Posted on 07/22/2002 12:30:48 PM PDT by Aurelius
I occasionally get some rather rude e-mail from those with a deep-rooted Yankee mentality in regard to my little web site. Usually the writer informs me, rather contemptuously that my web site is all wet, that it stinks, that the War of Northern Aggression was really fought to preserve slavery, that I am totally in error about Abraham Lincoln, who, in the writer's opinion, is really god, and on it goes. 'Those people' never offer historical argument to back up what they say [they can't] but they are quite accomplished at ridiculing others when they, themselves, don't have a clue about the historical accuracy of anything. No doubt many of them are cultural marxists and don't even realize it. But, then, no one has ever accused those with a Yankee mentality of being over-endowed with discernment. Let me say here, that when I refer to the Yankee mindset, I am not offering a blanket condemnation of all Northern folks, else I would also condemn myself. I know lots of good Northerners who would cringe at being thought of as Yankees, and I know some Southerners who, unfortunately, fit perfectly into the Yankee mold. What I am talking about has no connection whatever with where you were born.
I got a rather nice e-mail recently from a Southern-born Yankee type who crudely informed me that "Lincoln was right and J W. Booth, and R. E. Lee and Jeff Davis and the rest of the gang were murderers who all deserved to be hanged." You can really tell that this character did his homework - what historical insight! He then went on to inform me that he was a white man born in the South but was, "thankfully educated in California." Folks, I submit, that anyone today who is thankful for having been 'educated' in California the way this man seems to have been 'educated' is just not the brightest light in the harbor. He then informed me, in his infinite wisdom that I should 'get a life' beyond my web site and 'grow a brain.' He closed his tirade with the statement that Lincoln was the last of the good Republicans, and his parting salutation was 'Long live Bill Clinton.' Usually I don't bother replying to such sanctimonious drivel, but, in this man's case I made an exception. I e-mailed him back and told him that if people such as he didn't like my web site then I must be doing something right. I suppose I should have ended my reply to him with 'Have a nice day' but, for some unknown reason, I didn't bother to.
This individual is a perfect example of the Yankee mindset - smug, self-satisfied, egotistical, and totally ensconced within a sense of their own perfect rightness in all things and on all issues. Anyone daring to disagree with them has to be berated because 'those people' have got it all figured out - after all, their 'teachers' and 'college professors' dutifully informed them that the war was all about slavery and that Lincoln freed all the slaves, and the 'history' professor wouldn't lie - would he? Lincoln must be more astute than Jesus Christ because, after all, Lincoln came along more recently on the evolutionary scale didn't he?
I have had people that checked out my web site and disagreed with something they saw on it. Often they have contacted me and have been courteous enough to voice their opinions in a civil manner. Others have offered constructive criticism, which was all right, because I took it in the spirit in which it was given. I had a black man once that read one of my articles and took exception to it, stating that he was a Christian. I contacted him back, informing him that I was also a Christian and with Christian charity, I sought to correct the misconception that he had. Once he understood where I was coming from we were able to carry on a dialogue with no bad feeling on either side. Some folks will check out the site and come back with genuine questions about something. That's fine. I answer what I can historically [unlike the Yankees, I don't claim to have all the answers about everything] and I often try to pass these folks on to someone else that knows more than I do.
But there is a certain class of Yankees - often well 'educated' that are just so superior to the rest of us 'great unwashed' that they don't even feel the need to attempt courtesy. They howl about us 'rednecks' and what we write and tell us to 'get a life' yet the sum total of their 'life' seems to be wrapped up in demeaning those who dare to disagree with their vaunted opinions.
A while back, Professor Clyde Wilson wrote an excellent article in Southern Partisan magazine called The Yankee Problem in America. In it Professor Wilson took on such Yankee paragons or 'virtue' as Ted Kennedy, the man who never learned to drive over a bridge straight, and St. Hillary Clinton of 'Cattle Futures' fame. Wilson described such people as smug, self-righteous, above the rules the rest of us live by, and completely convinced that they are right in all things - right enough that they deserve the privilege of telling the rest of us how to live - all for 'our own good' of course [and just maybe for their profit.]
There is no place in the Yankee mindset for grace, courtesy, compassion, consideration of the feelings of others, or for any of those Scriptural virtues that have graced and improved our civilization in the past. The Yankee knows only complete self-righteousness and, in that self-righteousness he exhibits a certain perverse pleasure in seeking to trample on the feelings of those who dare to disagree with his elevated opinions. In most cases, the Yankee understanding of accurate history is about an inch deep, and therefore, he becomes little more than a 'useful idiot' that the cultural Marxist professor that 'educated' him can turn loose on the world for the total benefit of the New World Order.
So, you build a mean stock car. You still don't know how to drive on snow and ice :)
Sir John Crapper of England is credited for the design and implementation of modern indoor plumbing. Restrooms/ Bathrooms are still referred to as "The John" or "The Crapper."
The first road use of asphalt occurred in 1824, when asphalt blocks were placed on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. North Carolina was the first state to connect all county seats with paved roads (in 1926) and by the mid 1930's became the first state in which all cities of more than 500 people were connected by paved roads. Then known as the good roads state.
1879 First commercial power station opens in San Francisco, uses Brush generator and arc lights.
Alright, NASCAR didnt, but the cars did.
INVENTED up North. PERFECTED down South.
As far as fresh air goes, why do I keep hearing ozone and health alerts concerning the air here in Raleigh?
That's a good question PL.
I get sick of hearing them... sounds like L.A. to me!
I would guess it's because Raleigh's air quality has been deemed unhealthy by the EPA.
Weren't they requiring oxygenated fuel in the Triangle fairly recently?
And I know that the cars are built where the racing team lives. But that wasnt the case way back in the beginning. took factory equipment and altered it here and there.
The only thing stock on race cars today is the name of the manufacturer.
And I dont watch nor care about auto racing (though i do like NHRA drag racing). So i have no idea what happened at the race this weekend. But I suspect that many viewers were hoping for more accidents. Why else watch?
And with one or two exceptions, they were from NORTHERN Europe.
;-)
What say you southerners?
I know, there are some road courses. Just busting yer balls.
I occasionally get some rather rude e-mail from those with a deep-rooted Yankee mentality in regard to my little web site.Hmmm....I wonder why? >:)=
-Eric
LOL. It is highly overrated, isn't it?
And we dont need to get into how the old south felt about Jews.Actually that's one thing they weren't too bad about. Case in point: Judah Benjamin.
-Eric
Well, this "Yankee" won't. I got the Blood, you see.
Why such the contentious attitude? What's that really worth and what does it solve? Also, if you'll be happy that the Yankees "will rot in hell," then why would you want an apology now?
That's circular reasoning.
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