# "The South's Gonna Do It Again!!" What exactly does that mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 29, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039 "2002-09-29T00:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/1 "2002-09-29T00:32:35Z")
Saw that bumper sticker on a the back of a pickup truck with Georgia plates along with **Surprise!!!** no less then 3 Confederate battle flags. So what exactly does that _slogan/saying_ mean? That the South is going to legalize slavery and put the _nigras_ in their place again? That lynchings are going to be commonplace once more? That Jim Crow laws and segregation will come back into vogue? Sheesh. Seriously, what the hell can that phrase possibly imply/infer/mean? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/2 "2002-09-29T00:36:32Z")
I think they mean, “The South will rise again.” I guess they seriously believe that the Confederacy is going to become a reality someday. Poor sad bunch’a shmucks. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/3 "2002-09-29T00:42:40Z")
“Save up your Confederate money, boys, 'cause the South Will Rise Again!” It’s moronic posturing on the part of people who won’t accept their place in history as _losers_. The CSA was a bad joke perpetrated by rich plantation owners on lower-class whites so those rich plantation owners wouldn’t have to accept the rightful rule of Washington. The lower-class whites were fed a line of bull about how the federal government had deprived them of their ‘rights’ and that only through the feudal plantation system could they retain their place above Negro slaves and as citizens of smaller states instead of the USA. Of course, the modern, industrial USA gave the lie to that propaganda and placed the rebellious children in their rightful place. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/4 "2002-09-29T00:43:26Z")
Obligatory [Onion link](http://www.theonion.com/onion3613/south_postpones.html). ---
**Author:** ![Rossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@Rossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/5 "2002-09-29T00:45:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WSLer \* > \*\*Saw that bumper sticker on a the back of a pickup truck with Georgia plates along with **Surprise!!!** no less then 3 Confederate battle flags. > > So what exactly does that _slogan/saying_ mean? > > \*\* Lose, I guess. Good luck getting enough people to field an army though, since state pride ain’t what it used to be. Except in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/6 "2002-09-29T00:51:24Z")
It’s a lame attempt to get someone’s goat. Looks like it worked. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/7 "2002-09-29T00:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuauhtemoc \* > \*\*It’s a lame attempt to get someone’s goat. Looks like it worked. \*\* I’d agree, except I knew people who actually believe it. Deluded once, deluded forever. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/8 "2002-09-29T01:53:26Z")
Slight hijack… I just finished wating Ken Burns **Civil War** again. One quote stuck with me. A yank asked a Reb…You don’t own slaves…why are you fighting? The Reb didn’t say…states rights…slavery…economics…what he said was… **Because you are here**. I suspect that’s why most of the ordinary soldiers fought. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/9 "2002-09-29T01:59:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > “Save up your Confederate money, boys, 'cause the South Will Rise Again!” So that explains why Abe Lincoln had a Confederate fiver in his wallet at the theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/10 "2002-09-29T02:36:08Z")
> [@](#): > > …since state pride ain’t what it used to be. Except in Texas. Darn straight! ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/11 "2002-09-29T03:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > \*\*Slight hijack… > > I just finished wating Ken Burns **Civil War** again. One quote stuck with me. A yank asked a Reb…You don’t own slaves…why are you fighting? The Reb didn’t say…states rights…slavery…economics…what he said was… **Because you are here**. I suspect that’s why most of the ordinary soldiers fought. \*\* Actually, this particular incident went down like this: The Union soldiers were in Tennessee or one of the other Southern states and the Confederate soldiers response was, “Because you are down here,” which is a good bit different then what you posted. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/12 "2002-09-29T11:17:25Z")
Well, not really, since Americans are pretty familiar with the fact that the Civil War was fought almost exclusively on Southern soil. > [@](#): > > The CSA was a bad joke perpetrated by rich plantation owners on lower-class whites so those rich plantation owners wouldn’t have to accept the rightful rule of Washington. The reality was that the slavery issue had been left unresolved - right down to whether it was a legitimate subject for debate - at the time of the Constitution in order to _achieve_ some sort of United States. So what was ‘rightful,’ in a **legal** sense at least, is an iffy proposition. But it’s clear that, continuously from 1789 to 1861, Southern states were prepared to walk out of the Union if slavery was seriously called into question. The Constitution was silent on whether they had a right to do so, and Northern states also threatened to secede over various issues in the early years of the Republic. OTOH, the **moral** right of one human being to own another did not exist, and even then was rarely seriously debated. The Southern attitude about the slavery question, from the beginning, was that it was not a fit subject for discussion. Arguments that slaves were somehow morally equivalent to livestock were transparently bad even then; no acts of state legislatures were required to forbid the teaching of reading and writing to the planters’ horses and cows. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/13 "2002-09-29T12:18:41Z")
