-Caveat Lector-
>
> {{I am sure that some of our kinder, gentler (ha!) lib posters will want
to
> claim this is off topic but let me assure you that I have watched this
> conspiracy evolve over my entire lifetime. The South is the scapegoat
onto
> which the nation foist its various social ills regardless of the nature of
> the truth of the matter. Example: Everyone knows that no matter how
racist
> their own area is, it is MUCH worse down South, right??? This is totally
> false but is so beloved an idea that the rest of the country will never
> abandon this way of thinking. How long since there has been any kind of
> race riot, march, etc. in Birmingham? At least 40 years, a lifetime for
the
> majority of people living there. Compare and contrast to Watts, Compton,
> Miami, New York (Benson Heights), Detroit, Cincinnati and on and on. Check
> the latest census for confirmation of blacks returning to the deep South,
> etc. since 1970 when jobs became available. I DO hope we stop fighting the
> wars for America and let others do this in the future. Too many
Southerners
> have died fighting for a country that treats them and their families as
> second class citizens. Every time there a major disaster like the bombing
> of the Marine barracks, etc. the number of Southerners listed is far out
of
> population proportion. Like Jimmy Carter, I am a Southerner before being
an
> American and shall remain so at least until the war crimes committed
against
> this region and the following economic sanctions which lasted until WWII
are
> admitted and addressed. Why make such an issue of Kerry when there is
such
> a tradition of waging war against non-combatants? Erect a monument of him
> ala Sherman and pay homage!
> Amelia}}
>
> Subject: FW: Defending the Southern Heritage, 2001
>
>
> >
> >
> > http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson3.html
> >
> > Defending the Southern Heritage, 2001
> > by Clyde Wilson
> >
> > Many good people have been working in recent years to preserve public
> > acknowledgment and celebration of our Confederate history. Our fights
have
> > been largely defensive reactions to the innumerable strokes of our
> enemies,
> > and most of them have been defeats. Our enemies control most of the
> > "respectable" political, religious, educational, business, and media
> > institutions of American society, including nearly all "Southern"
> > institutions.
> >
> > We have lost in part because many defenders of Confederate symbols have
> not
> > understood the nature of the battle. Southerners are a conservative
> people.
> > They prefer the traditional to the abstract and are slow to adopt new
> > theories (one of the several characteristics that distinguish them from
> > other inhabitants of the United States). This is a good and healthy
> virtue,
> > but like all virtues it can, if we are not careful, become a
> self-defeating
> > rigidity. The conservative philosopher Russell Kirk contrasted mere
> > stand-patter conservatism of the dull-witted or poor in spirit who
reject
> > anything new with the true conservatism of an Edmund Burke or a John C.
> > Calhoun who perceived that it was necessary to change in order to
conserve
> > because new conditions had created new threats to our patrimony.
> >
> > Unfortunately, too many spokesmen in the fight for Southern heritage are
> > stand-patters, i.e., dinosaurs on their way to extinction. They are
trying
> > to live in a world that they grew up in but which does not exist any
more.
> > The world that they grew up in accepted Southerners and Southern
heritage
> as
> > a positive part of America. That world began disappearing a half century
> ago
> > and is almost gone.
> >
> > After Reconstruction, which all sensible Northerners came to realize had
> > been a grievous mistake, most Americans, North and South, took the Road
to
> > Reunion. Southerners had to agree that they were glad that the Union had
> > been saved and a stronger America had emerged. (They were already
> genuinely
> > glad of the end of slavery.) For the most part they did this with
> sincerity
> > and enthusiasm (they had to if they had any hopes of personal success).
> > Southerners became good and loyal members of the new America. They have
> > lived up to that pledge every generation since, in fact have been the
most
> > loyal of all Americans and done more than their fair share in every war.
> >
> > As their part of the bargain, Northerners acknowledged that Southerners
> had
> > been brave and honorable in their war for independence, and their
heroes,
> > like Lee and Jackson, would be celebrated as American heroes. (There
were
> > always a few old Yankees around who wanted to exterminate the rebels,
and
> > indeed there still are, but they were a minority.)
> >
> > This is why "The Birth of a Nation," creation of D.W. Griffith, son of a
> > Confederate soldier, could be regarded as a national epic at the
beginning
> > of the twentieth century. Will Rogers, another son of a Confederate
> soldier,
> > was a national institution and he and Shirley Temple and many others
> > portrayed very sympathetic Southern characters in the films of the 1920s
> and
> > 1930s.
