Union or Confederate?

i love revisionist history

 

it wasn't a world war until afterwards. It was The War To End All Wars...If you're trying to throw me off, sorry.

 

i heard lots of stuff about the south from those who's been down there.
they say it's racist and that's probably the only reason i'm not going to apply to southern colleges. .

can someone tell me what being a "confederate" really means (apart from coming from the south of course).

 

RE: I will totally rag on the slavery issue. Most slaves were treated horrible, yes. But saying that the civil war was all about slavery is like saying World War II was all about the holocaust.

Er, hang on.

Hitler invaded other countries and sent millions to camps. The rest of Europe and the world went to war against Hitler for his empire building but more disturbingly the atrocities going on there.

Yeah, WWII kind of was about the Holocaust.

Strange you should bring that up - there's a vicious Nazi named Ernst Zundel who calls himself a "German American Activist" basically trying to deny the Holocaust, saying the war was REALLY about how mean the rest of the world was to Germany, not the gassing deaths of millions.

 

I will never believe that the second world war was about the Holocaust....Europe and the US had plenty of tip-offs about the concentration camps and ghettos but failed to act until Hitler just had extended his reach too far into Europe...Then everyone went up in arms...Maybe I read and researched wrongly, but I think it was more politically based motives than anything else...

 

Oh, I see. Realistically, the Civil War was an intellectual dispute over the minutiae of State vs Federal Rights. The fact that the North was gonna make it illegal for Southerners to sit around uneducated and lazy while whipping others to make them work for them was merely coincidental.

 

Soul Rebel.

 

I might be looking at this the wrong way.....but those who are saying " most people from the south are racist" don't seem to be doing a lot different then racists who say " most (insert stereotype here) people are lazy and steal or whatever. You are doing the same thing you are accusing others of doing.
I am from Alabama so start the flames now . There is constant debate over our history here so I have heard most of both sides of the argument . The whole" history written by the winners" thing seems valid to me. I dont think things are all that different with goverment today......If you buy the civil war was to free the slaves do you also buy that The war in Iraq is to free the people there? or do you think there might just be a lil more more to it then that?
Remember that here in the south most people were poor and not everyone owned slaves. It was not like a bunch of rich farmers put down there mint julips to go fight a war.

 

I'm a Texan, so that make me a rebel.

Slavery was a big issue, but the Civil War was a war between two different cultures: North and South. Lincoln freed the slaves because it would hurt the south economically.The Civil War was fought to keep the Union together.

 

RE: I might be looking at this the wrong way.....but those who are saying " most people from the south are racist" don't seem to be doing a lot different then racists who say " most (insert stereotype here) people are lazy and steal or whatever.

No, it's a pretty fair observation.

I've seen racism in the North, but nowhere NEAR as vitriolic or widespread as what's in the South.

In BOTH directions I might add.

 

peace and love man...everyone smoke a joint and shake hands....

 

It's all Southernfried Southern Pride here. 100% Confederate. It's a state of mind, it's being proud of family, heritage and those who past before you. No matter how you view the South slavery is,was and always will be a part of the reality of our history. Let's all let it be a reminder of things never to allow again. I asked my great grand mother if we evere owned slaves, she smiled and said "Honey, we was so po we was pickin cotton in the fields next to them." I can feel proud and not feel like my heritage is tainted just the perspective that non-southerns view it from is.

 

it's pretty confederate here, too. not so much in Austin, but especially in the texas panhandle. I'm glad my family didn't own slaves, they hadn't even migrated from Germany yet. I'm only a 3rd generation Texan lol

 

honestly, Texan should be a seperate option. Even today they barely want to be part of the union, and only recently ratified their statehood!

Ive spent time in all places, now in alabama. I can honestly tell you that some of my black friends call here home because there is less hate present, and say so openly. Ive witnessed worse prejudices in western cities than southern, most of the south seems about on pace with the east coast up thru NYC, imho.

As for the history of the civil war, I think we can agree that no wars are started over any single thing. Many factors led to it, among them slavery, finance, and the industrial revolution.

