[SSJunkie68-69]

Here's something I came across written by Paul Walden in his writings on " The Dixie Bonus". Interesting take on things and thought I would pass it along as it is a Different Point of View.......


For real, y'all



"Southern-ness ... is supposed to be a marker of 'authenticity.' People who are from the South are genuine, forthright, the kind of folks you'd like to have a beer with, while if you come from somewhere else, chances are you're a big phony. Witness Fred Thompson. ... Southerners are always taking offense at people who supposedly look down on them, but to someone who was raised in the Northeast, the idea that Southerners are inherently more 'real,' and more American, than the rest of us is deeply insulting.



"Of course, this is part of a whole complex of stereotypes about what and who is really American. And nobody embraces them more than the liberal northeastern elitists in the media. As far as they're concerned, the South is more American than the Northeast or the West, small towns are more American than big cities, country music is more American than folk or jazz or hip-hop, NASCAR is more American than basketball, and so on. The fact that those media Brahmins themselves don't live in small towns or listen to country music or watch NASCAR is precisely what feeds their idealized view of what a 'real' American is, and what his beliefs and tastes are."