To all the ignorant people out there - stop making the South out to be some unique villain.

The BBQ Pit
221

I’m the anti- Shagnasty: born and raised in the north, but lived in the south for the past 30 years.

I’m anti-confederate flag because it is a symbol with a racist connection. I particularly condemn state capitals that fly it, because those in charge should know better.
In my line of work, I come across a great many people and they tend to open up to me, sometimes more than I like. And, early in my profession I did a lot of traveling in a big chunk of the Deep South. I’ve encountered people of all walks of life, from young to old; inner city to deep in the sticks.

The confederate flag is not as prominently displayed as many northerners imagine it is. I see it once in a while, but not often. When I do see it, it’s typically being displayed by lesser educated kids, middle aged rednecks and old folks who live deep in the woods (one lonely old lady I recall used to leave her bedroom window open at night so the raccoons would hop up on her bed and she’d feed them).

Some of these people were racist, no doubt, but most of them were not. To the great majority of people I’ve encountered displaying the confederate flag, racism was not part of their mindset, many even had good friends who were black, and they too, didn’t seem to be offended. I don’t believe these lower educated southerners even make the connection between the confederate flag and its association with slavery—their thinking doesn’t go that far. And they tend not to read newspapers or watch the news, so they are oblivious to current events.

What they all do seem to understand is that the confederate flag is a symbol of defiance against Yankees. And, a lot of lower educated rural southerners do hate Yankees, particularly those pushy Yankees who move into their communities and make fun of their biscuits & gravy and grits. I developed a fake southern drawl early on to deal with these kinds of people.

In my experience, there is no more racism in the south than in the north. A few bad apples spoil the bunch in both locations—bad apples make the news. When I do come across racism, and it’s not too often, it’s usually directed against Vietnamese salon workers.

Ban the confederate flag and rail against real racists and the educated, progressive southerners who make it part of their heritage (not many, in my experience), but don’t vilify lesser educated people who don’t associate that flag with its slave past. As far as them associating it with damn Yankees? Meh, Yankees aren’t a protected class, and I’m not fond of a lot of them myself, even though I am one.

222

And YOU are the only one harping on that stereotype. Chip on your shoulder much?

I was raised in a small town in Arkansas, not one of these booming cities (like McKinney) that actually have a ton of white, conservative California transplantees that have warped what used to be traditional Texas attitudes towards a lot of things. Hell, McKinney, Frisco, Plano and likewise a bunch of Houston suburbs like Friendswood, the Woodlands, Pearland and others are lousy with ex-Californians.

It’s your prerogative to ignore what everybody else is saying, but the Confederate flag isn’t just a symbol of heritage. It’s a very known symbol of hate.

And it’s about fucking time we called out people who think they can still speak in the old Southern “code” that makes them think they can pretend to ignore that part of it by focusing on some sort of imagined pastoral Grand South of the past. And all the fucking ex-pats who think they can somehow safely take up the same tired old code words and language now they’re also in the south.

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It’s not that “those in charge” did or did not know better. It’s simply that they’re carrying on a recent tradition in which “those in charge” during the Civil Rights protest era intentionally, knowingly, and specifically stated the reason they were using that damn flag. “Those in charge” today know damn well why it was those clowns back then (you know, way back in the 1960s) pulled their racist stunt. To continue it is to continue a racist action.

224

omg so it’s become horribly offensive to him sometime in the past 6 months. Good lord.

225

It takes longer for some people. Some folks take several generations. It’s not kind to make fun of the slow-witted, but it can be fun.

226

I have never and I mean NEVER seen such a perfect example of playing a fake outrage card. You’re a shitbag.

227

I love the multiple failed attempts at trolling by shitting on all things Northern that Scylla has lofted out there. Nobody is biting. It’s one of the benefits of coming from a region without a crippling inferiority complex.

228

It’s not just old South pseudo-nobility that in some cases hangs on to Civil War-related “tradition” far longer than it should.

I once interviewed for a job in Tennessee, in a small city near the birthplace of the Klan. The boss (a transplant from the North some years previously) had a virtual shrine in his house to the Confederacy, including various sorts of Rebel regalia.

Kind of creepy.

I wonder if he’s now stopped giving home tours to prospective employees. :slight_smile:

229

Dear God, have we witnessed the creation of the dumb-ass cracker wannabe?

230

First, to clear up a point of fact that I just learned myself:

Nope, it was the Charlie Daniels Band. As far as I can tell, the south is going to make you shake your butt and dance again. I’d say that’s a sentiment that I can get behind. Oukast is from Atlanta, Leon Bridges is from Fort Worth. It’s a prediction that has been borne out.
Bridget Burke, you are now the person who I am most proud to know I share a state with. Please don’t ever leave. You take the place of a long-time poster here, for what it is worth.

Robert163, if anything proves your opinion is to be enjoyed for its humor and then immediately discarded: it’s your defense of that god-awful, insipid fucking show, Even in your proposed edited form, it is the diarrhea of entertainment. That show has no redeeming qualities besides its effect on the length of shorts, a trend that can be more thoroughly enjoyed today without encouraging such low-quality programming.
And to anyone who thinks that bringing up the confederate battle flag being flown over certain state capitols and/or being incorporated in certain state’s flags might be germane to the conversation: Please quote the person that is advocating this in the thread before repeating any statements about official display of the flag and honoring Confederate veterans. I think all in the thread are against those. Continuing to harp on that in this thread is just noise, and says more about you than anything or anyone else. I personally am on record as being violently opposed to secessionism, and view even personal displays of allegiance to the Confederate cause as indicating an intellectual fault in the bearer.