> >
> > Gone With the Wind, book and movie, was an all-time bestseller in the
> North
> > as well as the South. Every major male non-Southern Hollywood star in
the
> > 1950s and 1960s portrayed a heroic Confederate: Errol Flynn, John Wayne,
> > Clark Gable, Allan Ladd, Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Montgomery
> Clift,
> > Henry Fonda, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Widmark, to name just a few. In
> all
> > his best movies, John Wayne is a Confederate: "Red River," "The
> Searchers,"
> > and "True Grit," the last two based on Southern novels.
> >
> > Confederate battle flags were seen among American fighting men, in real
> life
> > and film, during World War II and Korea, and Vietnam. Douglas Southall
> > Freeman's R.E. Lee and Lee's Lieutenants were celebrated as accounts of
> > American military valor. When President Roosevelt inaugurated the first
> > completed dam of the TVA, he did so on a platform that flew US and
> > Confederate flags.
> >
> > That world does not exist any more! Defenders of Southern heritage
should
> > stop acting like it does. The people who want to do away with
Confederate
>
> > symbols are not people who will come around when you argue a little
> > historical interpretation with them, or when you point out (as you know
to
> > be true) that your forebears were not fighting for slavery, or prove
that
> > you are a loyal American whose heart contains no hate and violence.
> >
> > They do not care! They have no heritage of their own and do not know
what
> a
> > heritage is. They believe in their own self-interest and fashionable
> > abstractions. We do not and will not in the foreseeable future live in a
> > world where Southern heritage will be publicly honored except by us. We
> live
> > in a regime where Confederate symbols are scheduled for complete
> > obliteration. At present, we can expect no help from our own
institutions,
> > the politics of Southern states being dominated primarily by Big
Business.
> > (A phone call from the president of NationsBank or the publisher of a
big
> > newspaper carries more weight with any politician than 20,000
Confederates
> > at a rally, or any number of personal visits from earnest citizens. This
> is
> > a fact.)
> >
> > The Compromise is broken. Why this happened would take several books to
> > explain. Northern society has periodically gone through fits of
fanaticism
> > which have focused upon us. When was the last time you thought about
> telling
> > people in New York or Seattle what to do? Never, because it is not a
part
> of
> > our national character as Southerners. But hundreds of thousands of
> > Northerners are thinking about you and about their right to suppress
your
> > evil ways. In their fantasy world, which is the only culture of any
> > significance they have, you are the evil obstacle to making the world
> > perfect. They have always been that way.
> >
> > It has nothing to do with you. It is their problem. It has nothing to do
> > with the South except that the South lies convenient for their
> aggressions.
> > They cover up their emptiness, hatred, hypocrisy, and insignificance by
> > identifying you as the Enemy. This is the way Puritans behave when they
> lose
> > their religion. Our forefathers saw this clearly. It was that kind of
> > society and people that they fought to be free of!
> >
> > Many of our official defenders have not figured out that the Compromise
no
> > longer exists. In a recent legislative election in South Carolina, the
> > leftwing candidate brought out a bevy of veterans and SCV members to
> > publicly condemn the conservative candidate because the conservative
> > candidate was a Southern activist who allegedly would not repeat the
> Pledge
> > of Allegiance.
> >
> > It was as if the conservative candidate was one of the spoiled Yankee
> > children who promoted treason in time of war in the 1960s. These good
> people
> > are too blind to figure out that those 60s traitors are now in power in
> > America and are the ones who are hellbent on using their power to
destroy
> > every last vestige of our Southern heritage and identity!
> >
> > This unfortunately represents the attitude of too many flag defenders.
One
> > despairs at such blindness. The compatriots I am talking about, however,
> can
> > be educated. I have seen it done. Democrats and Republicans both, of the
> > ruling establishment, are relying on this kind of stupid "patriotism" to
> > kill off challenges to their power. Southern heritage is the first
> casualty
> > of that power.
> >
> > WAKE UP! It is not 1945 any more, or even 1975. You can either honor
your
> > Southern heritage and preserve your Southern identity, or you can give
> > unthinking obedience to the America of today. You cannot do both without
> > engaging in self-defeating contradiction.
> >
> > Here are a few suggestions.
> >
> > Don't compromise. Compromise is only a defeat and a springboard for
> another
> > attack. Don't think that being a good sport will make the other side
good
> > sports. Who follows an uncertain trumpet? You will probably lose. But a
> loss
> > on principle preserves a rallying point. John C. Calhoun says: a defeat
on
> > principle is not an overthrow, while a victory by compromise is a
defeat.
