"The South shall rise again" ... I must have heard that phrase a million times in my life (showing my gift for exaggeration here as well I guess).. and I've never literally 'heard' it used in a threatening or serious manner. I've always looked at it like 'the rebel yell' ... just a little fun thing to say or yell out, exclusive to our area of the country, expressing a bit of Southern Pride.
You see, at times we get a bit cranky down here, when folks keep telling us we should be ashamed of our states' histories, of which side of the Mason-Dixon our families' soldiers came from during that war.
We also get tired of all the redneck jokes, of the marrying your cousin remarks, of being accused of being the national center for bigotry.. just because we are Southerners.
So.. it's a rallying of sorts at times i think.. a reminder to each other it doesn't really matter what we hear every time when turn on a television, watch a movie, or read editorials and commentaries that touch on us.
I know I'm proud of my great-great grandfather who was a surgeon for the Confederate Army.. just as much as the one a few generations before who was a General under Washington.. my uncles in World War II, my big brother in the Vietnam War.. and my young man in Iraq as we speak.
And I'm not a redneck, never dated a relative in my life, and am surely no racist...
So we slap each other on the back, have our lil symbols of Southern Pride, and in essence gently reassure each other 'it doesn't matter what they think.. we know who and what we are, and we're damned proud of it'.
True, but it'[s not as if southerners aren't constantly making Yankee jokes, either. Witness some of the remarks on this thread about how all Yankees who move south are gays and such. I mean, let's be real--when Yankees aren't around, southerners are saying "Those Yankees are just wonderful folks, I wonder why they don't like us?"
I'm not denying your above comments; I'm just saying, it's not a victim-attacker situation. It goes both ways. (So to speak.;)