Becoming the Appreciator - My Journey to Southern Heritage

Using the magic of AI, CSA Appreciator pictures himself in the company of General Lee.

Politically, I’ve been all over the place. Raised in a Democrat family, I was taught that George Bush was a horrible president (in hindsight, not a bad take), and I absolutely adored Obama. I have a distinct memory of eight-year-old me in my family’s yard, gathering leaves into two piles, one for Obama and one for McCain. Obama’s pile was stacked high with leaves while McCain’s only had a couple handfuls. I then pulverized all the leaves in McCain’s pile. And in 2012, when someone in my class said their family was voting for Romney, I looked at him as if he had said his family liked killing puppies.


Then came 2015. I was a Bernie Bro from the start, but was quickly disillusioned by him not getting any Super Delegates despite winning states. I also hated Trump from the start, to the point where people in my high school knew never to bring him up, lest I go on some hateful tirade. Then in April of 2016, sick of Bernie not earning any delegates, I finally watched a Trump rally, it was in Missouri, I think. And I realized there really wasn’t anything I disagreed with. And that was all it took for me to shift from left to right. I was too young to vote in 2016 but I voted in 2020 and 2024.


I made a Twitter account supporting Trump, and I got up to 6800 followers, but was banned. I took a short break, then made another one which got up to nearly 8000 followers. Banned. After that I gave up on Twitter.


Fast forward to summer 2024. I decided with Elon Musk owning Twitter and the 2024 election campaign in full swing, I would make another account. So, I did. I posted a few Trump posts, but failed to get followers. Finally, someone did follow me - a bot. Not promising. Then another account followed me which would ultimately change everything. But hold that thought.


Around the start of 2024 I had come across a YouTube video titled “I Wish I Was In Dixie - The Unofficial Anthem of the Confederacy” (or something like that). My heart skipped a beat. Despite being born in Arkansas, I had always been taught, both at home and in school, that the Confederacy was racist and therefore was evil. I actually had to build up my mental courage and had to steel myself just to click on the video. 


I liked the song. 


I found a shorter version by the Houghton Weavers on Spotify, and added it to my “Funny / Joke” playlist - home to songs that were either purposefully humorous, or songs that were serious but I listened to as a joke, such as a Russian song about retaking Alaska or a Chinese song promoting communism. Stuff I don’t believe in but listen to for the meme value. “Dixie” fell into the second category. And it became my “hate song” - the song I would listen to when angry and wanted to feel extra “hateful”. After all, what’s more hateful than the literal Confederacy?


Spotify recommended other Confederate songs, and I liked all of them. So soon my Funny / Joke playlist had multiple Confederate songs on it. And as I listened to them when I was angry, my heart ever so gradually began to soften.


Now back to Twitter. It was a pro Trump account, however, as a “because why the heck not?” kind of gesture, I had added “pro-South” to my bio. I figured that since I was from the South and had been gradually warming to old Southern culture, it would make sense to put it there. My first follower, like I said, was a bot. But my second follower was none other than New Jersey Flaggers, a pro Confederate organization in New Jersey. They had 3K followers at the time, but were only following about 600 people, and I was now one of them. I was humbled. They had taken a chance on little puny one-follower me, who never had his replies viewed because they automatically went to the “Potential Spam” section. They had taken a chance, and I was going to honor them.


Out of fear of losing them, all the remaining walls between me and the Confederacy came down. I became pro-Confederate over night. I changed my profile picture to one of Nathan Bedford Forrest and my banner to one of Robert E Lee riding a horse, surveying his men. I have not changed them since. I also needed a new account name. I had seen accounts such as “Richard Nixon Appreciator” or “Pacific Northwest Appreciator”, so I used that idea to create my now iconic name: CSA Appreciator.


It was this newfound acceptance to the CSA that really allowed me to delve deep into the history and slowly but surely find out that the Union lied about everything. What started as careful acceptance became full out dedication and, well, appreciation. And my Twitter account exploded. I went from being a nobody to being said to carry pro-Confederate Twitter singlehandedly. And while that is not a title I agree with (Confederate Twitter is a team effort) and I will never flaunt my Twitter success (I’m not the kind to sit around inventing majestic titles for myself), I must acknowledge the extraordinary growth my Twitter account has had, and with it the extraordinary growth of my appreciation of Confederate heritage and culture.


But its not just appreciation - it’s knowledge too. I learned all the comebacks to Yankee arguments. I started as good as winning Twitter wars against seasoned historians. These in turn did even more to strengthen my pro-South position, leading to a positive feedback cycle. When I first started out, whenever a Yankee came arguing, I would run and tag more seasoned accounts who would defend the Southern Cause -  instead of amateur, inexperienced little me. Now, many of those same seasoned accounts run to ME for support in THEIR arguments.


And my journey is still just beginning. I’ve received casual, but very real, invitations to come on a pro-South podcast, and I’m now writing a blog post for Reckonin. And to think that a little over two years ago, I saw Dixie on Youtube and shivered in fear and repulsion.


And its worth remembering that all this happened based on a few events. If Dixie hadn’t been recommended to me on Youtube, if I hadn’t found the Houghton Weavers song, if I hadn’t put “Pro-South” in my twitter bio, if New Jersey Flaggers hadn’t followed me, it is very probably that none of this would have happened and I’d still tremble in terror at the sight of a Rebel Flag. Heck, if Spotify hadn’t recommended those additional Confederate songs, I’d also probably be tweeting “The Confederacy was racist and we need to destroy the statues” or something like that.


Speaking of Spotify, the Confederate songs now have their own playlist, and it’s nearly 9 hours long. All Confederate music. It’s publicly available and I’ll include the link below. At the top of the playlist is the Houghton Weavers Dixie rendition that made this all possible (Ironically, I rarely listen to that rendition nowadays).


And as for the “Funny / Joke” playlist, there are no more Confederate songs on that playlist — they’ve all been replaced with Union songs.

​
DEO VINDICE

Link to CSA Appreciator's Confederate playlist on Spotify.