Celebration – Come On
I don’t want to step into Dennis G’s territory, but are you fucking kidding me, Charleston?
[...] the siege will start about two hours later than in 1861. And it will continue at full force for only 40 minutes, before being scaled back to one shot every 15 minutes.
Then, at 7:30 p.m., there will be a second full barrage, ending at sunset.
Cannon fire will be intermittent on Wednesday. But things will pick up on Thursday, during six staged Union “surrenders” at Sumter, timed to the arrival of tourist boats.
I really don’t understand the South.
April 13, 2011 9:13 am
Posted in: WTF?
83 Comments
83 Responses
4tehlulz - April 13, 2011 | 9:15 am · Link
Benedict Arnold’s only flaw was not owning slaves. If he did, he would be celebrated as an honorable opponent.
13th Generation - April 13, 2011 | 9:17 am · Link
I’ve lived all over the south my entire life, and I can say that yes, unfortunately, it is about some misguided sense of history, and a time when negroes and women knew their place.
Ogami Itto - April 13, 2011 | 9:18 am · Link
Hopefully the people dressed as Union officers will be using live ammunition.
Ash Can - April 13, 2011 | 9:20 am · Link
The whole thing smacks of wallowing in self-pity to me.
25yrs+ In the South - April 13, 2011 | 9:22 am · Link
There is no better celebratory cry than
!”
“YEA! WE LOST
dmsilev - April 13, 2011 | 9:22 am · Link
Can I wish everyone here a somewhat belated Happy Surrender At Appomattox Courthouse Day?
I looked, but for some reason Hallmark doesn’t have any appropriate cards.
dms
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:24 am · Link
Motherfucking filter! People reenact all kinds of military shit all the time.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:25 am · Link
@dmsilev: My wife is from Appomattox and they do plenty of stuff at what the locals call “the Surrender Ground”.
David W. - April 13, 2011 | 9:26 am · Link
I blame the re-enactment enthusiasts for the additional firepower, myself. Let’s face it, the Civil War has been celebrated as the “Lost Cause” by plenty of Johnny Rebs since, well, 1865. The only difference is that they’ve been saving up for the extra fireworks given it’s the 150th year this year.
Tom65 - April 13, 2011 | 9:27 am · Link
Oh good, can we reenact Sherman’s march to the sea? That would be awesome.
Dave - April 13, 2011 | 9:27 am · Link
From now on, can we have a two month celebration in January and February and call it the “Sherman Burned Your Ass To The Ground, South Carolina” Festival? Maybe the name needs to be shorter…
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:28 am · Link
The Civil War Trust
PeakVT - April 13, 2011 | 9:28 am · Link
A re-enactment like that would be okay if it was accompanied by a clear message of “we shouldn’t have done that, and it was done for really bad reasons.” But discussions of the causes always seem to me to be mumbled at best.
Are there re-enactments in Europe, or is the hobby a phenomenon limited to America? (Or the Anglosphere, perhaps?)
New Yorker - April 13, 2011 | 9:29 am · Link
If you can, travel down south with someone who grew up in another country. I did that 2 years ago with a friend from Germany, who was, um, puzzled by the random fields with 3 crosses in them, or the churches with big neon signs out front.
And then of course there was the drive through Gatlinburg, TN….
This isn’t to knock the whole south, of course. We both loved the countryside around the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Asheville, NC.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:31 am · Link
@PeakVT:
Not long after the first HRS event in 1975 — an offshoot of American Civil War reenactment — World War II reenactors began to form permanent groups, each adopting the designation of a specific military unit that had served during the war. Some of the earlier of these organizations were 1st SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler reenactment group in Missouri and 352nd Infanterie Division 916th Grenadier Regiment II Bataillon 5 Kompanie reenactment group in New England. Since that time hundreds of units have formed worldwide, representing nearly every nationality involved in the conflict.[1] World War II reenactments also began in Canada around the same time, they evolving independently of their American counterparts.[citation needed]
Centered on specific types of historical interpretation, participation within the hobby has usually focused on one of two different aspects of the lives and appearances of the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen that were involved in that conflict.
