Oh, I’m a good old rebel,
Now that’s just what I am,
And for this yankee nation,
I do not give a damn.
I’m glad I fought agin ‘er
I only wish we won.
I ain’t asked any pardon for anything I’ve done.
I hates the yankee nation and everything they do.
I hates the declaration of independence, too.
I hates the glorious union, just dripping with our blood.
I hates the striped banner, and fit it all I could
I road with Robert E. Lee,
For three years, thereabout.
Got wounded in four places,
And I starved at point lookout.
I caught the rheumatism
Campin’ in the snow.
But I killed a chance of Yankees
And I’d like to kill some more.
3 hundred thousand Yankees
Is stiff in southern dust.
We got 3 hundred thousand
Before they conquered us
They died of Southern Fever
And southern steel and shot
I wish there were 3 million
Instead of what we got.
I can’t pick up my musket
And fight ‘um down no more
But I ain’t gonna love ‘um
Now that is certain sure
And I don’t want no pardon
For what I was and am
I won’t be reconstructed
And I do not give a damn
Oh, I’m a good old rebel,
Now that’s just what I am,
And for this yankee nation,
I do not give a damn.
I’m glad I fought agin ‘er,
I only wish we won.
I ain’t asked any pardon for anything I’ve done.
As many times as I’ve heard/read those lyrics, I still get a chill when I consider the tremendous bitterness that went into their composition.
Did the Confederacy that this “Good Ole Rebel” fought for gradually fade away and disappear between 1865 and the end of the 19th century? Or has the South risen again? Are we living in an era of nascent Neo-Confederacy? Are Southern cultural values finding their way into the national psyche?
The first question might be: what are Southern Cultural values?
A number of studies would include the following traits:
A high value placed upon personal honor and a willingness to use violence to defend it.
Religious conservatism.
Strictly defined hierarchy in family life, with males in the dominant or leadership position, and women and children subservient.
Distrust of formal governmental institutions and law enforcement.
High value placed on gun ownership and the ability to use weapons.
High value placed on property ownership and respect for the rights of property owners.
Mistrust of “outsiders” and hostility toward racial, ethnic, religious and cultural groups considered “inferior.”
Are we experiencing the 21st century “Southernization” of American culture? If the Republican Party has its way, the answer would be “yes.”
Matthew Iglesias, after noting how many Southern whites believe that Barack Obama was not born in this country (a considerably higher percentage than white in other regions) comments:
“I think Republicans have basically given up on the battle of trying to win more Hispanics over to their side. Which leaves them with the medium-term objective of trying to get non-southern whites to act more like southern whites.”
When we take a look at the characteristics of Southern culture noted above, how many of them sound familiar compared to the Tea Party “values” of 2010?
Do people like Joe Wilson, who felt safe in shouting “You lie!” to an African-American president, or Joe Barton, who abjectly apologized to the CEO of BP for the “shakedown” he had allegedly “suffered” at the hands of Barack Obama — both from Southern states — represent the attitude of Southern states toward our current government?
A Louisiana State University study on the roots of Southern violence makes a connection between religion and violence in the South:
“The religious beliefs of the Scots-Irish immigrants also played a role in theirhigh rates of violence. They were the predecessors of the fundamentalist Christians of today, they were considered the first radicals in America (Webb 2005) Some
research suggests the favorable attitudes toward violence may have its historical
and contemporary roots in the fundamentalist, Protestant religious culture of the
South. It has been argued this religious world view lends support to the
legitimization of both formal violence, e.g., capital punishment, and informal justice
done by the hands of the populace due to low levels of formal social control agencies
that, though perhaps illegal, has, or at least had historically, a source of
legitimization in the religious culture (Borg 1977; Ellison , Burr, and McCall 2003;
Ellison and Sherkat 1993).”
The Republican Party, the religious right and the Tea Party, whether they overtly claim it or not, are increasingly finding their base in the South and their roots in Southern culture. And they’re in an evangelical mood these days.
I have to say, and I mean no disrespect, but, as a Southerner, I’m a bit offended by some of the assumptions and tones of reply and in the article itself.
