Ever hear of the Hundred Years’ War or even the Crusades?
Ooofah, I think “y’all” are copping a bit too much of a 'tude, there kiddo.
To paraphrase George Carlin, I have a request for everyone who recreates Civil War battles. Use live ammunition!
I’m not perky.
No war is “civil”. We should learn to better ourselves and grow as a cultured society. We should try to evolve a little.
The South is beautiful, the food divine, and the accent is pleasant to the ear. The North has it’s good points, too, if you look for them. Not saying either side is perfect.
Ironically, did you know it is illegal to bring a rifle on the grounds of a National Park (e.g. Gettysburg)? Doesn’t that say something? (I was told this by a reenactor.)
I spent 2 tours with the Navy in the South. I learned a little about culture. A Yankee is someone who believes Chicken should be eaten with a knife and fork, and a Reb thinks Pizza should be eaten with a knife and fork.
I think the history of the Civil War, as all wars, should be studied. Next month is Black History month around here, and the students do not get to touch certain subjects, such as the black involement in slavery, or the blacks who served in the Confederacy.
There is no doubt that free and slave Negro’s served in the Confederacy. Next month is Black History Month, and unless I miss my guess, the subject of free Negro’s who owned slaves, and Negro’s who served in the Confederacy, will be avoided like the plague.
How many? Easily tens of thousands of blacks served the Confederacy as laborers, teamsters, cooks and even as soldiers. Some estimates indicate 25% of free blacks and 15% of slaves actively supported the South during the war.
Why? Simple. Slaves were usually illiterate, unskilled, owned nothing, had no money, and were generally wholly dependent upon their owners, white or black, for their very survival. They were also aware of Lincoln’s Negro policy, which would force them back to
Africa. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. Issued at a time when the Confederacy seemed to be winning the war, Lincoln hoped to transform a disagreement over secession into a crusade against slavery, thus preventing Great Britain (and France) from
intervening on the side of the South. The proclamation allowed slavery to continue in the North as well as in Tennessee and large parts of Louisiana and Virginia.
It applied only to Confederate-held slaves, which Lincoln had no authority over, but not to slaves under Federal control.
Some examples of what is not being taught in our schools - Slaves in Washington, D.C. were not freed until April 1862, a year after the war began with the firing at Ft. Sumter. Slavery continued throughout the entire war in five Union-held states: DE, MD, WV, KY and
MO.
C.S. General Robert E. Lee freed his family slaves before the war; Union Gen. U.S.
Grant kept his wife’s slaves well into the war.
This is an interesting subject of historical value, that is being swept under the rug.
Political correctness is just tyranny with manners.
I wish for you the courage to be unpopular. Popularity is history’s pocket change. Courage is history’s true currency. Charleton Heston
Hey, Alphagene, I ain’t “coppin no 'tude.” I’m just a crotchety old fart. Over the years I have gotten tired of people complaining about things that don’t matter a hill a’ beans, as we say down south. My point was simple, if something is on TV that one wishes not to see, change the dern channel or turn the dern thing off. Some people enjoy programs that other people don’t. Personally, I believe that TV sucks and so I don’t have cable. I watch the news and that’s about it. For entertainment, when I’m not being crotchety, I read books. Well, I play with the computer a lot. Well, actually, I hang out here a lot. Since I am so crotchety, I am not allowed to go out much and if I didn’t vent here, I would probably kick the dog or something.
Oh, and Captain Ed, excellent post. If others would take the trouble to learn a little bit about the subject they spout off on so glibly, maybe the spouting off would diminish.
And Nightgirl44, I looked at your profile and I am pleased to see that reading is one of your interests. Until I noticed the comma, I feared that “clubbing men” was another.
Yeah, ok, fine. Then I’ll rephrase:
It is truly amazing to me how people can be so passionate about a war in which the hostilities ended over 130 years ago.
('nuff caveats for ya?) 
People get passionate over the War Between The States because of the nearly personal involvement. During my childhood, there were a couple of actual Confederate Army veterans in my hometown. Very old men, true, but there nonetheless. Widows of Confederate veterans were not at all rare. Sons and daughters of Confederate veterans were common place. In that day and time, “front porch society” was still going strong and when “old folks” told stories, they were listened to with respect. Not that every story telling session had to do with “The War” but enough did to establish a link. Nearly everyone in my hometown had relatives who fought and died during “The War.” To us, as children, it was very real. We took part in an oral history that I wish now had been recorded. This thread sure got off track, didn’t it?
I think that there are several answers to why we see the Civil War shows repeated.
