Confederate Colonel

So often, Southerners are admonished to avoid stereotyping people. That’s a nice way for them to say, “quit being such intolerant bigots.” Let’s take a look at the other side of stereotyping - that is, stereotyping ourselves by saying, “this is what a ‘True Southerner’ is.”

Here is a quote from a rabidly anti-Southern web site that is quoting from a book that purportedly takes a pro-Southern view:

Chronicles magazine, in the March 1989 issue, has an article by Grady McWhiney titled, “The Celtic Heritage of the Old South” (McWhiney 1989). The article is introduced with a drawing of a man somewhat horizontal, pouring what I assume is beer into his mouth with some of it running down his face onto the ground. He is in a field with a couple cows looking on. McWhiney starts his article by stating his view that Southerner and Northerners are culturally divided and “such cultural disharmony has divided the South from the North for more than three hundred years.” McWhiney believes the South was settled by various Celtic groups and the North from the English lowlands resulting in “fundamental and lasting divisions” and eventually, he explains, the American Civil War (McWhiney 1989, Chronicles, p. 12) .

McWhiney explains what Celtic culture is by contrasting it to what he feels is English culture. Often he contrasts two paired groups, that of Celts and Southerners versus that of English and Yankees (McWhiney 1989, Chronicles, p. 13).

Unlike Yankees and Englishmen, who were compulsive plowers and often obsessed with agricultural improvements, Celts and Southerners, cultivated crops reluctantly and haphazardly.

Celts and Southerners, whose values were more agrarian than those of Englishmen and Yankees, wasted more time, rarely read or wrote, consumed more liquor and tobacco, and were less concerned with the useful and material.

McWhiney characterizes Celts and Southerners as a pastoral group that likes gambling, drinking, “raucous music,” dancing, hunting, fishing, horse and dog racing. The Celts and Southerners lack ambition, are lazy, and avoid work because they are not materialistic. If these qualities do not sound good, McWhiney becomes a multiculturalist and says they are good in the values of Celtic civilization. The English and Yankees are repeatedly described as censorious and intolerant of Celtic culture. However, McWhiney wishes the reader to know that “when outsiders supply the discipline and constancy, Celts are capable of mighty achievements as British history has shown” (McWhiney 1989, Chronicles, p. 15) With friends like this, who needs enemies?

How often have we, as Southerners, embraced our Celtic heritage lock, stock, and barrel without understanding that people and cultures change over time? Yes, many of our ancestors came here from Scotland, and yes, there is almost always a factual basis for stereotypes of groups of people, but there is more to it than that.

People and cultures are influenced and changed by their surroundings. Dixie is very different from Scotland. The weather is different, the terrain is different, the government is different, the religious environment is different, the economic system is different, etc. The early Celts were Pagans - I am a Bible-believing Born-again Baptist. That is a very fundamental difference that has a huge effect on just about every part of life. The economic system here in America presents individuals an incredible opportunity that simply was not available in the Scottish Highlands of a couple centuries ago. We could go on and on with examples.

We need to be very careful about claiming to have a “Celtic culture” or any other type of culture. We have a Southern culture - and there is a huge variation in what constitutes that. As much as I dislike it, the “Redneck” has as much claim on being “Southern” as the Southern Gentleman. I have seen Southerners boasting about having “the finest whiskey” and loving to party, and listening to nothing but country music. I cannot deny their claim to being true Southerners, but they are very different from me - a non-drinker who prefers a church fellowship to wild parties, and enjoys classical music.

We need to remember that while we here at Confederate Colonel hold the Southern Gentleman, as exemplified by Robert E. Lee, as the pinnacle of Southern Culture, there are others who legitimately claim something very different as being “Southern culture”.

Before agreeing that we embrace “Southern culture”, we need to understand exactly what the other person means by “Southern culture”. Don’t fall into the trap of having to defend a Southern culture that does not reflect you.

Mr. Mike Tuggle wrote an excellent response to my previous post regarding the League of The South. While I do not agree with his analysis and conclusion, it was well-written and explains the reasoning that I am opposed to. His reply is too important to possibly be missed in the comments section, so I am posting his full reply here, along with my own further comments. Be sure to read his related blog post on Dixienet.org.

