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Nov. 9th, 2003 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravencallscrowsOK, i've been boring and quiet lately. Doesn't mean that nothing's happening, just little of interest to anyone outside of my immediate household.
What usually happens is some sort of little intellectual exercise. In this case, it was incited by a comment made by Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean about wanting to be the candidate for whom "guys with Confederate flag stickers on the backs of their pickups" vote. As usual whenever a politician lets fly with some less-than-well thought out idea, there was considerable flap over this. It got me thinking in a somewhat James Burke-sque manner- from the Southern Cross to the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, "southern rock" and Pearl Jam.
Some seem to feel the Confederate battle flag or naval jack (depending on whether square or rectangular- the battle flag is square with a blue and white St. Andrews' cross blazoned with thirteen stars on a red field, the naval jack is the rectangular with the same design, and much more commonly seen)— often falsely identified as the Stars and Bars (which actually refers to a completely different flag in use in the Confederacy- the first national flag)— is a symbol of racism. I don't think this is the case, either historically or in most contemporary applications- although that's not to say that it's never misappropriated by rascist groups.
I recieved a chunk of my education in the South, and lived there even afterwards. My degree is in history and literature, from the University of Richmond- the city known as the capital of the Confederacy. I've written a handful of papers on the Civil War from a military and political vantage point. Living in Florida after graduation, I became more conscious of the "Southern pride" concept, more so than when I lived in Richmond or spent time in Atlanta- both reasonably metropolitan areas (Richmond moreso because of its relative proximity to D.C. than any intrinsic merit other than tobacco companies) with significant black populations.
Before I digress much further, let me note one thing about Richmond- Richmond's Monument Avenue hosts statues of several Confederate military leaders. It's also one of the cities most in touch with the contributions which were made by freed slaves and their ancestors- there are a significant number of museums and tributes to these people as well. The city is irretrievably intertwined with the War between the States and some of its uglier causes, but has managed to do so in a manner both inoffensive and even-handed.
Returning to topic, choosing to adorn a vehicle with the Southern Cross is not a race issue. You're almost as unlikely to find a Confederate flag on the vehicle of an urbane white Southerner as on that of a black one.
It's not possible to simply dismiss slavery as a cause for the war, or attribute it solely to States' Rights, simply because the largely agrarian South drew on slave labour so heavily and the North— which benefited from the Industrial Revolution some fifteen to twenty years before the war— didn't because it had modernized and was not as dependent on agriculture. Quite simply, the one Right which lawmakers in the South were most concerned was the right of individuals to own other people as chattel.
A look at the enlistment rolls of many Confederate units shows a pattern which may come as a surprise- the overwhelming number of combatants weren't slave owners, but hard-scratch farmers who hoped to some day have the funds so that they might be able to do so- not sheerly for the chattel aspect of slavery, but to have other hands to help do the work.
Such is the case with "Southern pride." It's not the genteel Southerner, but the one who's struggling to get ahead who's likely to indulge in displays of that flag. Pop culture has probably only served to make matters worse- the "Southern rock" influence of the '70s and beyond with groups like Lynyard Skynard and Charlie Daniels waving that flag as a symbol— again, not as a particularly racist one— and it should be noted that Daniels also waves the American flag in a major way— but as something of a symbol for the Southern Everyman, hoping to get ahead, and reminding him that his ancestors (whether real or by 'geographic lineage' if you will) rose up against what was perceived as injustice before- and that he can thumb his nose at the Establishment and say "just you wait..."
Dr. Dean's statement probably wasn't the best choice of words- but clearly a candidate speaking for himself, rather than having every phrase scripted by speechwriters. The group he was talking about, though, would have been difficult to succinctly buttonhole otherwise- they're lower income, often ill-educated folk who have a tough enough go of making ends meet, and often still show the effects of the lack of a diverse Industrial Revolution in the South a hundred and sixty years ago— outside of urban pockets, it's still very much a low wage, underinsured area of the country— and people who see only the tax rebate cheques as anything positive the Republicans do for them.
To be completely fair, this sort of musical regionalism applies to other parts of the country as well- in much of the music of Bruce Springsteen for the industrial North, artists like John Mellencamp in the midwest (Little Pink Houses, Small Town, etc.), perhaps even extending to some of the political statements made by Pearl Jam in the Pacific Northwest into the '90s and beyond. It's just that they're not as jingoistic— or perhaps as typecast— as "Southern Rock" and look to something of a broader appeal.
But hey, "the South's gonna do it again." Even if many of us in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere are of the mindset to just let 'em go this time. ;-)
(Yes, the preceding statement was intended as completely tongue-in-cheek.)