The first, known as living history, sometimes called a “barracks impression”, emphasises the garrison life of the average serviceman. Within this impression various types of gear are displayed in a static manner in a 1940s or war period setting.
The other form of reenactment, tactical events, involve simulated combat operations within predesignated urban or rural areas. These tactical events are usually held on large tracts of private land, although events are sometimes held on military bases.
Participating units often bring restored original or reproduction World War II-era vehicles and heavy weapons to these events. These vehicles and weapons include German manufactured Hetzer self-propelled assault gun, Sdkfz 251 armoured personal carrier, PaK 40 anti-tank guns, as well as many others from various countries. These vehicles and equipment can be costly to operate and maintain, and represent a significant investment for the organizations that use them. Initial costs for uniforms and personal gear are usually around US$1000 per person, and much higher depending on the nationality that is being portrayed.
Napoleon - April 13, 2011 | 9:36 am · Link
@Ogami Itto:
And Obama provides fire support from this.
Dave - April 13, 2011 | 9:37 am · Link
@stuckinred: Yes, but do the Germans re-enact/celebrate starting World War II?
Violet - April 13, 2011 | 9:39 am · Link
Most of the folks watching that wish it were real.
Tourists came out to watch the real battle of Bull Run. That didn’t work out so well.
cleek - April 13, 2011 | 9:39 am · Link
FWIW, NC is nothing like SC.
alwhite - April 13, 2011 | 9:40 am · Link
At Appomattox a Confederate officer approached Joshua Chamberlain and said, “You may forgive us be WE are unforgiving!”
And 146 years later they still are. Despite the fact they started the fight. Despite the fact that they were on the wrong side of the fight. Despite the fact that they are much better off having lost. They are bitter, unforgiving and spiteful.
TaMara (BHF) - April 13, 2011 | 9:40 am · Link
Yes, let’s glorify war by reenacting it in the name of history and preservation. If they have such a hard on for war, go fucking join up and see what real bullets and IEDs feel like.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:41 am · Link
@Dave: Listen, I’m no confederate apologist, I had ancestors who fought on both sides. This event is the start of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War and is sponsored by the National Park Service. I just don’t see the point of getting all fucking upset about it. But hey, if it makes everybody happy rock on.
Chris Wolf - April 13, 2011 | 9:41 am · Link
This time though, there will be a complimentary Continental breakfast.
Corner Stone - April 13, 2011 | 9:43 am · Link
Fuck the South!! Racist pig fucking traitors! No one likes you and you smell funny!
There, does that about cover this?
alwhite - April 13, 2011 | 9:44 am · Link
I’ll add it is not ALL Southerners, just the dead-enders BTW.
I used to live in a little community down South. Every Fourth of July they held Civil War reenactment battles. Always 2 skirmishes, one ‘won’ by the US & the other by the South. The yokels would always send up a cheer when the South ‘won’, it was always silent when the US ‘won’.
Bitter, unforgiving and resentful.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:44 am · Link
@alwhite: “THEY” casts a pretty wide net/ Who is THEY? Everyone who lives south of the Mason Dixon Line? Let me give you a little news flash, most people don’t give a flying fuck either way.
Poopyman - April 13, 2011 | 9:46 am · Link
@Tom65: I’m thinking that by July 2013, when the anniversaries of Gettysburg and Vicksburg coincide on the 4th, the folks in the South are pretty much gonna shut up. But I kind of hope there’s at least a reenactment of the Burning of Atlanta (even though it was most likely an accident.)
Walker - April 13, 2011 | 9:47 am · Link
I am come from a proud, 200-year old North Carolina plantation family…
that sided with the Union and freed and paid their slaves.
Dave - April 13, 2011 | 9:48 am · Link
Are the re-enactments anything like this? Apologies for the poor quality.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:49 am · Link
Article about the Battle of Picacho Peak in Arizona.
