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Good and true article—My family lived in the ‘south’ until i was 12—we moved to n-central Illinois dad got a union job and we thought everyone was rick! and they were compared to the south in 1969 [and now]. used to be a lot—A LOT—of socially-categorizing and classification. we always heard how unfriendly, Godless and weak the northern people were—BOY WERE THEY WRONG!
One used to hear how much a southern boy-man would ‘like to whup a “sissy” Chicago yankees a!#... well, needless to say, that was only because they could safely say that from their pathetic and pitiful ‘palce(s0’ down there; besides, when we moved to Peoria and later rural Illinois we found REAL people who didn’t ya’ll this and ya’ll that with the false so-called southern manners [don’t get me wrong-there are a lot of good people there and everywhere-but none so angry, mean-spirited as many southerners who were always looking for someone to fight, hate, classify, argue with or ‘be above;’ either through religious self-righteousness, political and/or ‘class categorizations.’
WE LEARNED THAT UP NORTH PEOPLE DIDN’T CARE WHO YOUR FAMILY, DADDY, MOMMA, OR ANY OF THE OTHER ELITIST BS THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT DOWN THERE. ALL THEY CARED ABOUT WAS WHO YOU WERE, WHAT YOU DID AND HOW YOU DID IT. TRULY GOOD PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T CARE WHAT EVERYBODY THOUGHT OF THEM BECAUSE THEY KNEW WHO THEY WERE, WHAT THEY WANTED AND DIDN’T CARE FOR OR NEED THE OPINION OF THE LOCAL GENTRY OR THEIR UNDERLINGS.
WE NEVER LOOKED BACK AND NEVER MISSED ‘THAT’ SOUTH; THE RACISM, DISCRIMINATION, CLASSISM, RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY; HYPOCRISY AND IT’S EXCUSES FOR EVERYTHING MENTIONED ABOVE AND BEING GREEDY, SELFISH, AND MANY—TRULY UGLY EXCUSES FOR HUMAN BEINGS!
As a hypothesis, I think Atkins’ book is correct.
The question then is: In the Internet era, why isn’t the “solid South” breaking down? Why isn’t racism breaking down, why isn’t anti-union hatred breaking down?
One answer may be that the digital divide (the relatively low access that poor people have to the Internet) disproportionately affects Southerners. Except that in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina—states where the digital divide’s effect is lessened—I don’t think we see much difference.
Another answer may be that the Internet’s “long tail” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tail) allows the indoctrinated Southerner to seek out only news and communities on the Web which reaffirm and reinforce the racist, anti-union indoctrination that the Southern media and others have imposed on them (sic).
This raises a new issue: If the Internet age really won’t promote a new awareness because of the long tail, then how can progressives and union ever hope to change the South? It seems to me that you need that megaphone (e.g., a mass media outlet) to achieve change; according to Atkins’ book, that megaphone is what allowed the solidly racist, solidly anti-union Southern elite to remain in power. Dying newspapers and dying local television stations mean that unions must use the Web, but is the Web useless due to the existence of the long tail?
Posted by Tim Evanson on Aug 23, 2009 at 7:04 AM
As I wrote earlier, there are good people there—but it’s hard not to be indoctrinated with over a hundred years of anti-yankee-losing-side-shame-and entrenched insecurities of every kind.
Sadly, they’re STILL calling northerners ‘yankees,’ and still many have that old insecure and spitefulness concerning: foreigners—i.e., anyone not from there.
I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE IN THE NORTH TALK ABOUT SOUTHERNERES—OR REFER TO THE CIVIL WAR AS IF IT’S STILL AN ACTIVE BATTLE—LIKE I STILL HEAR M SOME SOUTHERNERS TALK ABOUT NORTHERNERS(Get over it already! )!
Leslie D Patrick…..Although you may be somewhat accurate about the south, the north ain’t much better, and Peoria is probably no better than most southern towns.
See , what most white folks do not understand is the blatant racism that goes on behind your back.Northern cities have been just as bigoted and racist as any southern town on the map.
The difference you just wrote about is only on the surface, the subtle ways in which people express viewpoints and ideas, the culture nuances that don’t make the news are very much in play.But when all is said and done northern white folks are no different than their southern neighbors. Let use not forget ” red line mortgages” and all the bigotry behind “school desegregation"just to mention two examples..
Racism is a sociopathic eco-cultural disease ,that has no respect for longitude or latitude. If profits can be made by the marginalization and genocide of any group of individuals ; racism will be front and center in that conflict. Because that’s what racism is; the economic debasement of a group of people, based on visual phenotype…...
Posted by blackhorse on Aug 25, 2009 at 1:28 PM
I reside in Texas a former slave state. Texas has a low number of organized workplaces and a very poor job site safety record.
While labor is weak, the GOP is strong. Neither civil rights or labor rights are high on the agenda here in the Lone Star State!
Texas has a rich history of union struggles from the oil refineries, to the manufacturing plants and more recently the uprising of low wage workers in the serice industries.
One major draw back in Texas is the lack of good, objective news media. Progressives along with organized labor and the civil rights movement must come together and fill in the gap!
We must also demand more from our so-called friends of the Democratic Party or begin organizing a viable alternative.
Just my thoughts after 35 plus years in the civil rights, labor and peace movements.