What usually happens is some sort of little intellectual exercise. In this case, it was incited by a comment made by Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean about wanting to be the candidate for whom "guys with Confederate flag stickers on the backs of their pickups" vote. As usual whenever a politician lets fly with some less-than-well thought out idea, there was considerable flap over this. It got me thinking in a somewhat James Burke-sque manner- from the Southern Cross to the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, "southern rock" and Pearl Jam.
Some seem to feel the Confederate battle flag or naval jack (depending on whether square or rectangular- the battle flag is square with a blue and white St. Andrews' cross blazoned with thirteen stars on a red field, the naval jack is the rectangular with the same design, and much more commonly seen)— often falsely identified as the Stars and Bars (which actually refers to a completely different flag in use in the Confederacy- the first national flag)— is a symbol of racism. I don't think this is the case, either historically or in most contemporary applications- although that's not to say that it's never misappropriated by rascist groups.
I recieved a chunk of my education in the South, and lived there even afterwards. My degree is in history and literature, from the University of Richmond- the city known as the capital of the Confederacy. I've written a handful of papers on the Civil War from a military and political vantage point. Living in Florida after graduation, I became more conscious of the "Southern pride" concept, more so than when I lived in Richmond or spent time in Atlanta- both reasonably metropolitan areas (Richmond moreso because of its relative proximity to D.C. than any intrinsic merit other than tobacco companies) with significant black populations.
Before I digress much further, let me note one thing about Richmond- Richmond's Monument Avenue hosts statues of several Confederate military leaders. It's also one of the cities most in touch with the contributions which were made by freed slaves and their ancestors- there are a significant number of museums and tributes to these people as well. The city is irretrievably intertwined with the War between the States and some of its uglier causes, but has managed to do so in a manner both inoffensive and even-handed.
Returning to topic, choosing to adorn a vehicle with the Southern Cross is not a race issue. You're almost as unlikely to find a Confederate flag on the vehicle of an urbane white Southerner as on that of a black one.
It's not possible to simply dismiss slavery as a cause for the war, or attribute it solely to States' Rights, simply because the largely agrarian South drew on slave labour so heavily and the North— which benefited from the Industrial Revolution some fifteen to twenty years before the war— didn't because it had modernized and was not as dependent on agriculture. Quite simply, the one Right which lawmakers in the South were most concerned was the right of individuals to own other people as chattel.
A look at the enlistment rolls of many Confederate units shows a pattern which may come as a surprise- the overwhelming number of combatants weren't slave owners, but hard-scratch farmers who hoped to some day have the funds so that they might be able to do so- not sheerly for the chattel aspect of slavery, but to have other hands to help do the work.
Such is the case with "Southern pride." It's not the genteel Southerner, but the one who's struggling to get ahead who's likely to indulge in displays of that flag. Pop culture has probably only served to make matters worse- the "Southern rock" influence of the '70s and beyond with groups like Lynyard Skynard and Charlie Daniels waving that flag as a symbol— again, not as a particularly racist one— and it should be noted that Daniels also waves the American flag in a major way— but as something of a symbol for the Southern Everyman, hoping to get ahead, and reminding him that his ancestors (whether real or by 'geographic lineage' if you will) rose up against what was perceived as injustice before- and that he can thumb his nose at the Establishment and say "just you wait..."
Dr. Dean's statement probably wasn't the best choice of words- but clearly a candidate speaking for himself, rather than having every phrase scripted by speechwriters. The group he was talking about, though, would have been difficult to succinctly buttonhole otherwise- they're lower income, often ill-educated folk who have a tough enough go of making ends meet, and often still show the effects of the lack of a diverse Industrial Revolution in the South a hundred and sixty years ago— outside of urban pockets, it's still very much a low wage, underinsured area of the country— and people who see only the tax rebate cheques as anything positive the Republicans do for them.
To be completely fair, this sort of musical regionalism applies to other parts of the country as well- in much of the music of Bruce Springsteen for the industrial North, artists like John Mellencamp in the midwest (Little Pink Houses, Small Town, etc.), perhaps even extending to some of the political statements made by Pearl Jam in the Pacific Northwest into the '90s and beyond. It's just that they're not as jingoistic— or perhaps as typecast— as "Southern Rock" and look to something of a broader appeal.
But hey, "the South's gonna do it again." Even if many of us in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere are of the mindset to just let 'em go this time. ;-)
(Yes, the preceding statement was intended as completely tongue-in-cheek.)
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-09 09:19 pm (UTC)Maybe you should team with Ken Burns. All you need is a little waltzy piano music played uber slow and dirge-like and Garrison Keillor to do your voice-over's. Move over PBS.
Then you split the money you rake in with me for giving you the idea.