Poopyman - April 13, 2011 | 9:54 am · Link
@PeakVT:
I was recruited into reenacting non-military aspects of life in 1812 at a local park for their annual celebration of some actions that preceded the burning of Washington in 1814 (now THAT would be a reenactment!), so I’ve discovered a bit about 1812 reenacting.
The Canadians LOVE this stuff—probably mostly because they kept winning whenever the idiot Yanks kept trying to invade. Anyway, it seems like there’s a lot more Canadians than Americans, although this may change in the next couple of years, especially come 1814 for the Battle of Baltimore/Ft. McHenry/Star Spangled Banner hyper—stravaganza.
Google “Grand Tactical” if you’re curious about the 1812 reenactments.
jeff - April 13, 2011 | 9:56 am · Link
There’s a really good book called “Confederates in the Attic” that explains a lot of this stuff. It’s written by a New Yorker who wants to understand reenactment folks.
Citizen_X - April 13, 2011 | 9:56 am · Link
@Napoleon: I was going to say
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 9:57 am · Link
There is an Illinois Monument at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield.
Legalize - April 13, 2011 | 9:58 am · Link
Can we reenact the parts where Sherman burnt the south to the ground, and where Geoff Davis tried to run away by dressing up like a chick?
Litlebritdifrnt - April 13, 2011 | 10:00 am · Link
@New Yorker: I can go one better than that, trying driving through the Ozarks to deepest darkest Missouri the first full year I was here. I told my husband that if the car broke down I would probably pass away from pure fright. The worst part was when we arrived at the “Auction House” (the meeting place to pick up his daughters) we pulled up outside and you could hear banjos playing inside. I just said “oh fuck”.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 10:09 am · Link
@Litlebritdifrnt: If you would like to see a realistic film about the Civil War in Missouri and Kansas pick up “Ride With the Devil” by Ang Lee. There is an great scene where the “irregulars” attack a union force and capture their mail bag. The one rebel that can read is asked to read a letter from a union mother to her son. Questions of slavery and just what they are fighting for are raised in a subtle but effective way.
Litlebritdifrnt - April 13, 2011 | 10:10 am · Link
@cleek:
I dunno cleek. FLOTUS and Jill Biden are visiting here today as a kick off to their supporting military families tour. The comments in the local newspapers stories about it have been brutal. “Obumma” seems to be the buzz word of the day: a sample:
“This is a total waste of taxpayers hard earned money! Really, I was told by a well connected person that PR was working overtime to drum up attendence!
obummer with a 19 percent approval rating…the only thing people are doing now is counting down to the 2012 election! It will make the dumbocrat fritz mondull historic loss look like a close election!”
“I’d REALLY love to attend, but I can’t afford the GAS.
Hasn’t Prez Obummer noticed how much it has gone
up? Better yet, does he CARE? NO..he just sends his
horse-faced wife out to campaign for him. Yeah, like
people in THIS town will vote for him. I wonder if he
had not approved the budget, would she have DARED
to show her face in this town? NOT!”
sigh
Paula - April 13, 2011 | 10:13 am · Link
In addition to the Civil War re-enactments, they should re-enact the slave trade and the slave society. Show how they were stolen and shipped, and auctioned. Also, show how slaves were treated by their masters and southern society.
They fought for state rights, the right to enslave ppl!
150 Years Ago Today « Brian Spears - April 13, 2011 | 10:14 am · Link
[...] starting the military stage of a war which had been a long time in coming. When I read this morning that the city of Charleston, SC is celebrating the anniversary with mock barrages and multiple surrenders times to coincide with tour boats, I [...]
quaint irene - April 13, 2011 | 10:15 am · Link
Just remember, you must always call it ‘The War Of Northern Aggression.)
Even tho the South fired the first shot. Picky, picky picky.
Countme In - April 13, 2011 | 10:16 am · Link
How about I get upset about vermin Republican Confederate parasites receiving sponsership from the National Park Service for this celebration, thus stealing my money.
Not to mention disallowing the Union troops defending Fort Sumter from using cannons, as the Confederate dressey-ups are permitted.
Sounds like the upcoming debt ceiling “negotiations”, wherein only one side gets to make the effing threats.
