tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post4400307214235355557..comments2024-03-25T16:03:36.810-07:00Comments on The Existentialist Cowboy: 'The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down' or The Origins of a Culture WarAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-37372652935266196992007-10-03T13:19:00.000-07:002007-10-03T13:19:00.000-07:00Nor will I. Thanks, hope, for your great posts.Nor will I. Thanks, hope, for your great posts.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-78906737074377990662007-10-02T16:19:00.000-07:002007-10-02T16:19:00.000-07:00Scary Len...I hate the smell of coup d'etat in the...Scary Len...I hate the smell of coup d'etat in the morning. I always feel more informed when I read at your place. And I won't go without a fight.HopeSpringsATurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-59136543833078250812007-09-28T15:10:00.000-07:002007-09-28T15:10:00.000-07:00Zena said...And I do believe that our civil war wa...Zena said...<BR/><BR/><EM>And I do believe that our civil war was basically a religious war. The slave-traders were using scripture to justify slavery, until the people of the North came together in the righteousness of the belief that the scriptures said it was wrong and were determined to end the practice.</EM><BR/><BR/>Religious and economic. You are right about southern religiosity. And the use of "religion" to justify abominable behavior and heinous crimes seems statistically higher among Christians than other religions and higher still among "fundamentalists" of all stripes including Islam. Many think Shakespeare was only writing literally in the context of his play Romeo and Juliet when he wrote: "A plague o' both your houses!" But I think feuding families were Catholics and Protestants in Elizabethan and Shakespeare, doubtless, witnessed atrocities from both "houses" <BR/><BR/>The economic factors driving the Civil War most certainly had to do with the fact that cotton was in the south, an agrarian economy, its life blood. It can be argued persuasively that the production of cotton on such an industrial scale could not be done profitably under any other system other than slavery. Hence the fanaticism and tenacity with which it was defended. The very existence of Southern society depended upon it. The south would throw out every rationalization in its defense --including God and all his prophets. <BR/><BR/>Nothing has changed. Even today, the most wicked are the first to justify their iniquities because an all powerful God is on their side. Perhaps, the converse is also true i.e, the truly good are atheist because they don't require an all powerful God to forgive them their horrible sins. Another corollary --atheism requires a confident and moral person. Religion requires a reprobate.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-10972922974454182702007-09-27T18:39:00.000-07:002007-09-27T18:39:00.000-07:00Yes, I think all this mess is directly connected w...Yes, I think all this mess is directly connected with the civil war. Those slave-traders and holders have taught their children their hate and anger over the loss of their slaves down through the generations. A few years ago, I was doing some research on the KKK, and other violent groups, and it mentioned that they were bringing in all the Mexicans they could to fight a war against the black people in America. I started the research because of a German illegal immigrant who told me this. I didn't believe him at first, but I found some pretty scary stuff. And I do believe that our civil war was basically a religious war. The slave-traders were using scripture to justify slavery, until the people of the North came together in the righteousness of the belief that the scriptures said it was wrong and were determined to end the practice. We can see what happened. Their children still want to 'right' what they saw as wrong, to have their slaves taken from them as they still retain a 'superority' belief. The scriptures are true, the sins of the fathers are carried by their children to many generations. Great post. LuVed the tunes. Have a great night.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06227051499000939578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-73343874417301455362007-09-27T16:33:00.000-07:002007-09-27T16:33:00.000-07:00HopeSpringsATurtle said...Being a native San Franc...HopeSpringsATurtle said...<BR/><BR/><EM>Being a native San Franciscan, the move to Texas was full of it own shocks, notwithstanding learning of Texax' broad slavery past.</EM><BR/><BR/>Thanks for your kind words. I have roots in Texas but have traveled extensively throughout the US, England, and parts of Europe. I have found good people everywhere, including my home state of TX. Nevertheless, the South has not escaped the past. In fact, as I have suggested in my post, the "Civil War" is still waged --not at Vicksburg, not Gettyburg, not Bull Run, but against "liberalism", black people, indeed, what we now call progressive values. <BR/><BR/>I am sick to death of it. It is a cancer that will end the US, if it has not done so already. <BR/><BR/>I just read a very depressing post on another site. It was written by Daniel Ellsburg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, an act that freaked Nixon out. Ellsburg says that a coup d'etat has already occurred. And I have written recently that Bush has no intention of leaving office. EVER! He has simply ignored every effort to submit to the rule of law. Why should he go? Who will make him? <BR/><BR/>He will simply flip off the Congress and the courts and ring the white house with tanks and Blackwater. <BR/><BR/>America was a good idea. But the North should never have engaged the South. Instead, the north should have said goodbye and good riddance. <BR/><BR/>I wish I could be more optimistic. But, as long as Bush, occupies the White House (illegally), America is finished. Sadly, the Democrats have betrayed us and there is no third or fourth parties. <BR/><BR/>So long, America!