You and I clearly agree on the goal for any real and meaningful Southern activism, and that is to preserve our culture and protect our people.

What is threatening them? It’s an out-of-control Federal government, an alien, occupying force that’s assaulting basic Constitutional rights, brainwashing our young people into abject self-hatred, and engineering a demographic revolution — all while robbing us of our tax dollars and undermining our economic security. Those are the things that are destroying our culture, and they all stem from the same rotten source, the District of Corruption.

The Southern people are remarkably resilient, and are capable of restoring their culture to vitality to where it can again become self-sustaining.

But before the wound can begin to heal, we have to remove the foreign body that is harming it. Just like the American secessionists of 1776, and the Confederate leaders of 1860-61, we must energize our people with a clear message that wakes them up to what’s being done to them, and organize them to action.

In other words, we must organize politically. Once we have restored real self-government, and can then work for our values and our goals, rather than for the enrichment of a globalist elite, our culture will self-heal and self-organize around the existing elements that are still alive and fighting.

Your clear-headed analysis tells me you’re someone we need on our side. I hope this response shows our sincerity and commitment to reach out to you and others like you with similar questions.

Perhaps some background about how I came to my conclusion about how the political process fits with this would help: When I was a candidate for political office (a county-wide office in 1992), I truly believed that if I could only get my message out to the voters, they would see that clearly I had the best, most honorable, most logical plan and background for the office. This was my first real taste of real world politics. I had been involved in various political campaigns before, starting as a college student with the Nixon re-election campaign in 1972, but I had never been a part of the strategic decision-making process of a campaign.

I learned a lot during that campaign, and I was able to apply it a few years later when I was on the campaign staff of a first-time challenger for state representative (we won, and we also won the re-election campaign two years later). Several other campaigns (always working for other candidates), holding office in the local Republican organization, and having spent the past 14 years with my own business selling software and data services to candidates, lobbyists, and PACs, has shown me that the voters are anything BUT logical. You have to reach them on an emotional level if you are going to get their attention and their vote. That’s the science behind sound-bites; that’s the science of propaganda. One’s cultural roots are one of the deepest emotional parts of the thought process (only things such as direct family can routinely be classed as being deeper). If you can appeal directly to cultural “hooks”, then you can attach your own political agenda to those hooks - and you then have that vote. A certain German dictator rose to power in the 1930’s by being an absolute master of that strategy.

The key to any political campaign (or advertising campaign or anything else that tries to influence large groups of people) is very much like planting a garden. Success depends on well prepared soil where the seeds will find water and nourishment and a lack of pests. If you sow your seeds on dry, rocky ground, the crop is going to fail. Politicians manage this by finding that good ground (saying whatever people want to hear) rather than taking the time to prepare that good ground and turning it into fertile soil. Continuing the garden analogy, we do not have that luxury - there is simply not a large enough “field” available, so we have to do the long hard work of turning poor soil into good soil. That is the core strategy that I am pursuing.

This is how issues like this are sorted out by gentlemen. Ideas are exchanged in a logical and reasonable manner. Sometimes minds are changed and sometimes they are not. I haven’t changed my mind and I am pretty sure that Mr. Tuggle has not changed his either. While we are both working toward the same goal, we are each taking a different path to get there. I think mine is better, and he thinks his is better. May God make both of us right.

When I first read about the Southern League (later changed to League of The South), I was excited about what I was reading - an organization dedicated to preserving Southern culture. I was excited about the concept of “Hedge Schools” and gave a lot of thought to how that might work and spread throughout The South. I went to a local meeting made up mostly of men in my SCV camp to discuss the possibility of creating a local Southern League group. At the time, I was already over-committed to other projects, so I put that on the “back burner” for a bit. The name changed to League of The South (LoS) due to a trademark issue with a sports league. I continued to receive the email newsletter and follow LoS publications. At some point, the focus changed.