Is there a problem with attitudes in the South? Most definitely, and I’m glad people have taken the time to note that these selfsame attitudes are prevalent in other NORTHERN parts of the United States. I can tell you, that whilst some of this might have been “exported” from the South, northwards and westwards, some of it has always been there.
I’m not talking about the race riots that erupted at the time of Civil Rights’ struggles in both South Boston and Detroit. There was a racist dynamic running through the North in the run up to the Civil War, especially amongst the recently-arrived Irish and German immigrant population. They were cheap labour for Northern industry and manufacturers; the escaped or freed slave was cheaper labour.
It’s also important to point out that, in many ways, the South has progressed politically a bit further than the North in recent years. Three of the last four Democratic Presidents have not only been from the South, but from the DEEP South – Arkansas, Georgia and Texas – and it took a Southern President (LBJ) to effect Civil Rights legislation. My state, Virginia, had elected the first African American governor before David Paterson ever entered politics and before Derval Patrick was even out of college. The Majority Whip in the House of Representatives is an African American from South Carolina. If Kendrick Meek scores a victory in the Florida Senatorial race, he’ll represent a Southern state on Capitol Hill. And Florida, Virginia and North Carolina all went heavily for a black man in the Presidential election.
I think if you’re going to look at any propensity toward propagation of the Second Amendment and so-called Southern cultural values, you’d do just as well to remember “American exceptionalism”, a phrase coined by a Frenchman, in the early half of the 19th Century, just after the passage of universal (white male) suffrage, and remarked upon after a lengthy visit, which encompassed mainly the developing Northern states.
That said, in the end, more blacks have died by lynching on southern soil than in any other area of the country. And does not the KKK find it’s American roots in the south as well? The south has taken the lead from the beginning in it’s acts of cruelty and slaughter of black people and though I appreciate your need to defend it, the south will never outlive it’s atrocious history. It’s not to say that areas in the north aren’t culpable. As white racist citizens of the south migrate to other areas of the country, they bring their belief systems with them.
You said it much more clearly than I did, VegasBabe. I would never say that there hasn’t been considerable evolution in the South or that there’s little of value in the culture, but what you’ve noted is a part of history.
I think those presidents are not indicative as a whole of the South progressing further, but merely of electoral strengths in getting the Southern vote. My grandma, a Savannian-in-Exile to the end, loved Jimmy Carter, but still wouldn’t eat food prepared by a “colored.”
Of course the South is not a monolith. There’s significant areas in the famously liberal PNW (minus North Utah; Idaho) that are downright creepy and unsettling, others, which are merely solidly conservative. Similarly, the South has its liberal areas – and the curiously post-Civil Rights Democrat-dominated Arkansas and West Virginia.
But, on the whole, though the South has a rich varied history, and shining luminaries in politics, literature and music – any honest Southerner will attest to an admixture of pride and shame – or if not personal or needlessly inherited shame, at least a keen awareness of the South’s shortcomings.
And, of course, Hibernophobia was rampant and attitudes about slavery more about northern whites wanting that land and jobs in the new territories than slavery – and certainly not racism – itself (though Abolitionism should not be downplayed, either). Nor are Northerners like Custer, or the conflict the Scots-Irish had all along the Appalachians from south to north, with the pesky indigenous population to the west (though some served in time as intermediaries and translators).
Still, the South has its own special legacy. From South Carolina onwards, which was never much too obliged with the federal government from the Union of the States, and in John Wilkes Booth’s cry of the Virginia motto, reverberates in the talk of “tyranny” of past Democratic presidents, and especially this one. Or the Texan legacy… (had the Confederacy survived, it was only a matter of time before that state declared independence IMHO).
While the Klan was prevalent in some Northern states – the South has its own undeniable history of institutionalized racism, that cannot be compared to ‘No Irish Need Apply.”
Marion, I didn’t find your comments until this morning, since I was out of town for the weekend. And over the same weekend, I began to wonder if– instead of using the term “Southern values”– I would have done better to say “Confederate values.” Southern culture is probably too inclusive a term to describe the attitudes I listed.