Posted by Frank Valdez on Aug 28, 2009 at 3:35 PM
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Reader Comments
Good and true article—My family lived in the ‘south’ until i was 12—we moved to n-central Illinois dad got a union job and we thought everyone was rick! and they were compared to the south in 1969 [and now]. used to be a lot—A LOT—of socially-categorizing and classification. we always heard how unfriendly, Godless and weak the northern people were—BOY WERE THEY WRONG!
One used to hear how much a southern boy-man would ‘like to whup a “sissy” Chicago yankees a!#... well, needless to say, that was only because they could safely say that from their pathetic and pitiful ‘palce(s0’ down there; besides, when we moved to Peoria and later rural Illinois we found REAL people who didn’t ya’ll this and ya’ll that with the false so-called southern manners [don’t get me wrong-there are a lot of good people there and everywhere-but none so angry, mean-spirited as many southerners who were always looking for someone to fight, hate, classify, argue with or ‘be above;’ either through religious self-righteousness, political and/or ‘class categorizations.’
WE LEARNED THAT UP NORTH PEOPLE DIDN’T CARE WHO YOUR FAMILY, DADDY, MOMMA, OR ANY OF THE OTHER ELITIST BS THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT DOWN THERE. ALL THEY CARED ABOUT WAS WHO YOU WERE, WHAT YOU DID AND HOW YOU DID IT. TRULY GOOD PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T CARE WHAT EVERYBODY THOUGHT OF THEM BECAUSE THEY KNEW WHO THEY WERE, WHAT THEY WANTED AND DIDN’T CARE FOR OR NEED THE OPINION OF THE LOCAL GENTRY OR THEIR UNDERLINGS.
WE NEVER LOOKED BACK AND NEVER MISSED ‘THAT’ SOUTH; THE RACISM, DISCRIMINATION, CLASSISM, RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY; HYPOCRISY AND IT’S EXCUSES FOR EVERYTHING MENTIONED ABOVE AND BEING GREEDY, SELFISH, AND MANY—TRULY UGLY EXCUSES FOR HUMAN BEINGS!
As a hypothesis, I think Atkins’ book is correct.
The question then is: In the Internet era, why isn’t the “solid South” breaking down? Why isn’t racism breaking down, why isn’t anti-union hatred breaking down?
One answer may be that the digital divide (the relatively low access that poor people have to the Internet) disproportionately affects Southerners. Except that in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina—states where the digital divide’s effect is lessened—I don’t think we see much difference.
Another answer may be that the Internet’s “long tail” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tail) allows the indoctrinated Southerner to seek out only news and communities on the Web which reaffirm and reinforce the racist, anti-union indoctrination that the Southern media and others have imposed on them (sic).
This raises a new issue: If the Internet age really won’t promote a new awareness because of the long tail, then how can progressives and union ever hope to change the South? It seems to me that you need that megaphone (e.g., a mass media outlet) to achieve change; according to Atkins’ book, that megaphone is what allowed the solidly racist, solidly anti-union Southern elite to remain in power. Dying newspapers and dying local television stations mean that unions must use the Web, but is the Web useless due to the existence of the long tail?
As I wrote earlier, there are good people there—but it’s hard not to be indoctrinated with over a hundred years of anti-yankee-losing-side-shame-and entrenched insecurities of every kind.
Sadly, they’re STILL calling northerners ‘yankees,’ and still many have that old insecure and spitefulness concerning: foreigners—i.e., anyone not from there.
I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE IN THE NORTH TALK ABOUT SOUTHERNERES—OR REFER TO THE CIVIL WAR AS IF IT’S STILL AN ACTIVE BATTLE—LIKE I STILL HEAR M SOME SOUTHERNERS TALK ABOUT NORTHERNERS(Get over it already! )!
Leslie D Patrick…..Although you may be somewhat accurate about the south, the north ain’t much better, and Peoria is probably no better than most southern towns.
See , what most white folks do not understand is the blatant racism that goes on behind your back.Northern cities have been just as bigoted and racist as any southern town on the map.
The difference you just wrote about is only on the surface, the subtle ways in which people express viewpoints and ideas, the culture nuances that don’t make the news are very much in play.But when all is said and done northern white folks are no different than their southern neighbors. Let use not forget ” red line mortgages” and all the bigotry behind “school desegregation"just to mention two examples..
Racism is a sociopathic eco-cultural disease ,that has no respect for longitude or latitude. If profits can be made by the marginalization and genocide of any group of individuals ; racism will be front and center in that conflict. Because that’s what racism is; the economic debasement of a group of people, based on visual phenotype…...
I reside in Texas a former slave state. Texas has a low number of organized workplaces and a very poor job site safety record.
While labor is weak, the GOP is strong. Neither civil rights or labor rights are high on the agenda here in the Lone Star State!
Texas has a rich history of union struggles from the oil refineries, to the manufacturing plants and more recently the uprising of low wage workers in the serice industries.
One major draw back in Texas is the lack of good, objective news media. Progressives along with organized labor and the civil rights movement must come together and fill in the gap!
We must also demand more from our so-called friends of the Democratic Party or begin organizing a viable alternative.
Just my thoughts after 35 plus years in the civil rights, labor and peace movements.
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