I think part of this confusion comes from a cognitive dissonance among people who really struggle with the all-pervasive insidious “melting pot” myth. They grew up hearing about the “melting pot,” and the idea of the melting pot invades all these little corners of the stories American popular culture and education tries to sell. Then when they’re confronted with evidence that there was never any such thing, it’s hard to re-frame ones understanding of American culture. “But wait, it’s supposed to be a melting pot. Why am I seeing these divisions?” Well, guess what? It never was a melting pot. Start from there and it gets a bit easier to understand.
Yeah, that’s a good point… I do think that this framing has a lot to recommend it, but it’s also kind of reductive to my mind… Just going on how they frame the deep south - that’s only the culture of the enslavers that dominates… we both know that’s not the case. It’s more like a tension exists between the culture of the enslavers (and the descendants of such) and other cultures down here… So, certainly not a melting pot, and I would agree that should probably go as an explanatory frame for understanding US culture… but I would also argue that just looking at the top-down culture doesn’t get us nearly as far as we could get with an even more complicated frame that took those tensions into account a bit better.
Really good points. I would only expand on that to write that on the news and in popular culture, we often hear people casually refer to “the South,” and if anyone thinks about it for even half a second, they aren’t talking about Black people. And they aren’t talking about any one state, which are all as different from each other as can be. As you write, they’re talking about the “White plantation mythos” south.
ETA: to elaborate that we do often hear about sub-Souths in the media. Those are specific references. “Black Alabama,” “the Civil Rights South,” “poor White southerners,” etc. Always a modification of “the South.”
Long ago I heard about a better metaphor- the US is a salad. Distinct pieces, whole and flavorful in their own right, tossed together. The point the author was trying to make was that we are distinct but also better as a whole. I, personally, thought it was a decent metaphor as long as we understood that some pieces do not taste good together and some ingredients shouldn’t be allowed to contaminate the rest. Like white supremacist or christo-facist.
I think that author’s breakdown is better than the traditional Midwest/southwest/south/New England. But you are absolutely right, it has major flaws. It is useful, I think, for explaining the politically dominant culture in those areas in the past. But political dominance is changing, ever so slowly, but changing. In truth, I’m not sure any single map could represent the complexity of the US. US culture is just so heterogenous .
That’s a good one. I’ve always loved Linda Kerber’s “braided rope.” Individual strands are on their own are not as strong as they are woven together. Her address to the American Historical Association in 1997, entitled “The Meanings of Citizenship” does a great job of framing the idea. I highly recommend it.
Kerber Braided Rope.pdf (2.3 MB)
In that metaphor, the gun nuts, christo-facists, and white supremacists would have strings embedded with rusty razorblades.
This is sad and nuts. He never called an ambulance and did not report it until the next day.
It happened a few weeks ago but it just showed up in my news feed.
According to an affidavit filed with search warrant requests in Miami County Municipal Court, Mason told investigators he and Elliott were long-time acquaintances from high school. He said Elliott told him she wanted a different firearm to have at her household because she felt unsafe.
“Mason said he showed her his 40-caliber handgun and in the process, had an accidental discharge, which struck Michelle in the chest.” He further stated he panicked, covered her body with a blanket and left in his pickup truck, the affidavit said.
Mason is homeless, but grew up in the area and has relatives locally, Public Defender Jack Hemm told Judge Jeannine Pratt. He said Mason was working to find a place to live if he could post bail.
Ready for some rational, good news?
Nashville area mall cops are now walking around armed and wearing “Police” shirts/patches
… check another item off the Philip K. Dick list 
Texas needs to get their shit together
This shows exactly what’s so wrong about firearm proliferation in the US. You can’t even talk to someone who has a gun without extreme risk.
It most certainly wasn’t the Founding Father’s intention to have the 2A murder all of the rest of our freedoms and rights.
Saw this today on PostSecret, which points out an aspect of ‘responsible gun ownership’ I don’t usually see mentioned:
Kids, wtf. How long before a good guy with a gun gets a scared by a teen with a pretend gun?
“It’s just like a fun thing for the seniors to do,” said Mikey Generazo, a Silver Lake Regional High School student who’s in the throes of the senior assassin game, a pre-graduation tradition at schools across the state.
Students explained how it works. “You just like get assigned to a target and you have to get them by the end of the week,” said Matt Wolff.
“And then if you get them, they’re out,” said D.J. Gilmore.
Kingston Police said the problem here was the water gun looked like a real Glock firearm.
“Luckily, KPD officers were quickly able to ascertain that this is what was occurring and that it was NOT a real threat. The involved juveniles were counseled on the severity of the incident and sent on their way,” police said in a statement.
The day after Sandy Hook, I saw a group of boys in my daughter’s grade all out with some sort of air rifles or such running up and down the block, ducking behind bushes, trees, and the edges of buildings, playing something like this.
I was on them in a flash and ordered them to go inside. They were surprised a parent would do that, but I was so insistent that they (fortunately) did go to someone’s home on the block immediately.
My first thought was how it would trigger the adults on the block with PTSD, but then also the realization that if anyone called the cops, they’d be shot down in the street.
This screenshot is making the rounds on various reddits
