Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): More "Lost Cause" Mythology . It's amazing how Hollywood and the publishing industry have bent their knees to Secession mythology, from Birth of a Nation to the present example of melodramatic falsification. This is a very dull, shapeless, stilted movie. I wouldn't bother to denounce it on artistic grounds, but since it is above all a piece of propaganda, I'm compelled to condemn it as history. What it presents is the "War between the States" version of the Civil War, in which the gallant Southerners defend their homes,their beloved hills and dales, their cultured lives from the inexplicable invasion of the rude hordes of the North. There are only two Black characters, both sentimentally loyal to their Southernness and their masters; otherwise, slavery is beside the point. The generalship of Lee and Jackson, of course, is idolized, while the Northern officers above the rank of colonel are portrayed as fools. The battle scenes are perfectly predictable; guys charge on foot, other guys shoot, the fields are littered with bodies. Wouldn't a little exposition of the logistics of those battle been more interesting? How real is it to show only one train, and that Southern, in a war won more by transportation than by musketry? If you are a believer in the myth of the Lost Cause and the justice of Secession, if you have ever cottoned to the notion that the War wasn't really about slavery, then I challenge you honor! I defy you to read just one heavy, scholarly book, Arguing About Slavery by William Lee Miller, a professor at the University of Virginia. It retells the debates that occurred in the House of Representatives, over slavery, in the 1830s, twenty-five years before the election of Lincoln. The uncompromising sectional hatred expressed in those debates will surely convince you that the Civil War had deeper roots than you thought, and that slavery Was indeed the central issue for both sides, Blue and Grey
Output (English): NEG