I read a League of The South report about a national LoS meeting. In that report, they made a very clear statement that the goal of the LoS is to be the establishment of a new Confederacy. The statement was framed in such a way as to make it clear that there was some sort of internal struggle within the organization about this and that the new goals of the LoS would now focus on a political outcome rather than a cultural outcome. They were seriously aiming at a new secession movement that would reinstitute a new Southern nation. I certainly have no problem with that if it were possible to wave a magic wand and completely change the demographics and the social and cultural and political makeup of the Southern states. Not having access to such a magic wand, we are left with having to deal with the reality of the current situation - here, now, today. Having stated my reasoning in detail in other posts, I won’t try to repeat it here, but I will repeat what I believe to be the key point - Nothing changes until the culture changes.

The culture must change before any major political changes are attempted. Most political “leaders” are leaders only because they see which way the crowd is going and then run ahead to the front of the line and claim to be “leaders”. A leader who tries to gain and hold power without first shaping the culture to match his objectives is doomed to eventual failure. That is why the “Reagan Revolution” is now just a footnote in history - the culture was not there to support his leadership, great as it was.

You might ask, “What is the problem with having political power as a goal?” One problem is that you attract the wrong kind of people to leadership positions. Before we go any farther, let me make it clear that I am NOT referring to any specific persons in the LoS. I have no reason to believe that the leaders of LoS are anything but honorable men. In fact, other than Dr. Hill, I can’t name a single person in a leadership position in LoS. However, by making LoS into primarily a political movement, they are more likely to attract those who are willing to try to take the shortcut and go directly to political efforts without first doing the long hard work of trying to change the culture.

Let me offer a specific example of what happens when an organization - in this case, the LoS - gets into the political business rather than first working on the culture. Several years ago, I received a phone call from a field agent with the FBI (from a field office on the west coast of Florida). It’s a long story of how that phone call came about, but that’s not the point here. They wanted to know what this organization was all about - was it a potential terrorist group? Was it a harmless group that had or could be taken over by hot heads (or, unmentioned, by agents provocateur)? The reason that I was willing to talk with them was to try to put their minds at ease that, to the best of my knowledge, they were completely open, honest, and harmless; on the other hand, in my own mind, I had to wonder about the possibility of a rogue group within LoS that could truly be someone to worry about. It turns out that the reason they popped up on the FBI’s radar screen was a naive attempt to tell the FBI that they were NOT anything to worry about. Before that contact, the FBI (or at least this particular field office) had never heard of the LoS.

What is the point of bringing that incident up? Simple - at a time when the government is looking for boogymen behind every bush and tree (calling them “homegrown terrorists”), a group with the stated objective of secession is painting a big target on themselves. We have to ask, “to what point?” That is pointless, self-destructive behavior - unless that organization exists to gain a perceived future political power by being at the head of the line should some “black swan” event occur that would make secession possible.

Let me say again - Nothing changes until the culture changes. Without a culture change that would make a large portion of the population actively support a revival of the Old South, the only way to effect such a political change would be to do so by force. That would be absolutely intolerable - something that no Southern Gentleman could ever stand for. That takes us back to the need for the LoS to return to their founding purpose - a sharp focus on restoring Southern culture. It takes time and effort and determination and generations of time, but it is the only way for an honorable return to the traditions and ideals of the Old South - and the traditions and ideals of America’s Founding Fathers.

I firmly believe that the League of The South is an honorable organization founded and headed by honorable men who have simply lost sight of the larger goals. It is my sincere hope that the LoS will realize this and make a clear shift to focus exclusively on building Southern culture in the certain knowledge that, if successful, political change will follow cultural change. They need not seek political leadership of the people - if the LoS is successful in rebuilding Southern culture, the people will look to those who lead the cultural revival for leadership.

In 1852, John Henry Newman gave a series of lectures in Ireland titled “The Idea of a University”. In one of these lectures, he gave this definition of a Gentleman. It is a good one.

Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself.

His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them.

The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast — all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home.

He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring.

He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best.

He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp saying for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.

He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.

If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive. Nowhere shall we find greater candor, consideration, indulgence: he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province and its limits.

Along with Robert E. Lee’s classic Definition of a Gentleman, this is well worth the time to read, study, and contemplate.

