From: mcconnel@b11.b11.ingr.com (Guy McConnell)
Subject: Re: Mr. Walker's comments about welfare in Ms. and Ala.
Reply-To: mcconnel@b11.b11.ingr.com (Guy McConnell)
Organization: Intergraph Corp. Huntsville, AL
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:08:33 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.211350.14579@morrow.stanford.edu>
silva@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Holly Silva) eloquently writes:
>
>	The _habit_ of choosing to cite the South in a rebuttal to
>an ultra-nationalist post is so ingrained in you folks. If I were
>to engage in the same facile and ill-founded categorization of 
>Ireland on a regular basis in my postings, you would be up in
>arms. Up in arms....despite the fact that deep, ingrained societal
>inequities and pathologies are as common in Ireland as they are in
>the Deep South of the US.
>	The Deep South and Ireland are strikingly similar in some
>particulars of the social problems which beset them. Both regions
>have long-term moribund economies which have not yet adequately
>switched over from agriculture (sharecropping) to modern light industry.
>Both societies are beset by nepotism; in places where jobs are
>so scarce, and family ties so strong, this is almost inevitable.

    The parallels are indeed striking but not so far-fetched as many
would imagine due to the fact that much of the south was settled by
Celtic immigrants.  A large portion of our culture hails directly to
Celtic customs.  The fact that much (most) of the Deep South has had
trouble switching to the more modern industry stems directly from
the "Reconstruction" following The War of Northern Aggression.  The
South has been the bastard child of the U.S. and, apparently, a
large part of the world (due in no small part to which region shapes
the views of the U.S. that are exported *from* the U.S.) ever since.
There are indeed pockets of ignorance all over the South but these
extend outside the region, through the entire country, and indeed
around the world.  Ignorance and fear are not only dangerous, but
deadly because of the way in which they can be used to shape
people's ideas.  This is the tool of many "movements" as well as
many of the fundamentalist religions.  This is also the root of many
of the beliefs held about The South as a whole.

>	That's because you're the sort of bloody asshole who refuses to
>appreciate or understand a Southern woman's tendency to sweeten every-
>thing she says, particularly when what she says might be controversial.
>Well, you may have to put up with me then. I turned in my union card
>at the New Orleans Southern Belle Local 666 quite a few years ago now.

    Holly, this is one of the most mournful casualties of the
constant misunderstandings about The South.  The courtesy and
gentility of the Old South slowly, but inevitably, erodes with
exposure to the abrasive treatment and ideas from those who cannot
seperate reality from long-held misconceptions.

--
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Guy D. McConnell, Intergraph Corp.|        |All that is gold does not
Huntsville, AL.  35894-0001       | These  |glitter, not all those who
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Computer and Storage Technology   |are mine|that is strong does not
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 205-730-6289   FAX  205-730-6011 |        |                J.R.R.T.
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