Those who point to slavery being the source, I can only rebut with the fact that if it were about that, the winners would have chosen to re-patriate freed slaves back to africa - the main focus of the large majority of anti-slavery leaders of that era (including Abe Lincoln and prominent black writers). That didnt happen, and honestly our world might be worse off all the way around if it had.

And dont get me started on the mis-use of the word "racism". Prejudice can be found everywhere, and many people use "racism" when they mean "prejudice".

 

then you are a yank.

Heres how it is, if you move to the south, you will never be a Southerner, nor will your children if they are born in the south.

Just because the cat has kittens in the oven, doesnt make them biscuits.

 

Race has nothing to do with the war or confederacy. Lincoln was a racist as well, he cared nothing for blacks, they were "lower than whites" to him too.

Confederacy is about states rights and freedom to be out of the Federal rule.

Thats pretty much it, slavery was nothing. Why would, when just 20% of southerners owned slaves & some less than 3 total, would a bunch of poor men go to their deaths for the "rich white man"?

Wouldnt the poor white man want slavery outlawed? then he could get paid to do it? And the poor freemen got the jobs that slave owners wouldnt make their slaves do, too dangerous. Hired labour was cheaper to replace.

 

Nice stereotyping. All the while, the yankees are forcing immigrants to fight their war in exchange for citizenship. Racism exists beyond white and black man, and like i said earlier, Lincoln was a huge white supremiscist.

Lets just go with what they fed us. The south=evil slave owning lazy fat white men in linen, and North=hard working industrial immigrants.

You cant go with stereotypes. The English had slaves, and not just black ones either, but Irish and Scottish ones, so dont talk about plantation crap, that was an exception, most were a farmer and a few slaves he bought.

Is it right? no, but it isnt like they say. Does a farmer beat his workhorse to near death? No he didnt, because if he killed it, he would have to replace it, and if it were so injured then he would get no production done. The "white man beating the slave to death" image is played and full of propoganda.

I am born and raised in Mississippi. My family has been here since it was part of the West Florida Republic, and was here the first time the Union took over. the 90% comment you made is a big pile of horseshit you pulled out of your own ass. Besides, people who fly the Union Jack are just as guilty.

 

I live in the South, but I will never be Southern.

The area I live in is EXTREMELY racist. There's nothing else to say about it and it certainly doesn't speak for the entire South. My county had signs up on all main roads into the county saying "[N-word]s, don't let the sun set on your back in Forsyth County". I don't remember it and most was gone by the time I moved here (1990) but my parents still remember there being signs up like that in people's yards. We also had a cross burned on our yard when I was in elementary school because one of my classmates told their klansman father that my family was Jewish.

I've also found many Southerners to be extremely two faced. When I was younger, I had friends' parents be all happy and nice to my parents but as soon as I was in their car on the way to a sleepover, all I heard about was how my parents and I were going to hell unless we converted. This also happened when the first black family moved here and I was good friends with the daughter- suddenly most of my best friends and their families all stopped talking to me.

The racism HAS gotten better, but I still get regular rude comments for my Star of David necklace and still get stares for walking around with my Korean best friend or my Arab, Black, and Persian friends and have things thrown at us by guys with Confederate flags flying from their lifted trucks.

Maybe if I had been raised closer to Atlanta or in another part of the South it would have been different. But where I live is absolute hell.

 

Silver, that is unfortunate, and those people piss me off royally. I live in deep south Mississippi, have a vietnamese wife and three children, and have no problems what so ever. The only "problems" i have are the christian staturation in his school, and that is because we are pagan and it just complicates things. ALways having to explain him the differences, etc.

Ignorant people are everywhere, not just the south. And the klan, what it is now, is a disgrace to southern culture. Old south people are not real accepting to difference, its sad but true. My family isnt racist in that they hate non-whites, but they use "******" like it is the only word for black. Rather than the slur word, it is more the southern pronunciation of "negro", but still sounds just as bad, and they should know better by now.

 

I have to say I live in a suburb right outside the city in Connecticut, and the people around my age 17,18,19 and 20 years old are quite possibly some of the most rascist people to be around since the 60's. And that goes for everyone on a general basis. It's not just the south.