First of all, I suspect that it is relatively inexpensive for the stations to simply replay the same shows. I doubt if there is enough filmed or taped material to fill the entire viewing week of one channel, let alone several. When I was in college, I used to order films for the professors who didn’t want to teach that day - and believe me, good stuff is really hard to find. No matter what the subject. There are a lot of crappy movies out there, and terrible TV shows - even this dreck shows up from time to time on the history channel. So the decent shows get played over and over. Also, the channels “realize” that not everyone’s schedule will let them see this particular show - so, for our “convenience,” they repeat it. And by an amazing coincidence, I think that is cheap for them to do. Most people watch these channels casually (at least I do), and not with the rapt attention I would give a new Simpsons, a good Dave Letterman or the non-conspiracy stand alone X Files episodes.
Second, for those people really into this kind of historical stuff, there is the thrill of finding our something new, or, by far the biggest rush, spotting a mistake. Whenver I see a mistake, I love to point it out to my daughter. This bores her to the point of actual violence, by the way.
The thing about re-enacting the war I kind of understand, and have friends who do that sort of thing. But if you think we do it a lot here, go overseas. They recreate Roman Legions, Vercingetorix vs Caesar, Vikings, Napoleonic troops, you name it. Most of the shows you see depciting these periods use re-enactors, not actors. Besides, an enthusiast would know the period details much better than any Hollywood art major hack.
You want to know why the Civil War is all over the three stations that actually address history? Because it might be the only thing that’s preventing me from killing you.
See, I haven’t had the luxury of proving my manhood in a hail of bullets, yet I am a testosterone-leaking cave man who occasionally dons a business suit when I’m not cracking rocks. I play Doom and watch war movies and documentaries in order to gain the cathartic release I and millions of other young men like me would normally attempt to gain by fighting, killing, raping, looting, and other such behavior that is now considered impolite.
The folks at the History Channel have figured out a way to keep me in control and make a buck off of me at the same time. The fact that the Civil War was our bloodiest, most divisive war makes it somewhat attractive to me. The fact that it was documented by literate soldiers and the battlefields were safe for photographers to work while the bodies were still on the field makes it very attractive to television.
Take the four horsemen off of my computer and television and I and a whole lot of other guys just might ride them through your home town, Nightie. I suggest you stick to Lifetime and leave me alone.
A) The cable channels are national feeds; no difference in programming in different areas.
B) There are more re-enactments in the South because there were far, far more battles in the South.
C) But the interest is nearly as great in the North.
D) Actually, that interest has been pretty much universal, ever since the war. However, society got burned out on the subject during the centennial years, and it took Ken Burn’s documentary series to bring it back up to its former normal level.
E) Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed until a time that it didn’t look as though the South were winning. Lincoln didn’t want to look desperate.
F) In any case, the war was always about slavery. Check the speeches of the Confederate leaders, who went so far as to demand slavery in all the states.
G) Most slaves who supported the South did it mainly because – duh! – they were slaves.
H) It is true, however, that inconvenient truths like black slaveholders tend to be suppressed. So, for that matter, are the black African empires that were built on selling slaves, and the Islamic involvement in the slave trade then and now.
I) None of which excuses American whites, North or South, for their part in it.
J) Beecher may have been an abolitionist, but he was also a philanderer, a male supremacist, and an anti-labor crusader, who, when he was making $30,000 a year (at least half a million in today’s money), condemned those who said they couldn’t live on $1 a day as profligate, and opposed all strikes on the grounds that they were against “natural law”. The South has some honest grounds for accusing the North of hypocrisy.
K) Which still doesn’t excuse slavery.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
A) The cable channels are national feeds; no difference in programming in different areas.
B) There are more re-enactments in the South because there were far, far more battles in the South.
C) But the interest is nearly as great in the North.
D) Actually, that interest has been pretty much universal, ever since the war. However, society got burned out on the subject during the centennial years, and it took Ken Burn’s documentary series to bring it back up to its former normal level.
E) Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed until a time that it didn’t look as though the South were winning. Lincoln didn’t want to look desperate.
F) In any case, the war was always about slavery. Check the speeches of the Confederate leaders, who went so far as to demand slavery in all the states.
G) Most slaves who supported the South did it mainly because – duh! – they were slaves.
H) It is true, however, that inconvenient truths like black slaveholders tend to be suppressed. So, for that matter, are the black African empires that were built on selling slaves, and the Islamic involvement in the slave trade then and now.
I) None of which excuses American whites, North or South, for their part in it.
J) Beecher may have been an abolitionist, but he was also a philanderer, a male supremacist, and an anti-labor crusader, who, when he was making $30,000 a year (at least half a million in today’s money), condemned those who said they couldn’t live on $1 a day as profligate, and opposed all strikes on the grounds that they were against “natural law”. The South has some honest grounds for accusing the North of hypocrisy.
K) Which still doesn’t excuse slavery.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams