Rant on Kentucky Taxes and Bureaucracy

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PipeGarGuy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 1, 2022
120
179
I'm still paying $35/carton for cigarettes and $29 for a tub of Carter Hall. Your guy might be gouging you.
I guess that’s possible, but the “sin tax” on tobacco and alcohol is outrageous. It’s even worse in Ohio. They come to Kentucky to buy it!
 

PipeGarGuy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 1, 2022
120
179
Some members here think things are going as they wish. Smokers are not all conservative, libertarian or liberal. I'd bet the membership here is about the same proportion as the non-smoking segment. Just reading the posts that touch on politics reflects the wide array of our membership.

IBTL!
I would say that’s accurate. Showing my ignorance here, what’s IBTL?
 

K.E. Powell

Can't Leave
Aug 20, 2022
493
1,781
37
West Virginia
I can't really improve on what Sable and Warren said about the political and practical implications of the video in question; they ably skewered the silly pretentions and pointed out the obvious holes in the arguments presented therein. But I will offer a few things as a means of offering some context that seemed missing throughout this thread.

The man in the video is Alan Harrelson, a professor of history at Liberty University. And yes, he talks with that strong Carolinian accent all the time. When he is not posting videos about pipe tobacco on his YouTube page, you can find him lecturing about the history and origins of Bluegrass music, and other musical histories of the South generally. When he is in his wheelhouse and not flustered, he comes off as educated, intelligent, and very passionate.

I bring this up because you can see in his lectures, he speaks the same as he does here and comports himself similarly. But I also mention that in order to provide an important contextual clues as to how Alan's worldview may be colored. Liberty University is a staunchly conservative private university founded by Jerry Falwell, and they are in the habit of making sure their professorial body reflects that character. And though Alan typically avoids getting too political in his Pipe Cottage channel on YouTube (the video in question being an obvious exception), he does let slip some thoughts that betray a very Southern traditionalist political ideology. That isn't a criticism or anything, but if you know where a person is, you're better equipped to know where they may eventually go.

And as an aside, I think Alan assumes most of the people who watch his videos have watched them all, or at least most, so in his rant, he left out some important details. First, he only moved to Kentucky very recently. Second, he did have a pipe store in South Carolina, and it was online (I cannot recall if he had an accompanying B&M, but I don't believe so). In the videos leading up to the move, he spent a lot of hay talking about Kentucky's business and political climate being very agreeable to him. So, I think he believed running a shop would be even easier in Kentucky than it was in SC. Apparently, he was wrong, but I think, too, he was looking for an excuse to drop out that would allow him to save face. He found it and made a rant making himself sound nobler and more beleaguered than he really is. One snooty phone call to a public worker, and he is packing up and calling it quits.

I cannot help but have a soft-spot for the man. I find his voice melodious (don't judge me!), but yea. We mountain mamas have a term for people like him: gentleman farmer. It's not a compliment. Dude probably has money and comes from it, and is inclined to view any inconvenience to him as an assault on his liberties and/or heritage. Of course, my own biases may be coloring my take on the man, and I certainly can't say I know him personally.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,630
44,855
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I can't really improve on what Sable and Warren said about the political and practical implications of the video in question; they ably skewered the silly pretentions and pointed out the obvious holes in the arguments presented therein. But I will offer a few things as a means of offering some context that seemed missing throughout this thread.

The man in the video is Alan Harrelson, a professor of history at Liberty University. And yes, he talks with that strong Carolinian accent all the time. When he is not posting videos about pipe tobacco on his YouTube page, you can find him lecturing about the history and origins of Bluegrass music, and other musical histories of the South generally. When he is in his wheelhouse and not flustered, he comes off as educated, intelligent, and very passionate.

I bring this up because you can see in his lectures, he speaks the same as he does here and comports himself similarly. But I also mention that in order to provide an important contextual clues as to how Alan's worldview may be colored. Liberty University is a staunchly conservative private university founded by Jerry Falwell, and they are in the habit of making sure their professorial body reflects that character. And though Alan typically avoids getting too political in his Pipe Cottage channel on YouTube (the video in question being an obvious exception), he does let slip some thoughts that betray a very Southern traditionalist political ideology. That isn't a criticism or anything, but if you know where a person is, you're better equipped to know where they may eventually go.

And as an aside, I think Alan assumes most of the people who watch his videos have watched them all, or at least most, so in his rant, he left out some important details. First, he only moved to Kentucky very recently. Second, he did have a pipe store in South Carolina, and it was online (I cannot recall if he had an accompanying B&M, but I don't believe so). In the videos leading up to the move, he spent a lot of hay talking about Kentucky's business and political climate being very agreeable to him. So, I think he believed running a shop would be even easier in Kentucky than it was in SC. Apparently, he was wrong, but I think, too, he was looking for an excuse to drop out that would allow him to save face. He found it and made a rant making himself sound nobler and more beleaguered than he really is. One snooty phone call to a public worker, and he is packing up and calling it quits.

I cannot help but have a soft-spot for the man. I find his voice melodious (don't judge me!), but yea. We mountain mamas have a term for people like him: gentleman farmer. It's not a compliment. Dude probably has money and comes from it, and is inclined to view any inconvenience to him as an assault on his liberties and/or heritage. Of course, my own biases may be coloring my take on the man, and I certainly can't say I know him personally.
Thank you for the background info on the fellow, it's very much appreciated, as well as interesting, and from what you've indicated, Foghorn is a Karen.