Not rising again, so much as being snarky
I digress, but the point is that there is a great deal of regional pride in the South – both general and specific. And after decades of being portrayed in the media, literature and broad culture as backward, sub-literate, yokels, there’s also a great deal of distrust directed at those (perceived as) dismissive of Southern culture.
Indeed, we Southerners like the south and we don’t care who knows it. We also don’t appreciate how we’re portrayed. More:
Case in Point: During the campaign season, Howard Dean said “I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks”, which was followed by a week of genuflecting to the appropriate Scolds for mentioning the Confederate flag. Which was then followed by another week of debate over whether Democrats should even speak to Confederate flag owners. After awhile it was pretty well decided that the Confederate Flag wasn’t really all that different from a KKK decal, and the whole thing was forgotten.
Except, of course, by voters in the South.
You see, while [Confederate flag = racism] is common knowledge among many Democrats and non-Southerners, it comes as a surprise to many Southerners, who grew up around the flag, and yet somehow missed out on the whole “it means you hate black people” angle.
I’m one of those people. I grew up in Georgia, where the Confederate Flag adorned trucks, bumpers, shirts, and–yes, on rare occassions–even flagpoles. In the South, it’s simply a regional symbol. Owning a Confederate flag in the South is no more intrinsically racist than following a sports team — the Washington Redskins — whose name has racial connotations. And yet, Democrats manage to do that without ritualistic self-flagellation.
Actually, one of the reasons Southerners like their flags is because it annoys the Hell out of people who are, well, really easy to annoy. It pisses some folks off and that’s good enough.
March 2nd, 2005 at 4:14 pm
I should add that with the notable exception of Florida, the definition of “Southerner” seems to float throughout the South. Specifically, everywhere I go in the South, the people believe that anyone from anywhere North of where they’re from aren’t really Southerners. Many Kentuckians fancy themselves as Southerners, but no self-respecting Tennesseean would consider a Kentuckian a Southerner. To someone from Alabama, someone from Tennessee a Southerner. And to someone from lower Alabama, someone from Birmingham isn’t really a Southerner.
I’m not sure what drives this.
I’ve also noticed a floating definition of “Yankee.” To some Southerners, a Yankee is someone from the North. To others, a Yankee is anyone not from the South (e.g., a Californian could be a Yankee). To some from the North, a Yankee is a Northeasterner, but to most Northerners, a Yankee is a particular sort of New York baseball player.
To a Canadian, any American is a Yankee (which must bug the shit out of Southerners who visit Canada, but it makes me smile…).
March 2nd, 2005 at 4:15 pm
Damn. Above should read “To someone from Alabama, someone from Tennessee isn’t a Southerner.” Stupid typos.
March 2nd, 2005 at 4:18 pm
One more recently-encountered definition of Southerner: I work with a guy who insists that being born and raised in the South isn’t enough to qualify you as a Southerner. You have to have at least one ancestor who actually fought for the Confederacy to qualify.
Oh, and for whatever it’s worth, me seeing someone flying a Confederate flag doesn’t generally annoy me — it generally just makes me think “Oh, look: A backward, redneck moron.” (And I say that as someone who thinks the name “Washington Redskins” needs to go.)