Hollywood's War Against the South

Lewrockwell.com ^ | 2-18-2 | Franklin Harris

[Magician]

To hell with PC moviemaking. We need a modern update of "Tobacco Road". And maybe some more Amos and Andy segments.

[phasma proeliator]

How bout some pics of some beautiful southern "bells"?

[Aurelius]

For a somewhat contrasting view see:

THIS

[murdoog]

see, for instance, Spike Lee’s film "Jungle Fever"

I don't much care for Mr. Lee's politics, but I have to give him credit for making films where there are racists that DON'T have southern accents.

[rebelyell]

That's why we're fightin' this war, men! Deo vindice!

[Savage Beast]

Cliches, stereotypes, and propaganda are soooooooo boring! The ring of truth is sooooooooooooooooooooooo refreshing!

[FormerLib]

Remind you of any Southern Belles in your neck of the woods.

[DentsRun]

One thing I've never understood is why so many people who grew up in the north (as I did) always thought that Abraham Lincoln was a great president "because he held the union together." It always seemed to me that if a state voluntarily joined the union it ought to be able to voluntarily leave the union too, no questions asked.

I mean, what is the moral justification for keeping the southern states in the union against their will? I asked a teacher that once and she said that Lincoln's successful prosecution of the civil war allowed us to remain a big strong nation rather than two small weak ones. I don't disagree but that's hardly a moral argument. More recently I was arguing with a former friend on the same issue. His answer was that at the time of the American revolution the ability of democracy to survive was not established. So to prove a point, forcing states to stay in a union against their will was justified.

And that brings up my final point. What's so great about democracy in the first place? It's still tyranny of the majority. Might makes right. Domination of the numerous over the few. It's one thing to agree with Winston Churchill that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest. It's another to pretend that all democracies are shining cities on a hill.

[RobbyS]

"You can insult Southerners with impunity, while everyone else is off limits."

Nope, Catholics, too. As I am both, I am constantly offended.

[FormerLib]

I believe you've touched on the reason why so much of the current teaching on the Civil War portrays it as only being about slavery. When opposing something such as that, you've already got all of the moral justification that you need. That the explanation is not 100% accurate doesn't trouble most education school grads.

[maxwell]

Hey, why'd this thread disappear earlier? Good article, Magician.

[Aurelius]

I believe I am in 100% agreement with you. As to why people believe what they do. I think Abraham Lincoln has been sanctified and democracy as a form of government made holy in most of the American people's minds. This is a result, I believe, of a deliberate effort. People so-affected, even if they have capacity for analytical thought, don't bring it to bear on these topics. In Lincoln's case I think this apotheosis, as it has been called, was seen as a necessity precisely to try to prevent the people from thinking seriously about the murderous and destructive war that he had brought about. Ignoring civilian deaths it cost the life of roughly one man in every 25. And everything possible had to be done to see that as few people as possible seriously asked themselves the question: was the preservation of the Union worth this, let alone, would it have been right to do it forcibly even if it could have been done with much less loss of life and destruction of property?

[Aurelius]

It is also intrutive to look at the casuistic moral gymnastics gone through to justify our alliance with Stalin against Hitler. (Please don't think I am sugesting we should have instead allied with Hitler against Stalin.)

[Malcolm]

After such shows as the "Beverly Hillbillies," "the Dukes of Hazard," etc., one gives up on any honest portrayal of the South via Hollywood. Do non-Southerners REALLY think that the vast majority of Southerners speak, act, and think like Uncle Jed or Boss Hog? If you do, you’re calling the wrong people “ignorant.” Most of the Metro Areas of Southern cities are as advanced and educated as any in the rest of the nation. I'm not the kind of Southerner that lauds Civil War era culture (that war was the biggest mistake Southerners ever committed) but at the same time I admire and prefer present day Southern culture far more than any other area of the nation. As far as Hollywood, don't expect anything other than outright misrepresentation of our region. Don't forget, the rest or the nation holds these incorrect, self-serving views, and they certainly don't object to the "hick" portrayals of the South that Hollywood keeps churning out, despite their earnest pleas that the media industry, in every other instance, accurately, factually, and without bias, deliver their product to the people…..

[Red Jones]

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