Pinheads glorify past battles. Be they Neo-Nazis, Son's of Confederate Veterans or drunk hosers spouting off about a famous act of arson. Hell the landscape of much of the Balkans can be traced back to wars fought over 500 years ago. Texans remember the Alamo, Canadians remember Vimy Ridge, and Americans remember Gettysburg.
That the south appropriates a defining moment in their history to celebrate, and in so doing white washes it, is hardly unique to the southern United States. The south has not, nor will it anytime soon forget about slavery, or race, or the devision between Confederate and Yankee. Watching this distinction being applied to my Yankee family (who didn't realize that they were still Yankees after 150 years until the were told so in the South.)
Race caused the entire American political system to flip on its head in the 60s. Race is a palpable factor of current political happenings, and despite the wrong headedness of the SoCV regarding their Great-Granddaddies reputation is at least a motivation I understand. I don't tend to bring up that some of my family probably sent Jews to concentration camps, or that at least one of them might have been a guard at one, but rather tend to speak of my uncle who gave regular wages to Polish prisoners of war who were assigned to his farm.
So yah, Civil War = Slavery, Nazi = Holocaust, but I worry more about the pinheads and their actions today, than their high school grasp of history and selective memories.
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That the south appropriates a defining moment in their history to celebrate, and in so doing white washes it, is hardly unique to the southern United States. The south has not, nor will it anytime soon forget about slavery, or race, or the devision between Confederate and Yankee. Watching this distinction being applied to my Yankee family (who didn't realize that they were still Yankees after 150 years until the were told so in the South.)
Race caused the entire American political system to flip on its head in the 60s. Race is a palpable factor of current political happenings, and despite the wrong headedness of the SoCV regarding their Great-Granddaddies reputation is at least a motivation I understand. I don't tend to bring up that some of my family probably sent Jews to concentration camps, or that at least one of them might have been a guard at one, but rather tend to speak of my uncle who gave regular wages to Polish prisoners of war who were assigned to his farm.
So yah, Civil War = Slavery, Nazi = Holocaust, but I worry more about the pinheads and their actions today, than their high school grasp of history and selective memories.