This came through my feed the other day and briefly reminded me of another Gay/Confederacy mash up, which I included in a post. Don't read the post, just look at the photo, unless you're into really lengthy history discussions, then read away. But you've been warned. All of this Gay/Confederacy stuff would be hilarious, as evidenced by this and the other photo... if it weren't real. I live in Mississippi. Oh, Mississippi. According to The Sister, who has traveled abroad, Europeans really dig Mississippi and were, in the 90's, still learning about Old Dixie, as that is what people from one Scandinavian country still referred to as the old south. Eh... yeah, one shouldn't romanticize that.
But while I was of the mind set that Europe was so far advanced to the US, and I suppose in ways that they are, they certainly aren't infallible. And who can blame them as it's not their everyday. It's technically not their history. I feel like they're the grandparents and we're the obstinate and petulant teenagers. Still. But, even grandparents are all old sages. An example is that while I was participating in Postcrossing, I stopped sending postcards featuring Indigenous Americans to people in the states, because sadly they are people that white Americans hate. Geeze, I know, right? So, I send the postcards to Europe. And the Europeans had no idea who featured on the postcards. They didn't know the terms Native American or Indigenous American First Nations or specific tribal names. They really only knew of Indians of the wild, wild west hootin' and hollerin' and wearing war bonnets and smokin' em some peace pipes. I, honestly, was taken aback by that. I really had thought that Europeans would be more, I don't know... enlightened? Knowledgable? Superior? But, it doesn't surprise me since they, nor their ancestors, ever lived here (unless it was a weird circumstance and someone lived here for a small time and then went back home), so why would they really know? But regardless, they didn't really like Americans because they were loud, obnoxious and arrogant, as the people in question turned out to be from New York and Texas. Seems about right. They are kind of harsh sounding people to me as well. People in Britain figured that The Sister and her traveling companions were fellow Britains and some would badmouth Americans to them. The Scottish only wanted to know if they were English, because if so there'd be a problem. It was a pub after all and apparently those are rather sacred. The English can't come into the Scottish ones and Posh English people can't saunter up into one that's for the poorer English. They did have someone with them that was at school with them there, who was apparently too posh for that particular English pub and everyone there knew it and he said he couldn't be there. Strange. So that was a long and weird story of Europe apparently loving southerners. Apparently they even had a southern restaurant there when she went. But, if you're from the states, then more than likely my home is the bane of your existence. I can certainly understand why. The scenery is really lovely, but this far south the weather and the bugs are absolutely abhorrent. There is some lovely dialects and culture here. I'm not even focusing on only the white Mississippians. There's a lot of people here; Black Americans, Africans, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Indigenous, Indian (yes, as in from India), Chinese, Vietnamese, and all of that has changed Mississippi for the better, though it's not easy to see unless you live here. Even then you might not see this. Which is at the same time sad and also a little magical. I won't go all into why Mississippi is the bastard child of the US, but current events should explain it pretty well. Those current events are The Gay Confederacy. It's a battle that's been being waged for, well... awhile, but publicly all over the south for the past three years. Ever since The Charleston 9 were murdered. A hate crime with the Confederate Battle Flag (which isn't really THE Confederate Battle Flag, but a redesign of the Battle Flag for the Army of Northern Virginia, but we'll keep it simple and call it what everyone else is calling it, right?) at the center of the events. A call came up to do away with this flag in it's entirety as well as mementos of it within all state flags that contained it. All other states followed suit... except Mississippi. And people all over the south are holding strong to their own Confederate flags and you can pry them from their cold dead hands... as well as their guns... and apparently their "Christian" values. So, while we're the last state to have any semblance of a Confederate Battle Flag (and really that's all it is really), the fight over any Confederate flag (as well as statues "honouring" Confederate Generals) wages on. So, there's racial tensions between white people and black people as well as white towards Latino's, and it feels like we're fighting The Civil War again and the Confederacy is on the rampage, also that we're fighting Jim Crow since the KKK is swarming again. It seems like it should be funny because it seems like fantasy, but it's true. Now, add in the LGBTQ community. They're fighting for equality. To be seen as humans and have the same rights as other humans. Marry or love whom they wish, be who they want, not be fired or evicted because of who they are. Most of the "Christians" are the same who aren't ashamed of the KKK resurgence and want the Confederacy to rise again because it's "Southern Heritage", which is honestly total BS. They're also upholding their "Christian" values by hating and attacking the LGBTQ community, as well as anything else that seemingly goes against what they believe and that includes Women's Health Care... and Science. Some of these battles have moved beyond southern borders, and it's no wonder with the President