We have the same thing here in the Ozarks, the ubiquitous "Hillbilly" image. You still see places that sell the tacky postcards with the "Hillbilly" family. Ozark folklorist Robert Gilmore described it this way:

I've always been more annoyed than amused by the hillbilly-postcard image of the Ozarker. You know the postcard I mean. The one tourists buy to send back to Iowa, demonstrating the stereotypical lazy mountaineer, lying in front of his falling-down shack, surrounded by a passel of grimy and lethargic young'ns. A slovenly wife slouches nearby, herself too slothful to shoo the scrawny hogs, dogs, and chickens from the rickety porch.

The Ozarks, of course, has a reputation as a laid-back place, pleasant and restful, and I suppose the hillbilly-postcard Ozarker is just a clever way of demonstrating how enjoyable and relax-lng is the life of a typical resident. The truth is, anyone who has ever tried to grow anything in the thin rocky soil of an Ozarks hillside (where our postcard-hillbilly apparently lives) knows that it's not easy. To grow enough corn to make the likker in the XXX jug by his side, our post-card-hillbilly would have to work, and work hard. Now what would that do to our image?
Bill, your post immediately reminded of our own version of the concrete tipi.

Regards,

Todd