Following our previous post on The Qualities of a Gentleman, here is The Qualities of a Lady from The Victorian Station web site:

A lady should be quiet in her manners, natural and unassuming in her language, careful to wound no one’s feelings, but giving generously and freely from the treasures of her pure mind to her friends. Scorning no one openly, she should feel gentle pity for the unfortunate, the inferior and the ignorant, at the same time carrying herself with an innocence and single heartedness which disarms ill nature, and wins respect and love from all.

The Victorian Station web site is well worth a visit for more great reading.

This listing of The Qualities of a Gentleman are from The Victorian Station web site.

He acts kindly from the impulse of his kind heart.

He is brave, because, with a conscience void of offence, he has nothing to fear.

He is never embarrassed, for he respects himself and is profoundly conscious of right intentions.

He keeps his honor unstained, and to retain the good opinion of others he neglects no civility.

He respects even the prejudices of men whom he believes are honest.

He opposes without bitterness and yields without admitting defeat.

He is never arrogant, never weak.

He bears himself with dignity, but never haughtily.

Too wise to despise trifles, he is too noble to be mastered by them.

To superiors he is respectful without servility; to equals courteous; to inferiors’ kind.

He carries himself with grace in all places, is easy but never familiar, genteel without affection.

He unites gentleness of manner with firmness of mind.

He commands with mild authority, and asks favors with grace and assurance.

The Victorian Station web site has plenty of good information be sure to visit their site.

On Wednesday, April 1, Michael Moore - that darling of the far left - had this to say in his blog about the firing of the head of General Motors (emphasis mine):

Nothing like it has ever happened. The President of the United States, the elected representative of the people, has just told the head of General Motors — a company that’s spent more years at #1 on the Fortune 500 list than anyone else — “You’re fired!”

I simply can’t believe it. This stunning, unprecedented action has left me speechless for the past two days. I keep saying, “Did Obama really fire the chairman of General Motors? The wealthiest and most powerful corporation of the 20th century? Can he do that? Really? Well, [deleted by me]! What else can he do?!”

This bold move has sent the heads of corporate America spinning and spewing pea soup. Obama has issued this edict: The government of, by, and for the people is in charge here, not big business. John McCain got it. On the floor of the Senate he asked, “What does this signal send to other corporations and financial institutions about whether the federal government will fire them as well?” Senator Bob Corker said it “should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise.” The stock market plunged as the masters of the universe asked themselves, “Am I next?” And they whispered to each other, “What are we going to do about this Obama?”

Not much, fellows. He has the massive will of the American people behind him — and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week’s all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned.

It has often been noted that democracy is just a nice word for mob rule. This incident just proves that to be fact. Let’s look at a few of Mr. Moore’s statements:

“Nothing like it has ever happened.”
The reason that “nothing like it has ever happened” is that up until now, politicians used to at least pretend that this was a nation of law and not of tyranny. They pretended that The Constitution truly was the supreme law of the land and they were seldom bold enough to openly defy it.

“What else can he do?”
As long as those who worship Hussein Obama as some sort of Christ figure maintain a political majority, I suppose he can pretty much do anything he wants to do. Hitler was able to keep a lid on his opposition in his own country. Obama has managed to completely stonewall all investigations and lawsuits aimed at simply determining if he meets the Constitutional requirements for president. I see very little in the way for him to assume complete dictatorial power.

“He has the massive will of the American people behind him — and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit.”
This pretty well sums it up. This is the working definition of mob rule.

Goodbye America. The destruction of this nation began in earnest in 1865, and we are now seeing its culmination. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. While I do not support the Southern Nationalism movement (for various reasons), the number of good alternatives continues to shrink.

Confederate Colonel forum is giving away an autographed copy of Lisa Meyer’s latest CD - Voices Hushed and Still. In keeping with the Confederate Colonel tagline of “The New Life of The Old South”, Lisa’s music combines the best of traditional Southern songs with the fresh clear sound of today. So much of what is labeled “Southern” music sounds as though it was recorded back in the 1860’s. The South did not die or cease to exist in 1865 and neither did her music. Lisa Meyer’s music is the kind of smooth clear music that I can listen to for hours and never get tired of.