and Cabinet that we currently have, or how other states want to take up arms against people who are also not white male straight christians, but the majority of these battles are all simultaneously happening in the southern us. Tell me this doesn't seem absolutely ridiculous. I feel like I'm living too many time lines at once. Time lines that really shouldn't even be crossing, but apparently in American, they can. The Spanish Inquisition comes to mind. Sure things aren't as dire certainly, but we seethingly hate your religion, doesn't that sound familiar? Or the evils of science and you'll all burn in hell for sciencing? That sounds awfully familiar too, right? Or that women are evil seductresses and pagan witches, and something to be locked away and feared. Hrmm... what fucking century am I living in again? Now lets take all of that and throw the American Civil War into it as well as the Jim Crow South and The Civil Rights Movement. All at once this hodge-podgy calamity doesn't seem like it's going to end well, or at least not devastatingly bloody in some way, because I think it will. Oh, let's throw in a bit of 1984 by good 'ol Mr. Orwell for some good measure, shall we? And just to stir things up even more lets throw in threats of Nuclear War, Terrorists, Plague, and Pedophiles. I almost forgot sex! How could I forget that, as sex sells, right? Only this sex is the permeating Rape Culture where men and boys rape girls and don't get punished because girls are lying bitches and it would ruin his football/college/medical career or life. Also sexual predators in the film industry, taking what they want from child actors, male or female, or grown women. Right, but we're not done yet. Now we have to add in the ultimate threat of... dun dun DUN!! The Gays! The Gay agenda, the abomination that is transgendered, the audacity that they want to marry or adopt kids. The horrible gay agenda and it's gay followers. Drag queens are being harassed, transgendered people are being murdered and it's a constant back and forth on rights for the LGBTQ and lack again. There are allies on all sides of these wars. The men who believe in women's rights, the Christians who believe in Science, the straight people joining forces to help the LGBTQ, the white people joining forces with anyone who is non white. The opposing team has their allies too. The KKK, the super conservatives, the super "Christians", the uneducated, the woman beaters. And people who are picking and choosing battles all willy nilly without any rhyme or reason. They hate black people, but like gay people. Or they hate women, but like black people. None of it makes any sense honestly. I see some grey area's but I'm completely on the side of Science, Women, Minorities, LGBTQ, Anti-Flag, etc. My grey area's are few, but as for the flag, I agree Mississippi needs a new flag. But I couldn't jump on board with most of their designs because they were either exact replica's of actual flags used by the south or Mississippi during the Confederacy or were pretty damn close. I also couldn't get on board with a flag that looked like Texas or a baby version of The United States of America. But, no one asked me, and now we're stuck with pushing a Baby US/Texas flag. I'll go with it, if that's our only option because it is better than what we have now for the historical and aesthetic reasons, but I won't fly it before hand. Why? Because it's ugly and was just something easily slapped together to fit in. That's not the way to do something. You do something because it's right... and you do it the right way. Don't half-ass it. And about the Confederate General Statues. They shouldn't have been erected in the first place, but it seems wasteful to tear them down and waste the stone. I think they should come down, but I think they should be recycled into something so that it's not wasteful. And Beauvoir, a historic home museum here on the Coast of Mississippi wants the one of Confederate President Jefferson Davis that New Orleans plans to demolish. Oh, they want it, because Beauvoir was the last home of Davis after the war. I have mixed feelings about this. I do believe that if you forget history that you are doomed to repeat it. I think I'm right considering most of the people fighting against science or for their "persecuted" religion or against women are uneducated and do not remember history or probably never learned it in the first place. So, Beauvoir could be a great thing. Actually being a place to talk about the slaves who built the home or the realities of The Civil War. However, it's more of an homage to Old Dixie and The Confederacy. So... if it were an actual historical place, the statue would be OK to show the history of the very misguided Confederacy and of the grieving women who had the statues of Generals and important figures erected after the war. The soldiers, nor the generals, wanted this. They hated the war and most didn't even hate it because they lost, as in The Cause, as in slavery, but because they lost loved one's and fought for something so stupid. But no one wants to talk about those grieving women fucking shit up and it's why the Confederacy is so glamourized now. But as it stands, no, Beauvoir shouldn't get it and they shouldn't be a thing anymore. I'm also for all other historic homes having guided tours, but what I don't like is that barely any mention of the enslaved happens on these tours. It's all about the grandeur that was the Old South and isn't it sad that it's all gone now? No mention of the enslaved who built those beautiful homes or the enslaved who had to clean them and attend to their owners or work in the fields that lay covered in forest land now. That really needs attending to, or really what is the purpose of touring these homes when you'll only get a white washed "history" tour.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
Categories |