[lbo-talk] The North's burden of enlightening the South (was Re: The "NAFTA Superhighway" Urban Myth)

Carl Remick carlremick at gmail.com
Sun Nov 18 14:40:52 PST 2007


On Nov 18, 2007 12:15 PM, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Hee hee. Southerners are losers. They talk funny and
> act different from us. They're dummies. Hee hee.

That's the problem. Southerners are *not* losers. You'd have every reason to believe the Confederacy was the actual victor of the Civil War the way Southern cultural norms -- anti-intellectualism, hyper-religiosity, veneration of the military, hostility to organized labor, etc. -- have come to define US society as a whole.

But despite the remarkable cultural hegemony the South has achieved, there is nothing Southerners enjoy more than a good wallow in self-pity over their "Lost Cause." I feel particularly bilious about this subject at the moment because just last week I made the serious error of watching "Gone With the Wind." Or at least I watched half of this wretched film before fatigue and deepening disgust sent me beddy-bye. Never has such a tonnage of Technicolor been expended in the service of such propagandistic tripe. Never has there been such an unashamed, weepy-eyed apologia for slavery. I'm ashamed that I didn't hit the "eject" button the moment the film's opening printed narration filled the screen (capitalization matches that used in the movie itself):

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind.'' A "Civilization" gone but lamentably misremembered. I believe "Gone with the Wind" has been the biggest moneymaker in all movie history.

So, I have offended any Southern sensibilities here, I must say that, well, frankly I don't give a damn.

Carl



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