Wish I had time to delve into the subject further, but my favorite 4th grader is visiting today and I have to focus on the subtleties of Sponge Bob for the duration!
The subject of age and the confederate attitude slowly dying out in the younger generations. I brought up that my experiences had shown that education is not a priority in many families.
Now how can the attitude of “The South Will Rise Again” be changed when we have the Texas Board of Education and their school books?
Some one brought this subject a while ago, well it is still alive and well with its “Confederate Glorification”
“FATE DENIED THEM VICTORY BUT GAVE THEM A GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY”
This from a monument in the (main) Confederate part of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. (I’m still meaning to get my pictures up sometime.)
Yeah guys, it was “fate” that did you in… 🙄
I want to get to that Webb book sometime. It’s a subject very interesting to me (or in me). I heard him talking about it on C-Span back then. Look at the South, look at New Hampshire, look at Bakersfield California, etc.
Scots-Irish, Scottish.
During the Revolutionary War, the Highland Regiments had received several awards of valour in their Southern campaign. It is said the Chieftains would not allow any to accept among some regiments, as they were won fighting kith and kin (ironic since they never thought much of raiding the neighboring clan’s cattle in the past). Indeed a Hessian officer remarked, “call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion; it is nothing more or less than a Scotch Irish Presbyterian rebellion.”
– Sir Walter Scott, “The Lady of the Lake”
One only need to look through that poem and reverse the “indignant spirit of the North” with South. And replace the Sassenach with the Yankee. Furthermore, the Scots-Irish have an extra hostility to being jerked around by the government as transplants.
Now, haven’t things changed since then? Of course. It’s always been interesting to me how culture is transmitted though. And questions of mine are if the saltire on the Battle Flag was really accidental, or if the Rebel Yell really was the sluagh-ghairm – or if all this is just romantic fancy gone amok. There might be some kernels of truth to these, but I definitely know there’s been more than a fair share of the latter.
I would say this though. Scottish mottoes:
Nemo me impune lacessit (No one attacks me with impunity)
Wha daur meddle wi’ me? (Scots rendering of Latin)
…Don’t Tread on Me (though I realize this slogan’s origin has its own history, it fits the pattern quite nicely, no?).
Now, the whole racism and stuff, that’s a different topic of its own. I merely wished to segue on the ethos here. It’s a toxic brew. This legitimate distrust of government (the English), transposed upon a new situation, and interwoven with new traditions (the Second American Revolution and a’ that).
Can I just add though, that in those days the Klan got its name from Greek (look at Southern city names, there was a real penchant for Classical history), read poetry like Scott, and took pride in their ‘aristocratic’ (this, I believe, comes from the English colonial heritage of the South) sensibilities?
They may have been racists or slaveholders (though most, especially the poor Scots-Irish, weren’t), but at least the South appreciated education, class and hospitality and their leaders weren’t all dumb-as-rocks.
This New South is an inbred descendant of Dixie, IMHO.
And can someone once and for all explain proud Southerners flying the Confederate Naval Jack (the only actual use of the flag many of them seem to think was the Confederate flag) and the Star Spangled Banner together? All the while claiming they’re the “real” Americans?
WTF?
Seriously.
This was really starting to bug me in Virginia. It’s like, we still hold this grudge, but when we fear them Libs, we wrap ourselves in the Yankee Aggresor’s flag.
I appreciated Hollywood Cemetery if for anything, its consistency in this regard. At least there was no Union flag near Jefferson Davis’ grave. That would’ve driven me up the wall.
By the way, is that picture up top Colonel Angus?
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4109/saturday-night-live-colonel-angus-comes-home
Khirad! Where to begin on your comment? A terrific collection of observations.
Haven’t you always wondered what the rebel yell really sounded like? From written descriptions, it was apparently a unique and blood-chilling yowl that did sometimes demoralize the opponent.
There’s a wonderful book called Children of Pride (Yale U. Press). It’s a collection of letters of a Southern family from just before the Civil War to just after (maybe 1000 pages…they were letter writers). If you get a chance to read it, I think you’ll be fascinated.