> >
> > Be worthy of your ancestors. Don't be a goody goody "American" humbly
> > begging to be allowed to keep a shred of your heritage. You are a member
> of
> > a great people who are under attack and have been betrayed by their
> leaders.
> > It is needed to defend the Southern people here and now and not just the
> > noble Confederate soldier.
> >
> > Think like a Southerner. We cannot defend just our Confederate
forebears,
> as
> > important as that is. They are but a part of Southern history. Lay claim
> to
> > all of Southern history and culture, from Captain John Smith and
> Pocahontas
> > to Dale Earnhardt. To concentrate on Confederate history alone is to
> concede
> > to the enemy that the Confederacy can be segregated off as an evil
episode
> > of slavery and treason. It also plays into the North's everlasting
> tendency
> > to claim anything Southern that is good, as "American," that is,
> > non-Southern. George Washington is just as Southern as Robert E. Lee.
> Thomas
> > Jefferson is just as Southern as Jefferson Davis. Andrew Jackson is just
> as
> > Southern as Bedford Forrest. Alvin York, and Audie Murphy, and the Alamo
> are
> > just as Southern as Stonewall Jackson. Lay claim to all your heritage!
> >
> > Avoid argument with the enemy and concentrate on educating yourself and
> > members of our people, especially the young, not forgetting the many
> Yankees
> > of good will. In Heritage Haters you are dealing with people who send
> their
> > children to private schools while busing yours and still think they are
> > morally superior to you because they are in favor of busing and you are
> not.
> > They are not interested in debate or evidence. Remember, they are not
> > attacking your great-grandfather's war: they are attacking you! And, as
we
> > learned in the flag fight in South Carolina, this goes double for the
> > academic "experts" in the war era, who are even less interested in
> evidence
> > and perspective than the ordinary flag hater.
> >
> > Don't be discouraged. So beautiful and powerful is our heritage that it
> has
> > taken them decades to cut away as much as they have. It will take some
> time
> > and hard work to recover lost ground.
> >
> > If you have to argue, turn the tables. The significant factor is the
> North's
> > motives! They are the ones who invaded us, violating the fundamental
> > American principle of the consent of the governed.
> >
> > If you must debate, don't make indefensible statements that will be
> laughed
> > out of court, like the war was not about slavery, most Southerners did
not
> > own slaves, and an exaggerated count of black soldiers in the
Confederacy.
> > Yes, the war was partly about slavery, though not on their side and not
as
> > centrally and in the way that they claim. Counting families,
approximately
> > one-fourth of Southerners were owners of domestic servants, almost all
of
> > them of a few people who lived and worked closely with the family. Yes,
> > there were a great many black Confederates who helped sustain the armies
> and
> > the home front, but not as enrolled soldiers.
> >
> > Stop supporting federal government wars out of unthinking loyalty. For a
> > long time the US armed forces had a chivalric Southern flavor. They now
> > combine all the worst aspects of bureaucracy, imperialism, graft,
> > affirmative action, and Political Correctness, in an atmosphere of moral
> > depravity.
> >
> > Cure yourself of Republican party thinking. What further proof is needed
> > that the South and Southerners have nothing to expect from the
Republican
> > "conservatives" except payoffs to individuals to betray their people? As
> the
> > Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney pointed out long ago, the Northern
> "conservatives,"
> > in the entire course of American history have never conserved anything.
> > George W., though raised in Texas, suppressed innocuous Confederate
> plaques.
> > McCain, though a descendant of Confederates, branded our flag as a hate
> > symbol to be suppressed. The Republican governor of New York banished
the
> > Georgia flag. Shortly after their candidate was elected President, the
> Wall
> > Street Journal and National Review published pieces ridiculing Southern
> > conservatives. The message was clear: Give us your votes and shut up.
> >
> > The worst thing that can happen to the South is to be turned into an
> > appendage of the bland, principleless elements represented by the
> Republican
> > party. Think like a Southerner, not like a knee-jerk "conservative." If
> > Jesse Jackson causes a ruckus in Decatur, Illinois, applaud him. You can
> be
> > sure that if he was making trouble in your town, Decatur, Illinois,
would
> be
> > cheering him on. They just don't want him to bother them.
> >
> > My standpatter compatriots, if you want to be a good American as defined
> by
> > the ruling institutions today, forget about your Southern heritage. But
> most
> > Southerners care for family, place, Christian social order, courage,
> > loyalty, honor - all things besieged in America today. That is, after
all,
> > why we love our heritage.
> > February 28, 2001
> > Dr. Wilson is professor of history at the University of South Carolina
and
> > editor of The Papers of John C. Calhoun.
> >
> >
>
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