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-54082668876828612842007-09-27T01:33:00.000-07:002007-09-27T01:33:00.000-07:00Cowboy...thank you so much for your reasoned and w...Cowboy...thank you so much for your reasoned and well done post. I am a relative newcomer to the South, now living in southern Mississippi. We will be here for a minimum of 3 years, thanks to the USAF. Our last duty station was Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX. Being a native San Franciscan, the move to Texas was full of it own shocks, notwithstanding learning of Texax' broad slavery past. Being in MS now, I can see divides I've only read about; today I live with them. On this the 2nd leg of our "red state tour", I am saddened and feel deeply alone here. I've begun to put out feelers to find the like-minded, but am finding it not so easy. Thanks again for the great post.HopeSpringsATurtlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01674162196011919272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-70576255466114075502007-09-27T00:24:00.000-07:002007-09-27T00:24:00.000-07:00Democrats gave up the moral high ground and triang...Democrats gave up the moral high ground and triangulation was all they had left. That's why I've never been a big fan of Bill Clinton, though I defended him vociferously against the purely political attempt to impeach. But, I am tired of supporting Democrats simply because they are simply the lesser of two evils. I want to strike a blow against evil itself. That won't be possible until the Democrats grow a spine and stop speaking "focus group-speak", something the GOP pioneered. It's origins may be traced back to Eisenhower, whom I believe was the first national candidate to hire an advertising firm to handle his media creation and placement. That agency was BBDO, as I recall. One of that agencies founders, Alex Osborn, wrote a book called "Your Creative Power", it was re-issued in 1991.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-18011306917192660322007-09-26T19:44:00.000-07:002007-09-26T19:44:00.000-07:00The time has come to rise above our flawed beginni...<I>The time has come to rise above our flawed beginnings --or we shall simply perish as a nation.</I><BR/><BR/>Indeed....<BR/><BR/>I think that's what the "intermittent" election of Democrats does....it causes us to momentarily overcome our baser instincts and pulls us towards a higher calling.<BR/><BR/>I'm afraid, however that <BR/>triangulation" will be our downfall.hizzonerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02446264132937822026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-11386749393717609592007-09-26T15:01:00.000-07:002007-09-26T15:01:00.000-07:00hizzoner said... I was raised in the south in the ...hizzoner said...<BR/><BR/><EM> I was raised in the south in the late fifties and through the turbulent '60s.</EM><BR/><BR/>Great post, hizzoner. You raise some excellent and informed points. <BR/><BR/>I, too, am a Southern "boy". Texas was largely settled by people who wanted to farm the land in SW Texas with the slaves they owned and the slaves they hoped to get. The Commanches had other ideas however. My own ancestors, however, may have preceded even Stephen F. Austin's planned colonies where "allowances", perhaps incentives, were held out for slave holders. It was still Mexican territory, and, as I recall, Mexico opposed slavery. This is a little known history that someone should write. <BR/><BR/>Indeed, LBJ stirred the pot and, as you say correctly, Ronald Reagan made people feel comfortable with their prejudices. Or, as I heard at the GOP convention of 1992, in Houston, "Ronald Reagan made us feel good about ourselves". <BR/><BR/>Bush's brand of Republicanism would not have been possible but for Reagan. Reagan might have known just how far to push the envelope. Bush is determined to press it to the limit. <BR/><BR/>I am truly sorry for the South. I was born in far West Texas, country more akin to Arizona than bayou country. But I had relatives "down South" and got to know the bayous, the Spanish Moss, the drawls, the "back woods", the gumbo, the Beignets, the fishing holes. <BR/><BR/>I took the broad view that American History is the history of slavery, or more properly, White/Black relations. Taking the argument further, we can say that the US is simply the victim of British Imperialism. <BR/><BR/>The time has come to rise above our flawed beginnings --or we shall simply perish as a nation.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598093941551759917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19580203.post-47289773812985963462007-09-26T13:04:00.000-07:002007-09-26T13:04:00.000-07:00I was raised in the south in the late fifties and ...I was raised in the south in the late fifties and through the turbulent '60s.<BR/><BR/>My memories are rife with racism in subtle and not-so-subtle forms. I was exposed to the KKK and institutionalized racism of the Jim Crow south.<BR/><BR/>LBJ upset the apple-cart...BIGTIME..and the resentment was like nothing I've ever seen before or since....and then there was Nixon....<BR/><BR/>Nixon dressed racism up in "polite" words that could be used at church picnics. <B>State's Rights</B> was the all-encompassing banner, but there were other words that were clearly targeted toward blacks but had the cloak of plausible deniability about them.<BR/><BR/>By the time Reagan was elected, I was living in a very liberal state and my views had lost their southern "twang". And I remember so well a friend telling me after hearing a Reagan speech, "<I> Look at that...look what he (Reagan) just did...he made us all feel comfortable with our prejudices. this might as well be 1950 again."</I><BR/><BR/>Close encounters with Democratic or at least moderately liberal administrations from time-to-time keeps the racism in check. Or, maybe it just drives it back underground again until another Republican/Conservative can come along to exploit it.<BR/><BR/>Another great post Cowboy!hizzonerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02446264132937822026noreply@blogger.com