said...

In this webinar Trieste described the typical anti-wind in CV as wealthy short term summer residents, retired Wall Street attorney types from New Jersey and New York City.

This clearly indicates that the "Little Appilachia" remark was directed at her Voters for Wind.