Do you mean to say there is money in the National Park Service budget—my money—even after the South Carolina Tea party Confederate delegation filth, including Lindsay Graham, demanded the Bush tax cuts be extended for eternity AND spending cuts be pushed through so their barren white trash womenfolk can’t access birth control and report rape.
Didn’t Graham just threaten to hold up Senate business if federal funds were not stolen from me to dredge and deepen the Charleston Harbor?
The only thing the Federal Government should be doing to Charleston Harbor right now is blockading it, tearing out and blowing up all previous Federally-funded improvements, and then mine the f*cker.
Since these vermin have defined taxes as theft, and I now agree with them, do you know what I do to people who f*cking steal from me?
We can commence the Second Civil War, and this time have Sherman’s troops march from Wasilla, Alaska, through the Wisconsin and Ohio Statehouses, lay waste to Governor’s Christie’s murderous ass, take out the Governor’s manse in Maine, and nuke and dump the entire dead remnant of the Republican Party’s traitorous Confederacy in the burning sea.
Reenact that!
KXB - April 13, 2011 | 10:21 am · Link
Most of the Southerners I’ve met, studied with, and worked with grew up in metro areas – such as the suburbs of New Orleans and Atlanta. Among the smaller states, the classmates I knew from Arkansas and South Carolina were virtually indistinguishable from students from other parts of the country, save for the accent. So, it’s important to remember, “Never judge a place by the quality of its politicians.” Growing up in New York, and now living in Chicago, I apply this to myself as well.
stuckinred - April 13, 2011 | 10:29 am · Link
@KXB: People don’t want to hear that shit, they want to believe what they believe.
The Republic of Stupidity - April 13, 2011 | 10:35 am · Link
Whoa…
Now THIS has GOT to be one of the best parts of the whole shebang…
***... banjo in distance playing ‘Dixie’...***
jinxtigr - April 13, 2011 | 10:35 am · Link
I think it’s fascinating about the lady who’s playing the role of a slave, and her reasons for doing so. That part is very interesting, and got a classic ‘What.’ out of me when I saw the picture.
However, I’m also very interested to know if she has agreed upon a safeword. It seems like it would be a hell of a good idea, because she’s risking God knows what by playing into these people’s fantasies.
Now I’m trying to think of what a period safeword would be, that she could use without blowing the re-enactment by saying something like ‘obama’ or ‘green balloons’.
Seems like she could play a sort of prim house Negro and only say ‘Master’, but the safeword could be ‘Massa’?
Or is it only period if she says Massa and rolls her eyes?
OK, I changed my mind, this is fucked up…
AliceBlue - April 13, 2011 | 10:41 am · Link
@KXB:
I’ve tried pointing this out a couple of times. I live in a very small town in west central Georgia, and the only flags you see around here are American flags on bumpers, along with magnetic yellow ribbons. The anniversary of the shelling of Ft. Sumter was just another day.
I don’t even read Dennis G.’s posts anymore; they’ve turned into “second verse, same the the first”.
shortstop - April 13, 2011 | 10:41 am · Link
@stuckinred: For someone whose handle is devoted to complaining about the political backwardness of your area, you seem kind of sensitive about the political backwardness of your area.
Paul in KY - April 13, 2011 | 10:41 am · Link
@stuckinred: If that’s so, then I would like to be a Soviet NKVD Colonel re-enactor & come in to their camp & round them all up to be executed.
KXB - April 13, 2011 | 10:46 am · Link
@stuckinred:
This tendency to generalize works in different ways. When I dated a black woman, and she was talking about a white guy she used to date, she mentioned that while he was a good guy, there were issues with his family. I said, “Let me guess, all their impressions of black people came from the six o’clock news?” She nodded her head in agreement. If all you see are white Southerners who long for Dixie and wave Confederate flags (and I am not saying they are a small part), it becomes very easy to stereotype every white Southerner.
Not to thread-jack, but the show “Justified”, while seemingly just a cops and robbers show set in Kentucky, also has some neat insights into how rural Americans deal with their own crime issues, mining companies, etc. In a part of the country where your nearest neighbor may be a quarter mile away, and you are having some disputes with the local gang, I can sympathize with those who like to keep a gun at home.
But, like most television, “Justified” continues the tradition of good-looking people being the good guys, while the more “hill-billy” looking characters are the bad guys.
KXB - April 13, 2011 | 10:51 am · Link
@Paul in KY:
Not necessary, since Russians already look back fondly on Stalin. He is viewed as a strong leader who beat back the Nazi war machine. The little fact that he actually killed several million people is not discussed in polite company. Again, it is not unusual for any group to glamorize its past, and downplay its more foul elements.
For example, Chicago can justly claim to be the home of Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, & Michael Jordan – but that does not change the fact it is consistently rated as one of the most segregated cities in the country. It was also the site of some of the most violent race riots of the 20th century, which aside from riots of the sixties, are not taught.
Southern Beale - April 13, 2011 | 10:56 am · Link
Let me guess: does the South win this time around?
workingmomOH - April 13, 2011 | 10:59 am · Link
And what is this going to cost taxpayers?
shortstop - April 13, 2011 | 10:59 am · Link
@KXB:
Of course it isn’t. The question in the current political climate is whether it’s a good idea for some members of a group—and their sympathizers—to work their damnedest to reenact their political past with a refound crush on nullification, secession, anti-miscegenation laws, etc. The specific people we’re contemptuous of aren’t downplaying the foul elements of their past. They’re trying to reinstate them.
kindness - April 13, 2011 | 11:00 am · Link
This is where I would prefer the ‘Union’ soldiers pull a South Park & mow the south down & go on a huge binge.
cat48 - April 13, 2011 | 11:06 am · Link
They love anything that explodes here. They shoot off fireworks at the Xmas parade. I’ve lived here 14 years (across the harbor from Charleston) & fireworks are exploded for any celebration. It took a few years to get used to all the noise!
shortstop - April 13, 2011 | 11:08 am · Link
BTW, the NPS usually forbids battle reenactments on federal land. Wonder why they’re allowing it this time…or perhaps all of the obese guys with 19th-century facial hair (which they wear every day) will be “fighting” on private property.
Mr Stagger Lee - April 13, 2011 | 11:08 am · Link
There was an excellent article yesterday at the GOS, about some facts, that most Confederate apologist don’t want you to know like, how many Southerners were NOT that gung-ho about secession. Resentment about fighting the Rich Man’s war, poor man’s fight. The hardship ofd the average Southerner because of the Free Market policies of Jeff Davis and the planters, the revolt of Jones County Mississippi, so on and so on
Raenelle - April 13, 2011 | 11:22 am · Link
They gonna kill a horse too?
joe from Lowell - April 13, 2011 | 11:31 am · Link
I’d just like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Lowell’s monument to the War of the Rebellion features a larger-than-life statue of a winged Nike, holding aloft a laurel wreath, as if to bestow it on the brown of the downtown.
dr. bloor - April 13, 2011 | 11:36 am · Link
Children routinely re-enact stressful and traumatic events in their play as a means to gain mastery over it. That’s your Modern South, except for the fact that kids are usually successful whereas the southerners are just making themselves nuttier.
Joel - April 13, 2011 | 11:41 am · Link
John Brown reenactment, anyone?
Origuy - April 13, 2011 | 11:42 am · Link
There are English Civil War re-enactors in Britain, but since the Cavaliers and Roundheads came from all over the country, there isn’t the same emotional attachment by the re-enactors to the characters. For the audience, it’s a play not a religious experience.
Joel - April 13, 2011 | 11:53 am · Link
Obligatory Mr. Show link.
Ash Can - April 13, 2011 | 11:56 am · Link
@The Republic of Stupidity: And this is the best part of the entire article:
Despite, of course, the fact that slavery was THE ENTIRE FUCKING REASON for the event that’s being enacted in the first place.
Duncan Dönitz (formerly Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.) - April 13, 2011 | 12:00 pm · Link
@Tom65:
That’s a reenactment I’d like to see.
I’m so fucking sick of this confederate nostalgia shit. I remember back in college, some asshole was going on about how the Civil War was really about states’ rights or some such shit, and I told him it was all about slavery and racism. Now, I grew up in Pennsylvania, and my father was from Pennsylvania, but my mother was from Virginia, thought the asshole didn’t know that.
So he came back with all the standard shit about how “I don’t understand” and the heritage slop and how it was about honoring your forebears and his forebears were brave soldiers fighting for their states, and since mine were all yankees, I just didn’t get it, and all the shit they always throw out and expect people to eat when somebody calls them on their vileness.
Then I shot back about how my mother’s family was from Virginia and points south, and how her—and thus my—forebears weren’t just nobody cannon fodder for the confederacy, but were leaders, admirals and even political leaders, and they were bigtime slaveowners. They weren’t fighting for their beloved states, they were fighting to keep their slaves. These were the assholes who got the whole mess going. I told him I understood what the Civil War was about at least as well as he did, and that my pedigree gave me some knowledge about the whole thing and that he should just shut his apologist mouth. He didn’t really have much to say after that.
The Republic of Stupidity - April 13, 2011 | 12:02 pm · Link
@Joel:
Or perhaps a colorful, fun-filled whipping and slave auction...
JMG - April 13, 2011 | 12:19 pm · Link
Cheer up, mistermix! Only four more years until it’s time for the re-enactment of the burning of Columbia, South Carolina! Surely plans are in the works to show today’s South Carolinians how secession turned out for their forebearers.
Mike in NC - April 13, 2011 | 12:27 pm · Link
This is probably because tourism is basically the only industry left in SC after years of shutting down factories and shipping the decent jobs overseas. All that’s left are non-union, zero benefits, shitty low wage jobs.
Paul in KY - April 13, 2011 | 12:27 pm · Link
@KXB: I’m serious. I would love to crash a re-enactment group of waffen SS as my NKVD colonel & send them all to the firing squad or the hangman’s noose.
Edit: As far as killing Nazis goes, I love Stalin too.
Paul in KY - April 13, 2011 | 12:30 pm · Link
@Duncan Dönitz (formerly Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.): Wish I’d been there. Good on ya!
johnsmith1882 - April 13, 2011 | 12:34 pm · Link
What’s not to understand, mistermix? They just want to celebrate the ugliest chapter in US history, that’s all. If they had actually become human beings over the last 150 years, that would be incomprehensible.
Duane - April 13, 2011 | 12:50 pm · Link
hat tip to Joel at 64 for the Mr Show link….brilliant
!
Nothing like real murikans celebrating TREASON against America…... of course whenever I hear someone say the south is going to do it again….my first response is…..”What? Lose”
The South…..a place whose anthem “Dixie” was written by Northerner Daniel Decatur Emmett from my hometown of Mount Vernon OH…..and add this little tidbit to the fun….Emmett himself reportedly told a fellow minstrel that “If I had known to what use they [Southerners] were going to put my song, I will be damned if I’d have written it.”
jake the snake - April 13, 2011 | 1:00 pm · Link
@PeakVT:
There are re-enactments in Britain, possibly on the continent also, but they fall mostly in the “creative anachronism” mode, ie, Renaissance Faire.
Davis X. Machina - April 13, 2011 | 1:18 pm · Link
@jake the snake: Plenty of Romans, and the English Civil Wars have an active reenactor community…
WyldPirate - April 13, 2011 | 1:20 pm · Link
@Corner Stone:
Nice summation of every single Dennis Green post, Corner Stone.
Tom Hilton - April 13, 2011 | 1:27 pm · Link
Let’s cut straight to Appomattox and re-enact that over and over and over. It’s a feelgood historical moment that never gets old.
Norwonk - April 13, 2011 | 2:08 pm · Link
This is just like April 9 in my Norwegian hometown, where we celebrate the anniversary of the German invasion in 1940 by shooting the top off of the cathedral spire. And then we eat sauerkraut and toast Hitler and Quisling.
Dave L - April 13, 2011 | 2:27 pm · Link
@Norwonk:
“This is just like April 9 in my Norwegian hometown, where we celebrate the anniversary of the German invasion in 1940…”
No, it’s actually like the Serbs who commemorate their defeat at the hands of the Ottoman army in the battle of Kosovo. That was in 1389; the South is just getting started.
Bill Murray - April 13, 2011 | 3:22 pm · Link
Wikipedia has a list of historical reenactment groups from around the world. This includes living history, combat reenactment and sometimes archaeology.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_historical_reenactment_groups
I agree with Jeff at 32 that Confederates in the Attic is an excellent book about the Civil War reenactor mindset. It’s kind of scary (that is a quote from my friend Bob who lives in Alabama and who recommended the book to me, and also sees the attitude way too often)
Ruckus - April 13, 2011 | 4:03 pm · Link
mistermix
Do you not get the south for this one event? Or do you just not get the south at all?
The event can be looked at as remembering history, even if the people celebrating are the descendants of the people on the wrong side of history. That should be pretty easy to understand although for continuity we should reenact Custer’s last stand as well.
The south. Of course there are many people living there that don’t fall into the stereotype of the south. But the culture that you speak of came about because people placed little value other than labor to steal upon blacks. Whites with little more than the blacks and no ability to own a slave could still look at someone and see themselves a little higher on the food chain. They have a history that has been passed down that continues that point of view. And of course it’s not actually only a southern thing. Nor only a white american thing. People through out time have looked at their neighbors and felt superior, for no real reason. One has to learn that one’s humanity is not measured by skin color, religion, where you were born, money, titles or medals. It is/should be measured by how you act towards and respect others and how you act towards and respect yourself.
Unfortunately many/most of us never learn that.
cfaller96 - April 13, 2011 | 7:18 pm · Link
Sorry I’m late to the party, but I had a busy day.
I live in Charleston, and I don’t understand it either. What doesn’t get mentioned is that they practiced firing all fracking day on Monday. Two straight days of cannon fire is annoying.
I think all anyone needs to understand about Southerners who celebrate this is that they think the South should have won the Civil War*. They just don’t ever want to explain why they think that, because they know deep down inside that committing treason in defense of slavery is a really bad thing.
*for comparison, I’m pretty sure Germans don’t celebrate the anniversary of invading Poland. I didn’t Google that to make sure or anything, it’s just a hunch.
JR - April 14, 2011 | 4:12 pm · Link
Growing up in a border state where most folks identify with Dixie more than they do with yankees was interesting. Everyone else (but my family) went to church a lot. The folks took us to the Presbyterian some while I was in grade school… I got a Bible for good attendance (everyone did!) and after reading it (all) decided religious folks were nuts.
No offense, you Xians, but nuts. Folk stories told around tiny campfires by goat-herds thousands of years ago are interesting for what they can tell us about how people who knew noting attempted to cope with a very strange reality. They are not guides for how to live now that we’ve figured out a lot of things.
We don’t stone witches anymore, most places. We don’t enslave folks much, at least around here. So far, I guess, but wage-slavery and health insurance slavery both seem like they have a good chance right now.
I worked with an accountant who reenacted French and Indian War battles, he shaved his head except on top, where it was really long. If I had his haircut I would look like Yul Brenner or Vin Diesel (I think he shaves his head, at least in some shows). I don’t get out too much.
I do hope they reenact some of the battles which were crucial to modern history, where the Confederate Army fighting in defense of treason was thrashed. Over and over. And then lost.
If we had hung a few more treasonous rebels maybe things wouldn’t have been so hard in the 1950s and ‘60s. Maybe Dr. ML King would have crossed over to the promised land for real instead of in his prodigious imagination (that’s a compliment of his intellect folks).
Nathan Bedford Forrest for example, should have been hung the day after he made his first speech about the honor and nobility of the Lost Cause, and buried in an unmarked grave.
He was a terrorist, traitor and evil person, with parks named for him. Despicable!
enuff said! I’m starting to repeat myself!