“...espouse whatever message they like.”
I saw some Civil War movie off and on last week - “Riding with the Devil” or something, just saw bits and pieces. I think it was about Cantrell’s (sp?) Raiders which I think was after the war had ended??
ANYWAY - in one scene the younger guys with the Raiders are eating dinner with an older Southern Gentleman that is leaving the fight and moving to Texas. He tells the young raiders something like:
“The Northerners built a school up in Lawerenceville. They teach the children what to think, and to think like them. We’ve lost because we don’t try to tell others how to think. They can do whatever they want.”
One young raider ready to lash out scowls “You tryin’ to say what we’re fightin’ for ain’t worth it?”
“No - we’ve already lost what we are fighting for.”
It went something like that anyway. A defeatist attitude I guess from the older gentleman, but accurate for the Civil War era. I hope it is not accurate for our times, but I fear it is.
You have a good point, even if you used a fictional movie to make it. I’d just like to say that I find the following hilarious...
“The Northerners built a school up in Lawerenceville....”
Yes, brothers, it is true, Southerners had no concept of learnin’ until we were invaded and Yankees forcibly built schools. That is the implication, of course, straight from hollywood to your brain. All of the North was urban, and sophisticated, while the entire South was rural, and backwards. Just like today, as a matter of fact.
The rest of the quote I pretty much agree with, which leads me to believe the screenwriter stole and modified a quote from somewhere.