← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · confederate_commando
Thread ID: 12683 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2004-03-06
2004-03-06 12:33 | User Profile
From Can the South Survive?, page 8-9
[url]http://www.pointsouth.com/grissom/books.html[/url]
Michael Andrew Grissom defines a Southerner:
"SOUTHERNER is a good place to start. The word was, until recently,
widely used and understood by everyone both North and South. It simply
meant
the Anglo-Euro-Celtic inhabitant of one of the Southern states, or more
plainly, the white man of the South. He had established himself in the
southern colonies of British-owned America and by the time of the
Revolution
had developed a clearly distinguishable culture quite apart from that
of the
white inhabitants of the northern colonies. As colonies became states
and
the borders of the South were expanded to Texas, the term SOUTHERNER
took on
greater meaning until by the time of the War Between the States
residents of
the Southern states were being referred to as 'the Southern race,' so
cohesive were the folkways and customs.
During the Great Persecution following the War, what few subtleties of
distinction may have remained in the term SOUTHERNER were swept away by
the
harshness of Reconstruction, asit is more popularly called, and the
word was
invested with its full measure of significance. It would once and
forever
characterize one particular ethnic group on the globe.
Forever until the 1990s. Which brings us to the need for
clarification.
Two movements have given rise to the misuse of the word. One is the
great
migration southward. Floridians can relate in tragic detail what an
influx
of Northerners can do to a land. All five of the Atlantic coastal
states
have been inundated with a flood of Northern immigrants, many of whom
do not
understand or appreciate--or intend to tolerate--Southern ways,
customs,
mores, and traditions. They live in the South, take their employment
in the
South, and vote in the South, but are these, whose hearts are not in
Dixie,
to be called Southerners merely because their skin is white and they
squat
upon the Southern shore?
The second phenomenon obscuring the meaning of SOUTHERNER is, like the
first, a wave of immigration, but unlike the first it is of more recent
vintage and is sweeping the South from afar. These are the yellow,
brown,
and black immigrants from crowded, poverty-stricken, Third-World
countries.
Speaking but little English, they come with no preconceived notions
about
changing the traditional structure of Southern society. Instead, they
are
focused on setting up their own culture on American soil and are
bringing
with them enough of their kinsmen to claim significant sections of
every
large city in the South. Even the rural countryside is colored by
their
presence. But, as in the first instance, if these people are to be
called
southerners, then we have reduced the expression to a mere geographical
term,
devoid of cultural significance.
For the purpose of this study, SOUTHERNER is going to be used in its
traditional sense, that is as it was used before non-Southerners took
up
massive residence among the people of Dixie. It will be used to
designate
the native-born white man (and woman) who have Southern roots, whose
ancestors for some time back were Southern; and, it will be used to
include
those who by accident of birth are not native-born but have returned to
take
up their ways of their Southern ancestors. It may need to be noted
here that
SOUTHERNER will not be used to designate the negro of the South,
notwithstanding its newlyfound use after that fashion by the liberal
press,
who have dedicated their sole beings to making of the South one tan
mixture
of all the races who happen to be occupying a spot of ground in the
South.
Historically, the term has never been applied to the negro, and
correspondingly he has never adopted the term for himself, some of his
mercenary leaders having been especially careful to hurl it at the
white man
as an epithet. It is only the media which loves to speak of white
Southerners and black Southerners."
--
"A defeat on principle is not an overthrow, while a victory by compromise is a defeat." --John C. Calhoun
2004-03-06 14:48 | User Profile
Most Southern ancestors came from Scotland, Ireland ( mainly Ulster, which had large numbers of Scottish transplants, many of whom migrated to the South), Wales, the Northern regions of Britian ( along the Scotch- British border) ,and Southern England ( like Cornwall). Most of the people in the New England States came from Middle England. There were some other ethnics like Germans and French Huguenots but the majority came fron the above places. So, the Southern Culture did not even start in the Southern states, or even when they were colonies. It did not even start during the various wars of the Welsh and the Scottish Independence on the British Isles. It really originated during the Roman occupation of Great Britian. The Romans mainly controlled Middle England and the Anglo Peoples there adopted the the Federalist and Empirist ideas of the Romans and incorporated them into their psyche and later governments to some degrees. The other regions around were still mainly tribal but still had some type of confederation, ususally loose, among their ethnic groups. It was this Roman- Federalist mindset that caused the royality and nobility of the Middle England to conquer the surrounding regions of England and expand to the outlying areas of Scotland, Ireland, and even France ( Henry V) for a time. During the post-Revolutionary period, notice that most of the Federalists came from the states north of Virginia. Most of the anti-Federalists ( Jefersonians) mainly came from Virginia and southward. The Southern culture is distinct. It seems to be mainly gone in the urban areas but in the more rural areas, many Southerners still retain their culture and "tribal" mindsets.
2004-03-06 15:38 | User Profile
[QUOTE=confederate_commando] Two movements have given rise to the misuse of the word. One is the great migration southward. Floridians can relate in tragic detail what an influx of Northerners can do to a land. All five of the Atlantic coastal states have been inundated with a flood of Northern immigrants, many of whom do not understand or appreciate--or intend to tolerate--Southern ways, customs, mores, and traditions. They live in the South, take their employment in the South, and vote in the South, but are these, whose hearts are not in Dixie, to be called Southerners merely because their skin is white and they squat upon the Southern shore?
This is indeed a problem, but it is not one confined to the Deep South or to the coastal areas alone. Here in Appalachia, we are receiving an ever-increasing stream of 'white-flight' migrants. In northern WV, they come from New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York. In the southern part of the state, they come from Chicagoland and the midwest. What draws them here in the first place may be that our population is near all-White, our crime rate is miniscule, and our personal liberties are manifold.
No matter where they come from, though, they seem to ignore one important fact -- it is our preservation of our traditional culture which has allowed us to maintain these things. When they move into a small West Virginia town and begin to transform it into 'Little Newark,' they are initiating a process of cultural destruction. They are hastening the death of Appalachian culture.
They expect us to be grateful that they bring their money here, but then they use it to open "Urban Wear" shops peddling FUBU and hip-hop albums. They expect us to silently endure them as they careen through our streets in their souped-up riceburners, blasting rap music at top volume. They expect us to be neighbourly, even as they make jokes about 'hillbillies' and incest. They expect us to remain silent as they attempt to remold our cultural landscape.
But we won't be silent long...
2004-03-06 17:45 | User Profile
Picking up ever greater speed on their one-way rip down Compliance Highway, most Southerners no longer even bother to slow down for the light at Disobedience Street. Any differences between themselves and anybody else, except in their imaginations, for old times' sake, make for quick roadkill. Gotta get their children to the synagogue on time. Boys to the IDF, girls to the hip-hop dance.
2004-03-06 23:37 | User Profile
Ruffin, get out of the cities and off the interstate--and even amongst the re-constructed scalawags there is a difference! Not as much as a generation ago, or a century ago to be sure, but 140+ years of occupation, of gubmint yankee/prussian mis-education have taken there toll
Manners, lifestyles, food, dialects, etc., are still different. Redneck Culture is still alive and well, and part of the lack of differeence is that some ot it has been exported North and West. Our WASP Culture, even by our brethern in error, plus our Land and Climate mark us as different, though less so than before...
See the attached map for one difference, recall the Southern Strategy of the Red Republicans, to name but a few...