Not peeved at Antracite. It is a pet peeve of mine that the flag most commonly seen today as the symbol of the South/racism/rednecks/etc… is called the Confederate Flag, or the Confederate Battle Flag, when it is neither.
“The South” has ceased to have any meaning in an antebellum, slavery kinda way. My brother is a ‘Southern Rebel’ type, and we live in freaking Canada.
You guys may have missed an entire cultural moment if you don’t get this reference. There has been a whole subculture of people that seem to think the South embodied their values - patriotic, hard-drinkin’, honorable folk who live outside of society. Their cultural lineage comes out of Rock N’ Roll, not Virginia. Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Neil Young, and other artists of that type are their musical heroes. I think you’ll find it’s quite a large culture among young blue collar workers. I certainly knew oodles of them here in Canada.
BTW, these guys aren’t racist. They’re the radical south, liberal in outlook but ass-kickin’ patriots to boot.
In that context, “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” is more of a general stake in the ground than anything else. This is who we are, and you’re going to learn to respect us and value the things we value. It’s kind of like their version of “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.
Well, I think that if these liberal yet patriotic hard-drinkin’ rebels are going to try to symbolize their patriotically hard-drinking non-racist rebellious liberal counter-culturalism by appropriating the emblems of a regime which was founded for the perpetuation of white supremacy and black slavery, they’re gonna have to expect to be misunderstood from time to time.
On an episode of MST3K, there’s this dumb redneck guy running to the outhouse, already pulling his overalls down, and Mike yells, “Oh no, the South is gonna do it again!”
It was Boggy Creek II: and the Legend continues…
MEBuckner: Hey, I did say it was internally consistent. I’m just describing what I see. Hell, half the guys running around yelling “The South’s Gonna Do It Again!” probably don’t even know the history of the south, other than in the vaguest terms. It’s just a label they stuck on their particular way of living.
Further nitpick: The flag in question is the Battle Flag, not the Stars and Bars - the latter, the Confederate National Flag for the first year or so of the war, was based on the Stars and Stripes - only it had just 2 red stripes and one white, and the blue field only had one star.
It was switched out, as I understand it, because it was too close to the Stars and Stripes, and thus confederate units were attacking their own positions.
The South is finished. People down here eat “dinner” in the evening now.
Given the Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern Man/Sweet Home Alabama thing, is it a bit odd for flyers of the southern cross to regard them both as musical heroes? Just asking - I’m a know-nuthin’ Irishman when it comes to these matters.
It’s about damned time. Maybe Florida will finally stop sticking out so much now.
Posted by Libertarian:
" People down here eat “dinner” in the evening now."
What the hell gave you that weird idea, Lib? It’s still supper as far as I can tell. Dinner is usually eaten around the noon hour.
You want to read about the grip the war still has on our (I say ‘our’ without reservation…I’m a rural Virginian) souls?
That’s the best book I’ve read on the subject.
Which reminds me of a cartoon by B. Kliban entitled “Map Filth.”
It’s a cartoon drawing of the Western Hemisphere, and North America is yelling across the Atlantic Ocean: “Hey Europe! Eat my Florida!”
Word.
I agree with your astute analysis, and so did Bob Dylan:
The modern industrial age may have given the lie to the Confederacy’s premise, but as late as the Civil Rights era in the 1960s, the fact still hadn’t sunk in, as the song shows.
The South contributes a disproportionate share of out Nations military already.
The South contributes a disproportionate share of our Nations military already.