 One slogan I have often encountered on pro-South social media groups and see on T-shirts, bumper stickers, and more is “Heritage not Hate.” If I understand correctly, they are stating that the reason for their display of affection for the Old South, the Confederate soldiers, and their history is that it is part of their family, their bloodlines; in other words, they are honoring the South as a people due to kinship ties. In that case, I fully understand; that is admirable. But does this not imply that the South also stands for hate? Generally synonymous with racism.
This pro-South slogan is defensive. It allows the critic to frame what the South stood for: racism or hate. And it places these modern-day Confederate admirers and descendants as having to make an excuse for why they esteem the Confederate soldiers; not for what they stood for, but for bloodlines alone. I think the critic would rightly object, saying that not everything our ancestors have done —no matter where you are from —is worth remembering or celebrating. Further, where does it leave a Northern-born lifelong Vermonter such as myself, who is unabashedly pro-South? I side with the South not due to any heritage ties, but despite them. I stand with the South for what they stood for, and I would never accept that “hate” label in comparison to the North. It was the North that despised and eradicated other cultures, the South, the Native American, and later in wars across the world to promote “democracy.” It was the South that believed in local control, allowing various diverse groups to live and let live. The North did not want slavery expanded; this is true, but only to prevent the Southerner and his slave from living among them. The races were in harmony far more often in the South than in the North, in large part because of that same live-and-let-live attitude. In the future, perhaps Southerners could choose some new slogans. In defense of self-governance, in defense of liberty, resisting governmental tyranny, for a Christian order, for tradition, for conservatism, for limited governance, for family and local control, “man over money”, “government was made for man, not man for the government”, or even “live and let live” and many similar slogans would be more acceptable.
11 Comments
 Vermont is wonderful: it is rural, beautiful, with four diverse seasons, and is comparatively free of crime, drugs, and many other ills of this country. However, it can be, at times, distant from God and truth, especially historical truth. In Vermont, puritans and white liberals—particularly women—rule the roost. They profess a love for diversity, but tend to avoid interacting with minorities. They show their care for the poor by voting for welfare and redistributive policies, but resist allowing them to live in their towns through zoning laws, high property taxes, and other devices. These busybodies believe that they alone are knowledgeable, intelligent, compassionate, and logical, considering themselves entirely accepting and well informed. Because they are righteous and without blemish, they often seek to atone for what they perceive as the sins of others, such as those they label as ignorant and backward, particularly in the southern United States. Understanding that we in the North possess the complete truth about the issues we are encouraged to care about, our education system teaches us to embrace everything related to the North while harboring disdain for the South. We are taught that Lincoln was a champion of equality and freedom, the savior of the nation, the emancipator who broke the chains of slavery, and one who eliminated the lingering influence of racist Southerners like John C. Calhoun from America’s equality-based government. The nation created by Lincoln was the “America” we were always meant to have, or at least it was a gift given to us by God through our greatest President. Our victorious armies in blue showed the people that all along the federal government was their master; they just needed the bayonet to help them remember that. Reconstruction was an act of grace, preventing the South from rising again and igniting another war that this time would eradicate the blacks. Oh, the South left the “nation” to preserve slavery, which can be summed up as follows; blacks were regularly raped, half-starved to death, half-beaten to death, sold frequently, despised and doomed. I believed it all, hook, line, and sinker. I had no reason not to. Family, friends, teachers, media, politicians, historians, documentaries, all said the same thing. I mean libraries and libraries of books all stating the same facts, the same story, the same interpretation. How blind, how dumb must one be to reject this truth? Well, some in the deep woods of the South do, and as we were reassured, they are racists, so it must all be one hidden agenda of racism that causes them to be so blind to the truth we all knew in liberal, enlightened Vermont. Then a funny thing happened: I accidentally ran into a couple of authors named James and Walter Kennedy. Perhaps worse, I then encountered a couple of professors named Clyde Wilson and Thomas DiLorenzo. And the rabbit’s hole of unfiltered authors continued to get wider and deeper. The final collapse of my original stance occurred after spending endless hours reaching original sources. I then took to debating, seeking to see whether my new findings held water or whether my original views were correct all along, and whether I had simply deceived myself, because how could the truth be so diametrically opposed to what I had been taught growing up? The end of which, of course, has thoroughly transformed my opinions on the war and the South. They are no longer a foe but a friend. I marvel at how easily deceived I was, and how little information was needed to convince me of so many lies. And how blindly accepting I had been to believe it all in the first place. Hope But this is not all bad news. Many in the South get the idea that we Yankees in Vermont despise the South and therefore lie about you, misrepresenting due to our biases. But you must understand, biases are learned, they are taught, meaning they can be unlearned and untaught. And with truth on your side, you can turn many former Yankees like me into Southern sympathizers and set us loose to wreak havoc on native New Englanders! In other words, you are not alone in this fight; do not count out even Vermont. You have many potential allies here. Don’t expect every heart to be willing, but some will listen to reason and logic, and allow history to guide us. |