I had a roommate in the Air Force who came from Louisiana. He called himself “Swamp Boy”. His arms were covered in the obligitory tattoos. (Stars and bars, spiderweb, etc.) He had a habit of drinking till he quit breathing. He once said to me, “If you ain’t from the south, then you ain’t shit!” I responded, "Therefore, conversely, if you _are_ from the south, then you _are_ shit? His head exploded. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/14 "2002-09-29T12:41:00Z")
Charlie Daniels had a song around 1973 that had that lyric in it, the title I think. [http://www.countrygoldusa.com/souths\_gonna\_do\_it.asp](http://www.countrygoldusa.com/souths_gonna_do_it.asp) (You can also get Confederate Flag paraphernalia at this site!) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/15 "2002-09-29T13:10:25Z")
It’s a shame that the Confederate battle flag is associated with the untold agony and suffering of so many humans, especially that of those who were enslaved, as it is a very attractive design. There, I said it. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/16 "2002-09-29T13:12:56Z")
Are **ya’ll** South bashing? I am from Mississippi. I have all of my teeth and I can read and write. I love the South. I want to move back to Mississippi asap. It is a sweet place and I love the people there. There are some strange and ignorant folks there. This is true of almost any place. I find even the strange and ignorant folks friendly, for the most part. I hate the Confederate flag deal. I hate seeing it on bumpers etc. It reminds me of the horrific past. I would like to see the South “rise” again. I would like to see more funding for education as well as more jobs. There are fewer opportunities there. I would like to see that changed. The country is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/17 "2002-09-29T13:20:53Z")
I wasn’t south bashing. I was Swamp Boy bashing. I think he went out of his way to personify a bad stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/18 "2002-09-29T14:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jacksen9 \* > \*\*Are **ya’ll** South bashing? \ > > There are some strange and ignorant folks there. This is true of almost any place. I find even the strange and ignorant folks friendly, for the most part. > > I hate the Confederate flag deal. I hate seeing it on bumpers etc. It reminds me of the horrific past. I would like to see the South “rise” again. I would like to see more funding for education as well as more jobs. There are fewer opportunities there. I would like to see that changed. The country is beautiful. \*\* Amen, hon. Preach it! I certainly don’t care for these crazy elements like the KKK what go around living in some kind of “Gone With the Wind” fantasy land about what the South was and thinking that that fantasy land will come again, rather than facing the reality of what it actually was and has come to be. However, the South is not made up of just those crazy elements. Ain’t everybody hicks or rednecks. There are plenty of decent folks down here, myself included :D, who while we are proud of our Southern heritage with all of the good and the bad things associated with it, are just trying to live and be at peace with the world. That don’t mean we ain’t got problems with education, jobs, and race relations–just like other American regions–but I believe that we can and should be working on ways to move beyond our socio-economic and cultural problems. In that sense we will “rise again.” I get the sense that the bumpersticker mentioned in the OP is just one of them trendy sayings folks put on their bumpers for their cryptic value. It don’t strike me as being representative of any kind of conspiracy to secede from the Union again. I don’t see how that can happen anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/19 "2002-09-29T14:29:37Z")
In one sense, the South _is_ rising again – over the past couple of decades, there has been a pretty tremendous population shift as jobs – and thus people – move from the northeast to the south. Atlanta, Richmond, Austin, Dallas, et al have all seen tremendous growth. Texas passed New York as the second most populous state (behind California) a few years back. In the last presidential campaign both of the top candidates were from the South. So instead of guns and cannon, the South is rising again on lower tax rates and cheaper costs of living. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039/20 "2002-09-29T14:49:47Z")
> [@](#): > > particlewill - I wasn’t south bashing. I was Swamp Boy bashing. I think he went out of his way to personify a bad stereotype. OK. Thanks for clearing that up. I was just having some fun with the thread and taking advantage of a chance to reflect on the things I love about the South. \*\*Dewey Cheatem Undhow - Texas passed New York as the second most populous state (behind California) a few years back. In the last presidential campaign both of the top candidates were from the South. \*\* I live in Houston. It sure doesn’t feel like the South to me. I mean, geographically speaking it is a southern city, but it is unlike the South more than it is like the South. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-souths-gonna-do-it-again-what-exactly-does-that-mean/130039.md?page=2)