Hank Will-iams, Jr., the country music star who performed at the GOP rally on Tuesday, wore his sunglasses at night.
"Ah, leave him alone," an attendee said near the exit of Rec Hall Tuesday after Gov. Sarah Palin had wrapped up her speech. "He needed to protect his eyes from the blinding whiteness of the crowd."
I assume the jokester was an Obama supporter -- one of the dozens who peppered the crowd of 7,000, sitting silently as others around them erupted in cheers. But his comment wasn't exactly off base.
Though I could have counted the number of ethnic minorities in the audience on my hands and toes, it wasn't the absence of diversity that was off-putting. Considering the statistical ethnic makeup of the Republican Party and the demographics of central Pennsylvania, it was expected.
But what was worrisome was the rhetorical construction of the rural Americans in the crowd as the adversaries of urban Americans.
Though Gov. Sarah Palin briefly touched on the distinction between city and small towns, it was Williams -- a man best known for his Monday Night Football anthem -- who repeatedly reinforced the idea of rural America as an underdog that must overcome big-city oppression.
Thankfully, there was no mention of the "real" or "pro-America" parts of the country at this rally, the sorts of comments Palin caught flack for two weeks ago. But Williams didn't try to mask his drive to polarize.
First, he played on the Penn State-Ohio State rivalry, framing the Buckeyes' freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who was heavily recruited by Penn State, as an enemy because he preferred to attend school in a city.
Williams' comment that he heard Penn State "was too hick, too country" for Pryor was followed by a hearty laugh and jeers from the audience.
He followed with a musical performance. The lyrics of "Country Boy Can Survive" speak for themselves:
"I had a good friend in New York City/He never called me by my name, just hillbilly," sang Williams. "But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife/For 43 dollars my friend lost his life/I'd love to spit some beechnut in that dude's eyes/And shoot him with my old 45/Cause a country boy can survive."
Between songs, Williams warned the crowd against letting "Los Angeles, New York and Chicago" run our government.
Come January, all parts of America -- the cities, the suburbs and the small towns -- will need to rally around the victor of this presidential election. Political pandering to what Williams assumes is the resentment of all small-town Americans and GOP supporters to big city ways will only put unity further from our reach.
This us vs. them mentality does a disservice not only to American solidarity, but also to small-town Americans.
America is diverse -- ethnically, religiously, geographically and even morally. I thought that was a trait to be proud of, something to be embraced.
As Palin commended central Pennsylvanians for their hard work and unwavering patriotism, the protestors gathered outside of Rec Hall lifted signs that read "ignorance is not a small-town value."
Neither is anger or divisiveness.
"John and Sarah tell you just what they think/And they're not gonna blink/They're gonna fix this country/Cause they're just like good old Hank," Williams sang, almost in response.
Let's hope that if Sen. John McCain and Palin get elected, their vision of America is more inclusive than good old Hank's.
Alyssa Owens is a senior majoring in journalism and political science and is The Daily Collegian's Thursday columnist. Her e-mail address is alo5014@psu.edu.
