On the Southern State of Mind
There are certain things one gets used to when living in the South. Heat, humidity, and mosquitos, for instance, or "the trinity" being the name of cooking ingredients, not a doctrinal point. "Coke" being synonymous with "carbonated drink." Tractors on the highways. Houses on the highways. Just about anything else on the highways, for that matter.
Confederate flags.
Now, it's not that I'm such a hick that the flags don't bother me -- they do, but only when I notice them. Which is not all the time, considering the fact that (at least in my town) they are for sale in droves at every major intersection, they appear on the massive bumpers of every high-and-lifted-up pickup on the road, as well as on the hats and t-shirts of half of Wal-Mart's Saturday afternoon patrons. After a while, it just becomes a commonplace. But seeing one such t-shirt display recently which was rather more blatantly racist than most, I was prompted to go look up this article from the Democratic Underground on the politics of the Southern Question.
It is an old article, but still relevant, I think. I would encourage any of my friends of the anti-war persuasion to read closely the paragraph about halfway down where the author starts discussing Howard Dean again, as I think it sheds light on the sometimes-irrational love many conservatives have for all things military. I would encourage any of my politically-minded friends to read the article not only for its rather astute analysis of the Southern mind, but also for its more general breakdown of the current state of party politics in the nation.
Disclaimer: I am certainly not endorsing all the views espoused by the author. I am hoping, however, that his more extreme, particular opinions can be forgiven in light of the overall message of the article as a whole.
Confederate flags.
Now, it's not that I'm such a hick that the flags don't bother me -- they do, but only when I notice them. Which is not all the time, considering the fact that (at least in my town) they are for sale in droves at every major intersection, they appear on the massive bumpers of every high-and-lifted-up pickup on the road, as well as on the hats and t-shirts of half of Wal-Mart's Saturday afternoon patrons. After a while, it just becomes a commonplace. But seeing one such t-shirt display recently which was rather more blatantly racist than most, I was prompted to go look up this article from the Democratic Underground on the politics of the Southern Question.
It is an old article, but still relevant, I think. I would encourage any of my friends of the anti-war persuasion to read closely the paragraph about halfway down where the author starts discussing Howard Dean again, as I think it sheds light on the sometimes-irrational love many conservatives have for all things military. I would encourage any of my politically-minded friends to read the article not only for its rather astute analysis of the Southern mind, but also for its more general breakdown of the current state of party politics in the nation.
Disclaimer: I am certainly not endorsing all the views espoused by the author. I am hoping, however, that his more extreme, particular opinions can be forgiven in light of the overall message of the article as a whole.
1 Comments:
It's Kenneth again. I finally got around to reading that article on the Southern Question. I think the guy did a pretty good job of diagnosing the problems (not just the Southern ones, but the nationwide ones too). But, I don't think he offered any real solution. The way I see things now is pretty much what he said near the end of the article. We have two parties doing the same things just with different labels. Anyway, I'm not at my most coherent at the moment, so I'll leave it at that.
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