I never realized the similarity of the Scottish flag with the Confederate one. It’s hard to imagine that was accidental.
And finally, although the fella in the picture was not identified, he does look like a “Colonel Angus” type, doesn’t he? 😆 “I’ve longed for the night that Colonel Angus would rest his head at Shady Thicket.” Priceless.
Perhaps I will read that book this afternoon, k’es. Seems that little tome is 2000 pages!!!
http://www.quarterman.org/books/myers.html
Gosh, b’ito, I read the whole darn hard cover version years ago and I could have sworn it was a mere 1000 pages! 😉
How time flies when you’re sippin’ a mint julep and swingin’ in the hammock…fiddle-dee-dee..
Children of Pride seems interesting. I know that going back through my genealogy I’ve come across some stories from my Southern ancestors during the War Between the States. Whatever the ideology and whatever the South’s shortcomings, when an ‘invading’ and ‘occupying’ Army comes through your town, I do feel a sort of sympathy. Never mind the part where they had a few of the slaves hide the valuables before hosting the Union commander with tea and supper… I know, it’s twisted that I can feel sympathy for them (and the slaves – the domestic variety, not that that makes it better), but such is the conflict I have with this heritage.
Upon remembering some information I came upon reference to a book entitled: “Celtic Origins in Southern Violence” by Dr. John Pancake, University of Alabama. Apparently it’s one of those really rare books though. Pity, looks interesting.
But, as to the Rebel Yell. That is exactly how the curdling Scottish warrior cry was described. And indeed, it can probably be traced back to even the Gauls against Caesar.
While a war cry, and sounds of drums and other instruments are common to all armies, the Rebel Yell always struck me as something more fierce and primal.
In my first post, I did forget to mention the first American rebellion. The Whiskey Rebellion. Who was behind this?
I think Webb’s title of “Born to Fight” isn’t that far off.
Khirad! 😆 😆 😆
I had never seen that little segment from the Simpsons! How do you recall and locate these bits so quickly?
(Slow response on this side (sorry), since I was out of town over the weekend!)
Your synopsis has chilled me to the bone.
Spot on and terrifying Kes. Excellent analogy.
A great article, Kesmarn, and what a chilling song! I think you are right about the higher tolerance for violence that is considered justified in traditional Southern culture. I remember walking up toward a home in south Columbus, with a high percentage of Appalachian heritage people, on a canvassing project I was working on in college. I was shocked to see a sign, with an illustration of a gun that said, “I value my property more than your life”. I had never even considered such a thing, and here this person was proudly displaying it, feeling as if there was nothing to justify. Needless to say, I skipped THAT house!
I also think about a song, a great one, that every band that plays country music knows how to play, “Rocky Top”, that contains the lyrics:
Once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top
Looking for a moonshine still
Strangers ain’t come down from Rocky Top
Bet they never will.
This attitude, so sure of itself, so unapologetic, so having NOTHING to do with the teachings of the man they all claim to worship, and believe they will present themselves before in the afterlife, can be easily manipulated by demagogues. Very uncomfortable thought, that.
Beautifully written, as always, WTS.
I had a book of sociological studies of Appalachia in the 1930s that was part of the Depression era Federal Writer’s Project. The author observed that the same man who would never dream of taking a walnut from a tree on your property, would not hesitate to kill you if he felt his honor had been violated by you. In other words, property rights often trumped the value of human life — especially if it became a matter of honor.
I agree with you about the chilling quality of the post Civil War song. What war can do to the human soul!
And — speaking of music — those Rocky Top lyrics have a bit of the “dark side” in ’em, too, don’t they?!
Yes, that’s why I posted the lyrics. They contain that same preference for property over life, even if the property is moonshine!
*
Don’t forget northern Idaho.
Ah yes, northern Idaho. The birthplace of Sister Sarah of the Frozen North. They just looooooooove to hate there.
Too bad, Coeur d’Alene and the Bitterroots are beautiful, but yeah, besides the natural beauty, it can get spooky if ya wander off too far. Sometimes, that’s not even necessary.
