Hillbilly Elegy

report was widely watched in the region
but met with utter scorn. The consistent
reaction: This is none of your damn
business. “This has to be the most
offensive thing I have ever heard and
you should all be ashamed, ABC
included,” wrote one commenter online.
Another added: “You should be ashamed
of yourself for reinforcing old, false
stereotypes and not giving a more
accurate picture of Appalachia. This is
an opinion shared among many in the
actual rural towns of the mountains that I
have met.”
I knew this because my cousin took
to Facebook to silence the critics—
noting that only by admitting the region’s