Oh, slavery would have died out eventually if left alone? Why, then, gosh-dangit, why didn’t we just leave it alone? I mean, eventually, they might have stopped treating human beings like property that could be mistreated or killed on a whim! Eventually, the rapes probably would have stopped! You’re right, the North should have left them to their own devices or allowed them to secede, it was the right thing to do. And all those thousands of people suffering under it, well, I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded suffering it a few more years or decades, knowing that eventually, it (probably) would have stopped! I think they’d have agreed, it would be a small price to pay to avoid the hardship of Southerners forcibly being made to STOP raping and owning human beings by the evil North? Cause that… that’s just uncivilized.
But on the other hand, that holds tenaciously to a view of history that no one else can quite seem to understand and for the most part, find terribly offensive.
I don’t know how long you were in Nashville or what company you kept while here. I’ve been in the south for 40 years and in Nashville for 20. In school I was taught the civil war was fought primarily over slavery. The proponents of the Lost Cause were of course covered but I never have heard the Lost Cause taught as the truth. My children have been taught the same way I was taught.
I promise you’ll hear less southerners complaining about the northerners if we see less of y’all down here complaining about how much it sucks.
I promise you’ll also hear less complaining from the rest of the USA once the south stops dragging down the rest of the country with it.
One of the things I like about commenting on BoingBoing is the other commenters see themselves as so progressive, intelligent, generally accepting of other people, and willing to understand viewpoints that conflict with their own.
Of course this is coming from you, the person who called yankees “worthless”.
You do realize that no one had a stars and bars up until the civil rights and mass resistance, right? All of a sudden, those things came right back into style and in some cases were being hoisted over state capitals that resisted integration.
Nah, it was just a coincidence. They just suddenly felt the enormous need to express their “heritage”.
I dunno. As far as my own study of Nathan Bedford Forrest goes, that statue looks like a pretty accurate likeness. Uncanny, even, right down to the measured gaze and even-tempered horsemanship.
Its true the south never fully recovered economically from the “War of Northern Aggression”, but you are confusing poverty with federal dollars received. The real numbers tell another story. Out of the top ten only two are southern states. Out of the top twenty only four are southern states. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your bigotry.
No reason to accept ignorance and racism. Those are things that shouldn’t tolerated and they aren’t just different “viewpoints”.
Exactly. The South is a culture rather than a place. It’s quite similar in New Zealand: the South there is more of a country place, the people are more down-to-Earth and friendly as can be, don’t necessarily like outsiders but will welcome them warmly all the same. People in the South of New Zealand regard people from the North as being materialistic, degraded, arrogant, etc., and drive Land Rovers even though they live in a flat concrete city.
Same attitudes with people in the South versus people in the North of the US. Northerners (or Californians) like to judge Southerners and act superior (while driving their SUV’s around flat Long Island), but if you write on a college history essay that the cause of the Civil War was freeing the slaves, you’ll get an F.
Hey, maybe they can team up with the satanists and help maintain that highway.
Giant confederate flag in Virginia, giant American flag over a car dealership, equally meaningful and deeply considered gestures.
Its true the south never fully recovered economically from the “War of Northern Aggression”
So… it wasn’t about slavery then, huh?
you are confusing poverty with federal dollars received. The real numbers tell another story. Out of the top ten only two are southern states. Out of the top twenty only four are southern states. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your bigotry.
Like many southern conservatives you wallow in cherrypicked, right-wing radio “data”, half-truths and lies. Your fancy chart doesn’t take into account how much money is put into the federal government via taxes by each state versus how much is taken out. Here’s a hint:
Educate yourself:
Most Red States Take More Money From Washington Than They Put In
Red states were more likely to get a bigger cut of federal spending. Of the 22 states that went to McCain in 2008, 86 percent received more federal spending than they paid in taxes in 2010. In contrast, 55 percent of the states that went to Obama received more federal spending than they paid in taxes. Republican states, on average, received $1.46 in federal spending for every tax dollar paid; Democratic states, on average, received $1.16.
Next time don’t let your stubborn ignorance get in the way of the knowledge one can attain from critical thinking. As the article says, this will help decrease the gap between your political perception and fiscal reality.
Once again, we’d just wish you’d get your shit together and quit dragging the rest of us down.
Crazy white people
Unpopular ideas or those that dont match the politically correct zeitgeist now make one “crazy”. The ideas may be nice but the legal system that protects “those people” protects you as well.
It’s amazing how easily people can troll BoingBoing. Getting outrage here is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Considering we’re talking about Xeni Jardin’s place of birth, you might consider being careful about tarring and feathering everyone from a southern state…
FYI, I’ve lived in Richmond, Virginia.
The fact you only see red in the south of that map only shows how dishonest you are. The red is no more concentrated in the south than it is in the northwest. And as much as the north doesn’t want to admit it, West Virginia is not in the south (but Arkansas is and Texas sort of is). Once again…don’t let the facts stand between you and your bigotry. Further, you are singling out the area that has the highest concentration of the impoverished descendents of the victims of slavery. This population has struggled to recover from centuries of slavery, institutional slavery and racial repression. You should be ashamed for blaming the woes of the country on the people who helped build the country for less than zero, but somehow I doubt you are.
I must have slept through ‘Condescension 101’. If an “education” like yours makes me as bigoted and dishonest as you , I’ll stick with the one I have.
[Cowicide said] FYI, I’ve lived in Richmond, Virginia.
Another temporary (perhaps failed) carpetbagger thinks he’s an expert on the south. Surprise! Surprise! If I only had a nickel…
Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
With some smart ass New York Jew
And the Jew laughed at Lester Maddox
And the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too
Well he may be a fool but he’s our fool
If they think they’re better than him they’re wrong
So I went to the park and I took some paper along
And that’s where I made this song
We talk real funny down here
We drink too much and we laugh too loud
We’re too dumb to make it in no Northern town
And we’re keepin’ the niggers down
We got no-necked oilmen from Texas
And good ol’ boys from Tennessee
And colleges men from LSU
Went in dumb. Come out dumb too
Hustlin’ ‘round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
Gettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecues
And they’re keepin’ the niggers down
CHORUS
We’re rednecks, rednecks
And we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground
We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
And we’re keeping the niggers down
Now your northern nigger’s a Negro
You see he’s got his dignity
Down here we’re too ignorant to realize
That the North has set the nigger free
Yes he’s free to be put in a cage
In Harlem in New York City
And he’s free to be put in a cage on the South-Side of Chicago
And the West-Side
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he’s free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston
They’re gatherin’ ‘em up from miles around
Keepin’ the niggers down
R. Newman
Without singling anyone out…
I’ve heard these things before:
The Confederate flag is just part of my culture.
The south was going to abolish slavery anyway.
The Civil War was only about tariffs.
I personally don’t care about you having your opinion, and I don’t care about you flying your flag. I see it kind of like line drying your underwear; it’s mildly offensive, but equally amusing.
That all said, when you say or do these things you might keep in mind the philosophical [company you keep][1] and not get upset when you are judged harshly.
[1]: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles
The fact you only see red in the south of that map only shows how dishonest you are.
The fact that you don’t look at the actual numbers the pretty colors represent shows you’re projecting. It’s disproportionately worse in the south.
The majority of the states receiving the least in federal spending per dollar of federal taxes spent are all in other parts of the country (vastly liberal leaning areas). The largest congregation of states receiving the most in federal spending per dollar of federal taxes spent is in the south.
And as much as the north doesn’t want to admit it, West Virginia is not in the south
West Virginia is part of the south.
This population has struggled to recover from centuries of slavery, institutional slavery and racial repression
Agreed. And, who’s fault is that?
