Read the column again---it's made fairly clear that I grew up in the South. To tell the truth, I'm pretty far politically from being a "pansy-ass liberal," even if I actually *do* have the Star Wars movies on VHS, though the action figures on
The Stouthouse aren't mine.
Of course, neither is the lovely young lady who figures so prominently on its pages, but I suppose we all can't have a dick-oriented life like Lil_G up there.
West Texas KA, you give me hope, however. For a while, I thought that honest intellectual debate from frat guys was out of the question.
I used to be all about "Southern rights," and how the flag stood for heritage, not hate.
Then, I attended the rededication of my local Confederate veterans' memorial (in Statesboro, GA if any of you are interested), and my views changed.
I saw someone wearing a t-shirt with a picture of the U.S. Capitol flying the stars and bars, captioned "You have your dream and I have mine."
That's really what the "Old South" is about now, isn't it? An attempt at social rebellion after a failed attempt at governmental rebellion. Hell, I just grew my hair long for a while to piss people off.
I'll clarify. Let's say that I fervently, truly believe that Nazi Germany stood not for the annihilation of the Jewish people and world subjugation, but just for a strong Germany. As such, I decide to put a large swastika on a flag pole outside of my house.
My house'll probably get burned down. Why? Because no matter what
I or my group of friends believes, the general societal convention surrounding swastikas is one of strictly bad,
very bad things.
The same thing applies for wearing Confederate uniforms in public, unless you're doing a legit historical service by reenacting. To the vast majority of Americans, Confederate regalia stands for slavery and racial discrimination,
not any kind of "Southern gentleman"-esque values.
If my father opens a door for a lady, telling her "Aftuh you, ma'am," in his Southern drawl, he's being a Southern gentleman. If he wears a Confederate uniform (not that he would, just an example here), he'll be targeted as a cracker-ass racist by the average person.
As such, why would
anyone with an ounce of good sense dress in such a manner, unless they
want to either distress others and/or look bad themselves? And people wonder when "those damned Yankees" stereotype Southerners as morons...