*
Oh, yeah, Redding area can be pretty spooky. I have family that lives around there.
Try Yreka.
The Hutaree and the Klan do have a lot in common, BT! Besides just the love of silly costumes, I mean… 😀
*
BT, I’m glad to get a little “push back” on this article. That’s one reason I wrote it.
But the point I’m making is that there are some elements of culture that had their roots in the South that are being taken mainstream, and that does mean to the North, East and West as well, in 2010. Now NASCAR and Carrie Underwood, I can handle. But Sanford, McConnell, Barton and company…another story.
Yeah, it’s pretty weird to see Confederate flag bumper stickers on pickups in Oregon and Montana (Saw more of ’em in Oregon than Montana, frankly.)
I see them here in Ohio occasionally, too, Pepe. Definitely people trying to make a statement. But not one that’s appreciated in minority communities (and elsewhere) here.
k’es, I’ve read that Phoenix will lose over 100,000 home owners if “the law” goes through.
Ouch, b’ito! There goes the tax base. A downward spiral.
One of those “OOPS” unintended consequences.
*
And here I thought Arizona was the leading contender for CaucasianLand. They seem to be trying hard for the title.
Northwestern Montana is part of that.
Actually Oregon is pretty schizophrenic, as are a lot of Western states. Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Ashland and Newport are about as liberal as you can get … I mean Corvallis actually legalized gay marriage. But the rest of the state … Wow. Just wow!
is not the division not the rockies? Fisherman v.ranchers? Also the water rights?Feds good when my party gets the water, Feds not good when I don’t.
Bito — a lot of the division in the West is City Folk vs. God-fearing folk, if you catch my meaning.
Fishermen and rancher also have conflicts, but I see that as mostly rich nouveau ranchers (such as Huey Lewis from Huey Lewis and the News). A lot of the old-timers are cool with fishermen and hunters.
Well Pepe, Portland did too briefly, until an anti-gay amendment. Funny enough, the Coquille Tribe decided to, claiming tribal sovereignty. Sam Adams, Portland’s Mayor, is openly gay – not that it matters – I just love that.
For the record, I think that the upper New England states and Midwest are far more white.
Now, Eastern Oregon and Washington perhaps, but dangit – there be all them Hispanics workin’ the fields!
I can speak with authority on SW Washington and Multnomah (79% white) and Washington (82&) counties. My native county in SW Washington, Clark, is indeed around 88% though (including the Russians).
Think with the Northwest is while Portland and Seattle have black populations, and while there are more and more Latinos – the main minorities are Asians and Pacific islanders plus Native Americans. Each of the first two making up around 5% each on average. And though they are white, Russian stores are ubiquitous.
Now, Idaho? Outside of Boise (big Basque community by the way! And Polynesians, etc.), yeah, totally. North Utah.
In any case, Oregon and Washington west of the Cascades would be a very bad place for Caucasianland, Southern Oregon/North Jefferson State excluded.
I heard one Aryan Nations guy moved to some podunk town in North Carolina cause it was so white and was trying to make an all-white county a while back. I can’t remember where exactly, though.
That’s Martinsville, Indiana 😯
I agree BT that threre are elements of this both North and South, East and West. Having lived in each quadrant, it just seems more prevalent/common in the south to me.
I never heard or read this poem/song. And I guess since I grew up in Pennsylvania and lived in Vermont for over 15 years I couldn’t be considered a “good ol’ southern boy.” But now I live in Arizona. One of the whacko states that wants to secede and build a wall not just between Arizona and Mexico, but between all the other states that border Arizona. So am I a good ol’ southwestern boy now?
Could I add to the list of southern values a misplaced idea of the concept of “personal responsibility.” We all have to take responsibility for our actions no matter what the outcome. But the idea prevalent now about personal responsibility is that if you lose your livelihood through no fault of your own, well, that’s just too bad.
If y’all sufferin’ then suck it up. We don’t need no gubment relief. We’re self reliant folk. That gubment relief is for those blacks and liberals.
