Posted on 06/30/2005 12:31:58 PM PDT by Incorrigible
Yes, I understand that it's difficult to have dignity and honor if you are always the butt of the joke. And that there is a difference between anger and disgust. Problem is, it's not coming across as disgust, or like you are trying to regain some dignity and honor for the South.
Yeah, I'm sure most of those creeps you have run into are from the NE. Thing is, what is going on there is usually just ignorance. They are folks who haven't even seen sky without a building interrupting it, most likely. And when you go off on them, it reinforces their thoughts about Southerners. You can stand up for yourself, and make a statement as to what you think the South truly stands for without being a jerk. Take that for what it's worth, of course, which to you is probably nothing. And it's not just Southerners who get made fun of, of course you know that. You get your jokes about NASCAR and inbreeding, and I get to hear "Wyoming: where the men are men and the sheep are nervous." and jokes about how backwards and deprived we must be. (All 10 of us) None of these are particularly funny, nor even close to accurate. Would you call those kind of jokes about MY home denigrating? I would hope so, if you want to be consistent. I, however, don't want to give someone else that kind of power over me, nor do I wish to decend to their level, if they're being nasty rather than making a lame attempt at being funny.
I ran into all types in the Navy, so perhaps that gives me MY attitude. I met people from all over, and most of them were good, honorable people. LOTS of them Southerners, btw. You still ran into your racists (of all colors, btw) and they had to be dealt with, but I tell you what...no amount of sheep or cracker jokes from those buttheads were going to make me assume that someone from somewhere else in the country was some kind of bigot. Sometimes, they just had a crappy sense of humor and no imagination.
I guess that makes both of us "racists". That culture (really a subculture) is of course lucrative to youngsters ... it is one of immediate gratification, avoidance of effort, blaming "the man", glorification of drugs and violence through "artistic expression" be it hip-hop, rap, graffiti, or language... and the only real way to keep it in check is to keep it ENTIRELY out of the life of your children. I don't let it happen, and because of the way this culture has deeply permeated nearly all aspects of modern black life, avoidance is the only way to ensure it stays out. A parent can do only so much.
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