Posted on 04/15/2022 2:17:44 PM PDT by blam
In One South: An Ethnic Approach to Regional Culture (LSU Press, 1982), sociologist John Shelton Reed wrote convincingly of what he called "regional racism."
The accepted definition of "racism" is "prejudice against members of a different ethnic group," with "ethnic" defined as a "subgroup ... with a common national or cultural tradition." By this definition, the South and the West, with their distinctive cultural traditions, may constitute "ethnic groups," and there is a great deal of prejudice in our national culture against both.
The relationship of these ethnicities, and particularly of the South, with the nation as a whole, has a long and painful history. Long before the Civil War, there were economic and ideological rivalries between the South and the North, especially over questions related to internal improvements, tariffs, and the creation of a national bank. By 1861, these and other issues led to a fierce division, not unlike what we see today, between two competing ideas of America.
After the war, the South continued to oppose the American System, as it was called — its greatest proponent being Abraham Lincoln. Today, regional differences remain much the same, with southerners supporting limited government and with northern and coastal regions attempting to expand government in exchange for perceived economic advantages. The latest example of this conflict is southern and heartland opposition to Build Back Better.
White Southerners have been the object of the worst stereotyping, though the West, with its caricatures of dumb "cowboys" and blowsy saloon girls, comes in close behind. One would think such racism would have died out long ago, but today's progressives are actually boasting of a second Reconstruction in which whites — not just Southerners, but all whites — are to be made "woke" and forced to admit their supposed privilege and guilt.
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(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Most people do not see actual racism in their lives, but only what is a major campaign by MSM to shape their views in a particular manner. They see it on TV so it must be so.
When there’s “black privilege” being pushed to rabid extremes, every single TV commercial is nothing but 95% blacks and blacks killing whites just about everywhere, it’s not racist to try to survive.
FJB and filthy ilk of flying monkeys.
I am a lifelong New Englander. I consider my part of the country to be miserable and narrow-minded. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the South. As far as I can tell, everything is better there.
I’m convinced over the years that, in general, racism has been defeated in western culture and among people of white, European ancestry. But it has increased exponentially among non-white non-western cultures and especially in black culture. They see the weakness of white guilt, and are exploiting it.
Virtually every time people make fun of white racists, they put on a fake southern accent. That has bothered me for a long time.
It cuts both ways.
Yankee is an extremely pejorative term in much of the non-North East.
In fact, there are five kinds of Yankees, each worse than the previous
Border Yankees
Mid West Yankees
Yankees
Damn Yankees
The New York Yankees (The baseball team)
Even the weather
The antipathy between New England and the South goes way back to before the war of Independence. They were founded by different groups from England who did not like each other even back there. This is nothing new.
New England has always favored big government. The South has always favored limited and decentralized government. I don’t think we can ever bury the hatchet so to speak. Separation would be best for all concerned. It was a mistake to try to shoehorn two mutually antagonistic regions and political cultures into one country to begin with.
This article sums it up. I often think there still would have been a War Between the States even if there had never slavery. There is just too much difference in many ways between the South and West vs. the rest. As we say down here “They hate us ‘cause they ain’t us”.
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