Excellent point, dildenusa! I heard the same “logic” applied to health care reform. “People only “need” health insurance because they’re too lazy to get up off the couch and exercise and they refuse to eat vegetables.” Huh?
Of course, there’s a small bit of wisdom in encouraging a good diet and physical activity, but try telling that to someone who is in the hospital and running up giant medical bills because he was hit by an uninsured drunk driver!
Ditto with “personal responsibility” for our own retirements. A person making minimum wage is supposed to be able to save $500,000 for health coverage and retirement? Only if a cardboard box works for housing, and dumpster diving for food, combined with a 100 year working career!
K’es, You wanna guess how long $500,000 would last with a major medical situation?
Oh, b’ito, not very long, as we both (unfortunately) know all too well, huh?
Dumpster diving ? Hey that is the rush limbat plan!
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/rush-limbaugh-thinks-hungry-children-should
Patsy…I saw that. Could that guy get any lower?
Really.
Fantastic article Kes and your proposition is brilliant! As I went through it, so many pieces fell right into place.
It doesn’t seem to be a complex or even premeditated campaign. The motivations would seem to be as you describe, the demographics and sensibilities of a majority of the nation are (slowly!) continuing to evolve away from the narrow-minded and ignorant traditions of far too many southern people (mostly older now) and their reaction is to cling to them more fiercely.
They see nothing wrong with treasonous talk about our government or president, they’re fine with blatant racism (that self-described redneck State Sen. Knotts in SC who called Obama and Nikki Haley “ragheads” not only didn’t apologize, he prided himself on his racism and being a “redneck”).
This is all that this older southern generations knows (some of the younger generations too but not so much).
They can’t embrace the 21st century where racism, hatred of gays, chauvinism, oppression, extremism in religion and provincialism is being overrun in the South.
Their negative traditions (the South has many wonderful traditions and people for that matter, too), represented by their reverence of the Confederate flag, have been squeezed into a tighter and tighter corner in a more enlightened and tolerant nation.
For those in the older Southern generation, who have had racial/sexual/provincial superiority as one of the basic pillars in their lives, in some cases, the only thing that gives undereducated and underachieving people a sense of self-worth, the only option is to become more vehement about the traits that are under attack…they can’t evolve at their age (and they probably don’t believe in evolution anyway).
So, the net result of a continuing assault on the nation’s sensibilities by these increasingly desperate people who see their delusion of superiority slipping farther away (“We want our country back!”), can have a net result of such mindsets pressing deeply into the mainstream (thanks to the MSM’s BS about always presenting two sides to EVERY issue as if there always are legit alternatives to every concept, “Here with us now and opposing the view that children are born and not hatched is South Carolina State Senator Jake Knotts.”)
Can or will the public adopt such sensibilities now that the MSM and these haters are more in the mainstream of political discourse? I don’t think so.
It is hard to adopt positions you recognize as ignorant. Even though a majority of Americans apparently support, the AZ bill, they simultaneously oppose many of the hateful and racist principles connected with it (IMO, most people aren’t fully informed on how oppressive it is, they just want something that’s illegal to be stopped).
Sorry to say that especially in periods when Democrats and especially non-southerners are in positions of power, this will likely go on and could result in more unfortunate events.
These folks are like dinosaurs caught in tar pits, going down slowly, thrashing and roaring harder and harder as they sink. The thing is, eventually, the progression of civilization, like the tar, will pull them completely down and they will become the fossils they deserve to be.
Thanks for your kind words, AdLib.
I agree that it is more the older demographic in the South that fits the racist, xenophobic stereotype. That’s why it seems so ironic that the views of a (one hopes) shrinking subset of the American demographic are being pushed onto more mainstream audiences by the likes of FOX, Sarah Palin and the T-baggers. I guess that irony becomes a bit more comprehensible when you look at Oily Joe’s spirited defense of corporate power and entitlement. The union-busting, pro-corporation Southern business style is something he and his cronies would also like to spread throughout the land. Bundling the whole collection of ideas and labelling it as “Patriotism” with a Southern accent is part of the game plan, I think.
AdLib, two two things I need to discuss, I can’t really disagree because I haven’t lived in the south for years.
One is the age factor. Many of the southern people of my age got very few things out of the 60s/70s. Sex, Drugs, and rock and roll (mostly southern rock and the newer country). I watched them raise their children in the same ways as their parents and grandparents, “The correct, southern ways”. Which brings me to “Yeah, but the younger ones are getting a better education.” Not necessarily so, many southern states and people don’t have a large appreciation for education. I knew parents that were overjoyed their child got a GED.I also knew citrus workers that read philosophy.
Like you said, there are many good people and many good qualities in the south, but as a whole I’m not sure how quickly attitudes will change.
What I would like is for a someone in the south to chime in on this discussion.
I have been thinking of the tea party and the republican party as the growing ‘minority’!
They just keep digging the hole bigger and bigger.
Oh and kes,
I love the pic
It is so big that it’s off my computer screen!
Those curtains look pretty good on my windows. 😉
Hey, where did my new curtains go?
😆 !!
Patsy! And you might know, the minute I (unsuccessfully) posted the article, my sister showed up and hauled me off to lunch.
So there those curtains hung in all their super-sized glory until AdLib got out the sewing machine and fixed ’em!
Like you, I can’t see the Tea Party going anywhere but downhill from here.
I’ve always suspected, not being an expert in the South and having never lived there, that the root of the situation in the South really began in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. That was definitely the catalyst for the Republicans taking over the South. It was all about race and disenchanted Dixiecrats forgetting their hatred of Lincoln and abandoning the party of their parents and grandparents.
Nixon exploited the hate toward minorities in 1968 with his “Southern Strategy.” Then swooped in the Evangelicals, welcomed with very open and very cynical arms by Reagan, who exploited their fears and paranoia over gays, drugs, abortion … women actually thinking for themselves …. etc.
What I find so ironic is that the South is generally the poorest part of the country and the Republican party has shown for 30-plus years it simply doesn’t give a damn about the poor with its tax cuts for the wealthy and catering to the needs of corporations. I cannot get over the phenomenon of people voting against their interests time and again — all because they’re freaked out over the idea of gays getting married.
When I’ve taken a look at the Civil War, Pepe, the same thoughts have crossed my mind. The wealthy property-owning slave holders were certainly a minority. And yet there were thousands of dirt poor Southern white boys ready to suffer and die for the rights of that small minority. Why!? Did they not see that they had much more in common with their black brothers and sisters?
What makes people so identify with the powerful few that they’re willing to hurt themselves to advance the goals of people who often hold them in contempt?
K’es, where are those lyrics from? In the 70s I moved down to Central Florida(not to be confused with the coasts) and b became close to a “southern family. I cannot disagree with many of the observations you cite. Many in different degrees but they were there. There seemed to an always present prejudice,dislike to anything different. From cooking to the way people look ,speak act.
The stories I could tell…..
b’ito, I originally heard the lyrics on a cassette tape (that’s how long ago it was) of Civil War songs (Confederacy on Side A, Union on Side B) that a friend gave me. It was purchased at one of the Civil War battle site shops.
I’d never heard it before and it really gave me the willies to hear such terribly dark musical musing. Such anger encapsulated in so few (but such powerful) words.
As you note, so many Southern families are the salt of the earth. I had a close friend from Alabama and she was just a good, good person. And yet there’s this undercurrent in the culture… It’s almost like a wound that needs to be opened again in order to heal once and for all.
I wish you would tell those stories!
Considering that most human evolution is social in nature, passed down from generation to generation via social memes. I can see how the rage over loosing the war is just as strong today as it was when the South was beaten.
I’ve always suspected there would be an uprising eventually. Doesn’t mean it has to be a violent one. The Tea Party is a good example of Southern solidarity.
I’ve had the same feeling, FrankenPC…as though there was some degree of “unfinished business” from the Civil War that would eventually come back to haunt us.
Your pic IS just a tad big. 😉
Which pic is that? 😉
Do I know how to get attention, or what?
(Thanks, AdLib, for bringing the Confederates down to size!)