Brooks Simpson’s recent post got me thinking…
For some Southerners, maybe it’s just a little too easy to dismiss a Northerner when he/she writes about the history of the Civil War era South.
For these same Southerners… when confronted with another Southerner who writes not so much in harmony with the Lost Cause ideology… what then?
Is it really so easy to dismiss his/her statements/treatment of history by saying simply that said “against the grain Southerner” has been brainwashed by the academy, teeming with Northerners (yes, they’ve even infiltrated the halls of academia in the South, don’t-cha-know), feeding otherwise good, decent “Southron” kids with silly long-legged Yankee lies?
Maybe it’s just as easy to call that same “Southron” turned bad as a “scalawag” and be done with it. No use in discussing it… just call him/her a name and be done with it.
I haven’t had to deal with it here much lately (thankfully)… the name-calling, accusing me of being party to the “Yankee blogosphere”, etc., etc., etc…. but, again, Brooks’ post has me thinking.
When I put some information on paper (or in an electronic document), it’s not necessarily pre-processed through the spin cycle, if you know what I mean…
True, what I say in this blog may be “against the grain” of Lost Cause ideology, but it’s usually original, and drawn directly from primary sources. Even when I do add my opinions (my “take”, if you will) to what I’ve found… just because it goes against the grain (Lost Cause), does that really make it “wrong” or “revisionist” (and when I say this, I’m not talking about something akin to “renaissance thought”, but flat-out, “Yankee-spun” bad/wrong).
What strikes me most in this is that history “presented for your consideration” isn’t good enough anymore. Some people need explanations… like… oh… where the writer is from (again, refer to Brooks excellent post), and why he/she is writing something that just might be going against everything we’ve been brought up to know as “good Lost Cause Southerners?”
Maybe you have to spell it out these days… your agenda, I mean. But then, if you say you don’t have an agenda, you’re probably lying, and have an even greater agenda. History isn’t simple anymore…
O.k., so… that’s my mild rant for today…
Cenantua's Blog 
Brooks D. Simpson
December 29, 2010
Oh, I know a Yahoo discussion group populated by Confederate romantics that groups Kevin Levin, you, and me together as a mutual admiration society (which is quite ironic given the culture of the discussion group).
Robert Moore
December 29, 2010
In my “surfings”, I think I may have come across this group by accident, once. At least there was frequent mentions of the “Yankee blogosphere”.
Craig Swain
December 30, 2010
And you realize because of a few guest posts here (what maybe six?), I’ve been “black-listed”. In particular my UFO-Black Confederate article resulted in the retraction of an invitation to “sit down with” an SCV related group. Wonder if that’s grounds for a suit?
Robert Moore
December 30, 2010
Yup, I have seen your UFO piece referenced in a couple of places. Apparently, some of them didn’t find it as thought provoking as most of us. Clearly, you need to watch your Ps & Qs, lest you too will be labeled a scalawag!
Ron Baumgarten
December 29, 2010
“History isn’t simple anymore”….I hear you. Maybe it never was simple, but the one thing that has struck me the most since reading Civil War blogs, and starting one of my own, is how it is hard to say anything that cuts against the Lost Cause/states’ right version of the Civil War without generating controversy, even when there shouldn’t be any based on the facts. I recently got the first couple of “attack” comments on my blog postings related to secession in South Carolina and Northern Virginia. What struck me as a straightforward telling of the historical facts incited some to come at me with sarcasm or their own version of events. Yes, history isn’t simple, even when you try to tell it like it was. (Of course, I am a Yankee born and bred, so perhaps I am just wrong in some people’s eyes, even before I open my mouth!)
Robert Moore
December 30, 2010
I agree, Ron. I think the deeper we dig, the less simple we realize it to be. Actually, it takes the ability to be able to look at all angles for what they are… that’s when one finally realizes the complexities, and sudden decline in absolutes.