The Truth About the Confederacy

[unionblue]

To All,

Was surfing the net and came across the following article on the Daily Kos blog:

The Truth About the Confederacy, by NBBooks.

You can read the above article at the following URL:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/11/966022/-The-Truth-About-the-Confederacy/?via=sidebyuserrec#

Be warned, it is a very long article, listing multiple sources.

Also you might want to know a bit about the blog itself. Check out the following on Wikipedia.

Daily Kos.


Enjoy,
Unionblue

 

[rhettbutler1865]

Thanks for the post--I feel like I'm back in college!

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

It's too long to read in entirety at the moment- have the gist, something to save for the hotel tomorrow. Must say it's always enjoyable, logging in to find UB has left something under the tree. Honestly do not mean that in an anti-' side ' way, just have to guess if one were to meet UB he'd have a twinkle in his eye.

 

[RobertP]

UB, I wouldn't have thought of you as an aficionado of The Daily Kos.

 

[CSA Today]

The Daily Kos as a source? What next— accurate history according Edward Sebesta or Kevin Levin?

 

[ole]

Being fractious and with a pressing need to go back to bed, I'll just comment:

 

[Rebel_Giratina]

Just give me the tl;dr version and I'll be happy....

 

[Al Murray]

The Daily Kos as a source? What next— accurate history according Edward Sebesta or Kevin Levin?

Aw, c'mon CSA - slap a website with an ad hominem? The KOS says outright that they paraphrase a lot from other sources. Lets not kill the messenger.

(Just messin' with ya)

Was surfing the net and came across the following article

Thanks UB for the lead.

 

[James B White]

Just give me the tl;dr version and I'll be happy....

tl;dr: Many white southerners didn't support the Confederacy.

 

[CMWinkler]

Just give me the tl;dr version and I'll be happy....

Confederacy=bad; Union=good and by extrapolation anyone not supporting ever increasing government power is a neo-Confederate waiting to take us all back to bad.

 

[Rebel_Giratina]

tl;dr: Many white southerners didn't support the Confederacy.

Well, I knew that. Just asking for a synopsis of the article from someone who read it.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

Confederacy=bad; Union=good and by extrapolation anyone not supporting ever increasing government power is a neo-Confederate waiting to take us all back to bad.

I would like a little more balance. Is The Daily Worker still around??

 

[Allie]

Well, I knew that. Just asking for a synopsis of the article from someone who read it.

They sort of lost me when they used The Free State of Jones as an example of how typical Southerners thought. It's an article about how the Confederacy were demons and anyone who says otherwise is also a demon. Some of their information is valid, but the tone is off putting.

 

[Rebel_Giratina]

They sort of lost me when they used The Free State of Jones as an example of how typical Southerners thought. It's an article about how the Confederacy were demons and anyone who says otherwise is also a demon. Some of their information is valid, but the tone is off putting.

My recent train of thought has been that the CSA were the villains in this fight. But to say they were "demons" goes *way* too far. In fact, I find many of the Confederates to be quite heroic for villains - that they lack many of the traits of traditional villains. Call them anti-villains, if you want. Indeed, the only thing that marks them as villains is their adamant support of slavery.

I don't want to see the CSA lionized - there's been too much of that. But neither should we fall into the trap of demonizing them instead. It's time to make history's villains human again - because that's what they were.

 

[unionblue]

UB, I wouldn't have thought of you as an aficionado of The Daily Kos.

RobertP,

And this detracts from the article how?

My reading habits are not restricted to one source. I read what interests me, no matter what the source.

Sometimes my search for Civil War history leads me all over the place, the internet included. The tricky part is evaluating the source of such finds.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

Confederacy=bad; Union=good and by extrapolation anyone not supporting ever increasing government power is a neo-Confederate waiting to take us all back to bad.

Confederacy=not perfect; Union=not perfect and by extrapolation anyway you wish to read the article.

 

[KeyserSoze]

The Daily Kos as a source? What next— accurate history according Edward Sebesta or Kevin Levin?

Or Clyde Wilson?

 

[CMWinkler]

Confederacy=not perfect; Union=not perfect and by extrapolation anyway you wish to read the article.

Really, Union? "Wrong wingers?" "Sounds a lot like conservatives today, doesn't it?" "Today, conservatives and neo-confederates would have us believe that Richmond, which became the capital of the Confederacy, was entirely pro-Confederate, with dashing Southern ladies who delighted in uncovering and turning in Union spies."

"Every now and then, some deranged wrong-wing neo-Confederate will attempt to retail the myth about how much slaves and slave-holders loved each other. According to this myth, the slave-holders took a paternalistic interest in their slaves, and the slaves happily returned the filial love."

Now let me repeat the Cliff Notes version of this article are: Confederate=bad; Union=good, and and by extrapolation anyone not supporting ever increasing government power is a neo-Confederate waiting to take us all back to bad.


Now, some of the history in the article is good. The problem from my perspective is that the history is then used to propagandize as I stated.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

Confederacy=not perfect; Union=not perfect and by extrapolation anyway you wish to read the article.

An immutable truth. I am gratified that you took my post as intended. As a fellow Sherman afficianado I had no doubt. Please do me the honor of taking a sip for me when firing the candles this evening.

 

[CSA Today]

Or Clyde Wilson?

Or Brooklyn born Eugene Genovese after he discovered religion?

"To speak positively about any part of the Southern tradition is to invite charges of being a racist and an apologist for slavery and segregation. We are witnessing a cultural and political atrocity - an increasingly successful campaign by the media and an academic elite to strip young white Southerners ... of their heritage, and, therefore, of their identity. They are being taught to forget their forebears or to remember them with shame. Still, we may doubt that many young Southerners believe that Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, John C. Calhoun and James Henley Thornwell, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were other than admirable men. It is one thing to silence people, another to convince them. And to silence them on matters central to their self-respect and dignity is to play a dangerous game - to build up in their harsh resentments that, sooner or later, are likely to explode and bring out their worst."

Eugene Genovese

"Certainly, I am devoted to the sentiment expressed in the bumper
sticker, Get your heart in Dixie or get you're a** out!"

Eugene Genovese