I come from an old white Southern family with roots in the US going back to the 1800s. I have ancestors who owned slaves and who were Confederate officers. I was raised in about as core-cultural South as you can get, Charleston, SC(also Colbert's hometown). I left it at 18 and didn't look back. When I visited again 5 years ago, I remember getting into an argument over the Confederate flag. I was of the opinion it should be destroyed. The others weren't. They were going on and on about "heritage," which along with "state's rights" is the totem they have always, and will always, use to defend the indefensible.

The twist? None of the others had even been BORN there, not had their parents. I was the only one for whom "heritage" could even be a concern and I was against it.

This is the kind of place it is: people take on these myths if they live there and see everything through that filter.

I'm sorry, you're wrong. White southerners are stubborn and see things just the way they want, and if you live there, it's reinforced constantly. I don't know if you can call it stupid, or deranged, but it's a source of pride to them to be this way and they will not let it go. It's conscious. They WANT to think like this because it distinguishes them from the country. Because otherwise they're just a poor part of the country not much better than a resort for the rich to vacation and golf in.

If that means acting "deranged," well, they take pride in annoying the rest of us. That hasn't changed in my 40 years of life and won't anytime soon.

You simply do not understand Southerners. "Reason" is besides the point. They have DECIDED to be this way and are very happy with it. Other places have their own equivalents, like how Seattle hates newcomers, or how LA sneers at the whole country. This is theirs.

Though when it's convenient they'll call themselves "real Americans," Southerners who strongly identify as Southerners actually don't think of the South as part of America. They cling to the Confederate myth and consider themselves occupied territory that stays with the US as long as it doesn't piss them off.

That, plus the fact that it's in the interests of the feudally-powerful rich in the South to keep the poor distracted with said myth, is why they don't change, and why they won't. You can't reason with that. The romance of the idea is too important to them.

Again, this is coming from someone raised in the heart of this.

...of which Lind is part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_America_Foundation#Controversy

They think the Iranian election was fair. I think that's all we need to know about Lind's probable credibility.

You give in completely, and give them whatever they want, and change nothing about the way they live.

Ever see on WONDER SHOWZEN the "Boogie Woogie" bunch? Remember Grumpy Boogie, who stands his ground till the rest get rid of the black one? That's the South.

There's no reasoning with them. There's only placating or ignoring.

Really? No, I'm sorry, you're wrong. The South is not homogenous, true. But it doesn't matter--the "crazies" make the sane ones either shut up or force them out. The latter is what happened to me.

The sane want to talk. The crazies want to shout. Which gets heard? Therefore, which ends up mattering?

And Texas is not a good example to help your point. What would the rest of Texas do with Austin if it could? My friends in Austin tell me they'd wipe it off the map.

When Reagan bombed Libya, my high school announced the news right in the middle of my Latin class over the PA.

There was universal cheering. Especially at the mention his infant daughter had been killed. (These are pro-lifers we're talking about)

That's the kind of place it is, where that reaction is normal.

...and openly fantasizes about and calls for the intimidation and murder of the other side is the one that needs to justify themselves.

That's not my side, pal.

Hey, I lived in Chicago for twelve years altogether, one of the most socially segregated cities in America. I live in Washington state, where there are more supremacist groups nearby than any other part of the country. I know racism is not the exclusive property of Southern whites.

But the South is the cultural heart of it. It's the place where those attitudes, oppositional or fringe in most of the rest of the US, are a part of the mainstream political culture.

That's what makes it different. Supremacist groups up here talk about taking over the state and seceding. By force. They don't expect to win elections, and don't try to. In the South, it's the GOVERNORS who will talk of secession. That's a big difference.