Not really. For some of us, cooking & food are a very, very large part of our lives, and the ingredients we use are important to us. To say “it’s just flour” really demonstrates a certain level of ignorance on the subject. It’s like telling a seamstress that “it’s just cotton”, or a carpenter that “it’s just wood”.
Either that, or you’re purposely trying to get under someone’s skin. I’m not sure which of the two it is.
He was.
It wasn’t the Dixie Dopers who started it, though. This time Sumter shot first; the thread became a “let’s slam the south and the use of the term Yankees” thread in addition to being “an institution is being moved and irrevocably altered”.
Much of it is, admittedly, leftover from other threads. I’ll speak only for myself as a reasonably intelligent southern Doper, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t others like me getting a bit of a chip on our shoulder from being counted as backwards bigots if we don’t hang our head in shame whenever the past is mentioned or damned near called a Klansman if we try to so much as say “not all Southerners are anti-intellectual Bushite Baptists (or white, for that matter)” or “the Civil War was a whole lot more complex on the social level than just ‘Hey, let’s kill Yankees so the rich can keep their slaves!’” and we’re called this by people who wouldn’t dream of making such sweeping generalizations about other minorities. Gets old, and it’s not just me who thinks so: even my slaves have complained (though how they know what it said when they aren’t supposed to be able to read is something I’m not sure but intend to take some ‘well laid on’ measures to find out).
I appreciate your sympathy. It occurs to me that people here may be lacking some background on the thread title (although MEBuckner filled in part of the picture.)
“Damn Yankee” (or “Damnyankee”) is a commonly-used referent in the South. It refers not to all Yankees, but to those who monkey around with essentially Southern things. Carpetbaggers. Rude people. People who come here and bitch about how much better things are Up North. Fans of beef barbecue. Haters of sweet tea. Although this was not always the case, it is used almost exclusively these days in a humorous, tongue-in-cheek manner.
Almost exclusively. I admit that my own usage was semi-serious, but it’s because it appears that the only form of bigotry that’s acceptable on the Dope is anti-Southern bigotry. There have been a spate of recent threads bashing anything and everything Southern. I won’t link to them, but see my responses upthread to get an idea of where to look. This thread also demonstrates it. You have people with absolutely NO reference for what I’m talking about, but instead of simply accepting that WL is important to this particular culture, I get a screen full of “I don’t give a shit.” Part of it, I believe, stems from some non-Southerners’ belief that the South really doesn’t have a separate cultural identity at all (which is astoundingly ignorant,) or that we shouldn’t, or that we should just shut up and go along with whatever we’re told, because hey, we’re the ass-backward South. Duh. EVERYBODY knows that.
It was a joke [cough-humorless stupid bitch/cough]
Damn what wit. Were you born with it or did you take private lessons from a Saved by the Bell writer?
That’s exactly what it’s like. It’s also like telling a vintner “it’s just wine” or a DOD addict “it’s just a game.” My point is not that the connoisseur does not have a defensible POV, but so does the person who honestly does not care about the nuances of a specialized subject. Both are fully defensible points of view. What is not defensible is to expect every layman to agree with the connoisseur’s opinion on the depth of their own personal tragedy, or to say that you simply cannot see how anyone would hold a position other than your own.
Then be prepared for a long stay in this thread. Look at it this way. Would you go into a different, non-American culture and start bitching to the natives that the way they have been doing things for 100 years, and the things they find important, are stupid and ignorant, and you don’t give a shit? Hopefully not, but if you did, they’d be right to think you an ignorant, braying retard.
Such is the position in which you find yourself. You DO NOT UNDERSTAND what I’m talking about, yet you keep opining.
I’ve got a pretty good idea which it is.
Oh, my sides. [cough-passive-agressive dick/cough]
See, that disappoints me. I think we both know you have enough acerbic with for both of us, and I say that seriously. Surely you could have done better than that. Take another shot at it.
I should perhaps add that this
is a joke, lest Jodi call the Department of Labor.
Wow. For someone who doesn’t care, you sure post a lot.
LOUD NOISES
THERE’S NO NEED TO BRING THAT UP! IT WAS ONE TIME AND LIKE I TOLD YOU AT THE TIME I WAS FUCKING TIRED! (And the fact you smelled like Jell-O shooters and Lutefisk belches didn’t help matters!)
I have absolutely no innate respect for anything anyone has done for 100 years, based solely on the fact they’ve been doing if for a hundred years. I never said you were stupid or ignorant, in fact YOU called ME ignorant, not the other way around. Now I’m a “retard” – what can I say? Lots of us braying Northerners don’t use that word anymore.
As I said: To assume that everyone who disagrees with you misunderstood you is frequently an error. I’m curious as to what it is you think I’m not understanding.
And yet we have this:
Make up your mind: Do you want me to participate or not? Cause I could go eithe way with no hard feelings, and that’s saying something considering you just called me a “ignorant braying retard.”
[Mom Voice] I don’t care WHO started it, young man! [/MV] 
Fair enough. I admit, I don’t get involved in a lot of the dicier threads on here, and an anti-South bias has mostly escaped me. Being, you know, a Yankee. I will admit, heart on sleeve, that there are a lot of aspects of Southern culture which scare the shit out of me - I guess it’s the group of American cultures I’m least familiar with, thanks to growing up in a multi-racial multi-national city in the north. I do think of “The South” (as if there were such a homogenous place) as a place where I have to map my route carefully if traveling with my gay black neopagan friends, to be honest. But I promise to try to be more aware of my own biases, and give you permission to call me out if you see me saying somethin’ stupid (as I’m sure I just did.)
Hee-hee. I still love you, 'Piro.
(bolding mine)
light bulb moment
OH! Okay, I get it know. Yes, that makes total sense.
(I love real sweet tea, but I think the stuff McDonald’s is pushing right now is horrible…am I still okay?)
Sorry, didn’t mean to let actual understanding and ignorance fighting get in the way here. Carry on.
It is not an error to assume that someone who does not have the cultural background on an issue, does not understand said issue. This is the very definition of “ignorance.” It’s either that, or you’re an uncaring, callous human being. If the latter, then you’re simply trolling my thread. I’m trying to be generous and think of you as merely ignorant.
It IS important. You might as well take that as a given. If it weren’t, the White Lily story wouldn’t be all over every Southern newspaper.
What the hell are you talking about? Confused by the facts, or just trying to come up with a strawman to hit me over the head with? I didn’t hijack the thread, so much as continue the hijack. Someone gets pissed off about flour and refers to Northerners as Damn Yankees and teh South suxxors, and I can’t respond to it?
But c’mon, as many others have pointed out, it isn’t as if all of us Northerners have a list of Southern institutions to crush. We feel that Sherman did enough.
I couldn’t care less whether you stay or not. At some point in the process, I might mentally write you off as unworthy of further response, but who knows? It might be a while. The thread doesn’t matter. I just get tired of being told how I should feel about something I’ve had my entire life, now that it’s going away.
Maybe I missed it while canvassing this thread, but did anyone actually complain directly to Smuckers?
Well, maybe so, but I’d say anti-religious bigotry has a sizable presence…
Anyhoo, as for the storm cloud that’s brewing (upon preview, now hailing and lightning-ing) over this thread, I have two quick things to say One, IMHO Jodi is not saying that people who miss White Lily are stupid or the like, but that there will be some people who don’t mind its absence so much and that these people should not be castigated.
Two, Jodi, I think you are underestimating the importance of this flour. Yes to some it 's “just flour” and that’s fine, but to a large portion of Southerners it’s not.
Can’t everyone just chill the fuck out? Jesus.