Every now and then I get a not-so-subtle reminder (or two, or three) of just how important my membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is, and how important it is that I continue to enlighten the unenlightened about the true history of the South, the Southern people, and the War for Southern Independence.
My latest reminder came a few days ago while I was on YouTube, listening to an old Waylon Jennings song called "Southern Pride." After listening to the song I took a look at some of the comments about the song that people had posted, and as usual, as soon as someone started commenting about how they were proud of the South and proud of being Southern, the discussion quickly turned into a pissing contest led by those (intentionally?) ignorant people from the other side of the Mason-Dixon line. And, as usual, the tired old topic of slavery was brought up, followed closely by their hatred of the Confederate Battle Flag and about how the South was full of nothing but black-hating racists. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before; it was bullshit then, and it's bullshit now.
But among all of the crap being posted, I saw something new this time that caught my attention to the point where I just had to reply. I usually try and stay out of pissing contests like this one because my past experience has shown me that those "fine" people of the Northern persuasion who say crap like that are usually so bigoted in their views that nothing you can ever say will change their minds, so I usually don't even try. But this one caught my eye and got a response from me. So here it is, cut and pasted ver batim from the original thread:
"The biggest cult in the world the "KKK" has not one member in the north, but has every member in the south. Now that says something. "
Yeah, it says something, all right. It says that the poster, who goes by the handle of "ihavtugo" (he can't spell, either) is either chronically stupid and out of touch with reality, not to mention American history, or he's just another South-bashing hatemonger just trying to stir up trouble.
Or is he just intentionally ignorant? Here's another gem from "ihavtugo," who says on his Google page that his real name is Jordan and he's living in Boston - surprise, surprise:
"Think you dumb ass why the fuck would the north have slaves? Theirs no farms! there's factories. And obviously white women worked in the factories."
I guess Jordan was sleeping during American History in school, because I'm pretty sure that even in the Northern-published textbooks now being used in the public school systems nationwide, they don't teach that "white women" worked in the factories in the 1800s, because they didn't. The Irish immigrants did, and under worse conditions than some slaves in the South, I might add.
Which brings us to the main topic of this post, that being the intentional ignorance of some folks when it comes to American history in general, and Southern history in particular.
I find it absolutely inconcieveable that anyone in this day and age would actually believe that Klan membership was exclusive to the South, and that no one in the North - or in any other part of the country - was in the Klan. The truth, for those of you who are interested, is this: There are several different Klan organizations in the United States, with the Independent Klans of America being the largest and most active. Nationwide, there are Klan groups of various sizes active in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
And it took me all of ten minutes to research this on the web and find this out. And my source? The Anti-Defamation League website. If there's any group out there that's going to keep their finger on the pulse of the Klan, the ADL is it.
So what's my point? My point is that with a simple ten minutes of my time, I increased my knowledge on something and am no longer ignorant in that area. So if I can do it, why can't other people, especially the ones who like to bad-mouth the South and sling the same tired old accusations around?
Simple. It's SO much easier to justify your dislike for something if you don't know the truth about it, because if you find out the truth you may just find out that you're wrong. It's also much easier to avoid admitting that ALL of our nation was responsible for the institution of slavery, and keep on placing all of the blame on the South thereby keeping the South forever on "the stool of everlasting repentance," as stated by the Kennedy brothers in their book, "The South Was Right!" rather than to admit the truth - the factual, historical truth as opposed to what is being taught in our public school systems nationwide.
I guess, when it comes to people shedding their robes of intentional ignorance and actually learning the truth, I should spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one gets filled first. So I guess I'll just have to keep on fighting, keep on telling the truth to those who would rather not hear it, keep on defending the South's honor and the honor of my ancestors who fought for a noble cause - and, in many cases, died for it. But that's OK, I don't mind. My ancestors surely deserve my efforts at defending their honor, and I find it an honor to do so.
And if I need to tell you exactly what "noble cause" I'm referring to, all I'll say is this: ten minutes of research on the web!
IHC
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