Nothing, it seems, both intrigues and infuriates me more than issues of Southern “heritage.” Whenever there’s a flag debate, statue debate, street name debate, official logo debate, mascot debate or other such uproar that pertains to the highly-sensitive issue of Southern “heritage,” my ears perk up and my attention is sufficiently grabbed. I don’t know why. Perhaps I enjoy the sensation of wanting to bang my head against a wall and pull my hair out. Perhaps I find some sick amusement in watching otherwise intelligent people completely ignore what is so obvious. Maybe I’m just weird. Whatever the reason, I love these “heritage versus hate” duels. It’s so amusing to watch them get played out in articles, letters to the editor and online forums. Normally, it goes like this: Some “brave” Southern “patriot” will “summon the courage” to tell us all A) Slavery and segregation weren’t so bad, were not a big deal or were much worse everywhere else. B) The only people who find the flag offensive are “spineless” or not “true” Southerners. C) Southerners are oppressed and ashamed or afraid to be proud of who they are. Or D) All or some of the above.
Disagree with any plank in this platform at your own risk. Doing so will get you branded a “liberal,” an “outside agitator,” a “leftist” or my personal favorite, “a communist” who wants to “de-throne Christ, abolish freedom and confiscate people’s guns” (all of which I have been called at some point or another). Why? Because I don’t wrap myself up in the stars and bars and fall lock step in line with whatever the prevailing “true Southern” core beliefs are. I also have the audacity to suggest that the majority of these assertions are complete bull (expletive deleted).
I was born in the South, and have lived in the South my whole life. I can also trace my Southern pedigree back several generations. So I don’t need to be told that “Southern-ness” is something that I don’t understand. I assure you, I understand it quite well. This is not a bash on the South, instead it is on those who hold hostage what it is to be “Southern” with their own narrow definition.
It’s very amusing to me to hear people who have neither been slaves nor lived on the bottom rung of a segregated society talk about how bad such situations aren’t or weren’t. The “never forget this past but forget that past” arguments are hilarious, too. It’s like, if you want to discuss the last 50 years, you are “dredging up the past” or “you need to “change your heart” or you need to “get a life and move on to something current and productive.” But re-fighting a war that happened over 140 years ago somehow fits into the category of “current and productive.”
There’s also the whole line of logic that teaches the flag “ain’t no big deal,” “people are making a big deal out of nothing” and “it’s just a flag.” I would be inclined to agree with them if such statements weren’t almost immediately followed by talk of hidden-hand “manipulations by civil rights groups” and paranoid frenzies about burning history books, cultural genocide and the destruction of freedom-all of which are apparently sure to happen if a flag gets changed, moved or replaced with a historically accurate one.
Then of course, there’s this martyr complex that seems to infect so many of these articles. As if Southerners are too afraid or ashamed to proclaim their Southern-ness to the world. I find this laughable. Just drive around town and look at the vanity plates or window and bumper stickers on peoples’ cars. I was going to do an informal survey of how many Southerners were unafraid to show their rebel pride, but I simply lost count from the sheer number of apparently unashamed Southerners. These writers will also decry the stereotyping of Southerners as rednecks, hicks and what have you. Funny, I work with a whole bunch of Southerners who have never been nor will they ever be portrayed as rednecks, hicks or any such thing. These Southerners don’t seem to be too inclined on waving Confederate flags either. Of course, these Southerners are all black. Maybe they’re not “Southern” enough.
Another fun aspect of all these debates is the R-word: “revisionism.” Normally, if you oppose the modern-day Confederates, you are a revisionist by default. I was accused of such for pointing out that the Mississippi Ordinance of Secession stated that “our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.” Yes, how dare I go back in time to 1861 and re-write that document! Smash my time machine before I revise again! The interesting part of all this is hearing the historical gymnastics and shenanigans these people go through to disassociate their causes and symbols with anything bad, re-associate them with all that is good, decent, holy and honorably Christian only to turn around and fling the accusation of “revisionist” at anyone who dares to disagree with them. It’s doublespeak that would make George Orwell proud.