Laura and I bought our own copy of Voices Hushed and Still a week or so back and we have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it through our office music system. My all-time favorite recording artist is Loreena McKennitt - a celtic singer with the clearest, most beautiful voice I have ever heard. Lisa Meyer’s voice could easily be mistaken for McKennitt - it is that beautiful!

How To Enter

1. If you are not already, become a registered member of the Confederate Colonel forum.
2. Post to the “Lisa Meyer CD Giveaway” thread no later than April 15, 2009. Please do not post more than once in this thread - additional posts will be deleted! If you have questions about this, please use the separate “Questions and Comments” thread.
3. We will select one post from the thread by using the Random.org random number generator to select a post number. We will post the winner and contact him or her by the email address used during the forum registration.
4. Every member here (except for Colonel and The Colonel’s Wife) is eligible to win.
5. The CD is sitting here on my desk and will be sent directly to the winner by Priority Mail.

When posting to the thread, be sure to first listen to the sample clips of Voices Hushed and Still, then comment on the music on this thread.

In case you aren’t the winner of this giveaway (and we have more giveaways to come), be sure to go to her web site and order your own copy. I am sure you’ll enjoy it as much as we enjoy our copy.

I know you understand that the more people who enter, the less your chance is of winning, but let’s look at the bigger picture: The more people who enter these giveaways, the easier it is to attract high quality giveaway items like we have so far. We have in mind some great items, but we need to have really good participation in these before we approach the companies and artists about donating an item for a giveaway. Also while I’m at it, remember that those who donate are doing so hoping that their own sales will increase from the exposure they get from the giveaways. Please be sure to check the web site of the giveaway items and give your business to those who support The South.

Please be sure to spread the word about this giveaway at other forums you participate in, on blogs, and anywhere else you can think of to let folks know about this great giveaway!

“Do you think you’re better than other folks?” How many times have we heard this or something similar when discussing our decision to hold to higher standards? Whether the topic is Southern Gentlemen or Christianity, there will always be the egalitarians who insist that higher standards equals snobbishness. To that question, my reply is, “Do you think that you are no better than some crack dealer or serial killer or sadistic rapist or child molester?” At this point, they must either agree that some people are indeed, better than others - or they testify that they are so morally bankrupt that there simply is no hope for reasoned discussion with them.

It is important to note that we are comparing people on man’s terms - not God’s terms. We are all sinners destined for an eternity in Hell without trusting in Jesus. Jesus died for all of us, so in that regard, we are all equally vile and in need of salvation. What we are talking about here though, is ranking people in terms of whether they are givers or takers; whether their presence means society is better or worse off.

Genuine humility is an important quality of the Southern Gentleman and of those who follow Jesus, so we need to make sure that we never give anyone reason to accuse us of such bad behavior.

Egalitarianism is one of the symptoms of socialism, and as this country descends deeper into socialism, it is bound to become more prevalent. What used to be commonly held beliefs are now seen as class snobbery. Don’t let the moral bankruptcy of egalitarianism and political correctness hold sway over your life. Have the courage to stand up to those who would claim that “everyone is equal” when they clearly are not.

They find this offensive??

This past Saturday, my wife and I were part of 116 Bible Believers who walked a five mile stretch of Orange City, Florida. We carried signs proclaiming the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. While the vast majority of the feedback we got was very positive (lots of horns honking, thumbs up, waves, and that sort of thing), it still amazes me that a group of Christians quietly walking along the road carrying signs could prompt someone to give an obscene gesture as they drive by. I can understand the guy who yelled, “He’s just a dead Jew.” That’s his opinion and, presumably, he is trying to “educate” us in the same way that we are trying to educate him. But to display outright hostility as though we were somehow directly attacking him? That, I simply do not understand.

I guess that is just to be expected when that many people are involved. There is bound to be at least one person who feels called to such incivility. I wish I could just ignore that and focus on all the encouragement we got during that afternoon. That kind of refocusing is just something I need to work on.

I wonder if the guy with the middle finger gesture has any idea that he ended up encouraging me with the knowledge that at least he read and paid attention to the message. I pray that before he dies, he will understand the gravity of his action, repent, and be saved.