The only thing the persons from the south are asking for in this thread is to for persons from outside the south to stop immediately thinking of it as a racist hellhole completely unlike the rest of the nation. Seriously, if you think that general attitudes about race in the south today are worse they are in your town, you’re almost certainly wrong. If you had been keeping score, you’d know the most recent hotbed of racist shithead-ism in the US was the Pacific Northwest. Even in that heyday of idiocy, the average person you would run into up there wasn’t guilty of conscious racism. The same is true in the south today. Continuing to think of the south’s racist movement in the civil rights era as being emblematic of how the south is today indicates that you’re not really well informed on the subject. The icons raised by the racists of that era have been coming down for awhile, and it looks like that trend will continue.

In the end, rural Texas looks and acts a lot like rural California, Indiana or New York. The populated areas are very similar as well. The only real difference is in the proportions between the two. It’s just not that different down here. Pretending that the south is generally populated by “other” people who are to be derided shows that you’re about as dumb as the dumbest fucking racist I’m likely to run into down here. So, when you talk about the south (or just about anywhere) as being some place that you’d never visit because the people there are so stupid: know that you’re coming across as intelligent as someone who would wear a Confederate flag, you’re just in a different camp.

231

Yeah, everbody needs to stop treating people in the south like they’re slow and racist.

Just because they’ve fully failed to comprehend the offensiveness of this powerful emblem right into the 21st century.

How dare anyone imply they’re racists. Just cause they cling to racist symbols!

How dare anyone imply they’re slow. Just cause they’ve taken this long to comprehend!

There is no misunderstanding. The actions of the people’s of the south make them appear both racist and kinda slow. Blaming everybody else for misunderstanding them is ridiculous on it’s face, I think.

Don’t like how you’re perceived in the larger world? Consider changing your behaviour first!

232

And, now you look as smart as a defender of the Confederate flag, of which there are none in this thread. I guess you’re the dumbest asshole here, then. Well done.

233

There are more things in the South named after and monuments to Nathan Forrest, the ultra-racist founder of the KKK (and rather bad commanding General- altho he was great at calvary raids) than any of those people. In other words, the South idolizes NBF more than George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other Founding fathers. Being a slavetrader, founders of the KKK and certified official “nigger killer” is greatness in the South. When his name is taken off anything but battlefields where he fought, then I’ll believe the South isn’t run by a bunch of ignorant rednecked racists.

234

I confess that during most of my life I have looked down on the Deep South, sometimes with laughter. Not Atlanta: that’s the city that’s too busy to hate. The Deep South. I reconsidered my views when I learned of African American return migration to the region some 20 years ago. Reports of foreign immigration and attracting auto plants also helped. Still, there was that starred rebel X, flying above the South Carolinian capitol and plastered on a few state flags. How can I take them seriously when they lack an apparent sense of dignity or self-knowledge?

Conservative governments across the Deep South have now taken steps to take the flag down. When the situation changes, I change my views. I’m inclined to cut Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina a lot more slack now, if only to give proper respect to the constructive forces in those regions. The only qualification is that I am and remain a Yankee, albeit with ancestors on both sides of the Mason Dixon. Tibby or Not Tibby notes that there is some anti-Yankee sentiment in certain parts. But heck, we all deal with unjustified hostility now and then. So I think I could roll with it, if I ever needed to. Sure the Deep South has assholes, racists and morons, but it’s not like they have a monopoly on that.

New day, new era, admittedly with its roots going back decades.

Link: The less you know about the Civil War, the more you are likely to support the Confederate Flag, at least as of 11 years ago. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18489399

235

So—in a thread complaining about stereotyping of Southerners—you’re saying that down-and-out, uneducated Southerners should be left alone to display a symbol celebrating the worst kind of racism because they don’t mean it to be anti-black but rather anti-Northerner. Because it’s okay to stereotype Northerners.

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It sort of is. Sort of. It sort of is since Northerners represented the dominant class for many years. Admittedly the Northeast in general and WASPs in particular yielded their position decades ago. So I wonder what their adversaries are going on about.

237

Well, there is a distinction, I guess. It’s not offensive when he’s using it. :rolleyes:

238

What would the effect be on the Southern persecution complex if it’s sufferers learned that most of the earth’s billions think about the American South about as often and as much as they think about the island of Mindanao?

239

Yeeee-hoooooo!
Nascar has asked ignorant rednecks, fans, to leave the shit flag at home.
Fuckwads aint happy! Yeeeeee-Haaawwww!

240

Edit window has slammed shut.
How do you like this line from the linked article above?
“…anti-Confederate sentiment that has swept the nation…”
There are still confederates?

Pure genius about Dylan Roof:
“If the guy had been holding a Bible, would everyone want to ban a bible or something? Where does it stop and common sense take over a little bit?

Indeed. :smack: