> Definately say more on Lynyrd Skynyrd, since it raises an interesting
> question if they were radicals. Most folks who hear "Sweet Home Alabama"
> take it as a defense of Wallace and a tell-off of liberals like Neil Young,
> both liberals and conservatives who sing it. Whatever the intentions of the
> original propagandists, if it ends up being overwhelmingly used by racists
> and apologists, why defend them? A lot of militia types and their defenders
> (you and Cockburn) may be right about core beliefs, but if the consumers of
> their rhetoric are racists or other authoritarians, an attack on
> militia-style organizations is justified if only as a condemnation of a
> wayward anti-corporate strategy.
in other words, (a) you want to know if you can 'judge a band by its fans,' and (b) you have no interest in the subject at hand--except for your trademark 'strategic' cynicism wherein any given phenomenon is of interest only insofar as mediated in or around the halls of power.
the answer to (a) is: yes and no.
the south is the Mysterious East of yankee orientalism.
there's probably some interesting observation to be made about the GOP's 'southern strategy' and the demise of the nixon pres- idency vis-a-vis the watergate line in the song in question, but i won't pretend to know what it is.
cheers, t