Difference between revisions of "471A3--Week 12 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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(New page: One of the most interesting people Horwitz meets - and certainly one of the most provocative - was Walt, the cable-box repairing, Star Trek-loving, anti-Semitic vegetarian. Walt's extremi...) |
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One of the most interesting people Horwitz meets - and certainly one of the most provocative - was Walt, the cable-box repairing, Star Trek-loving, anti-Semitic vegetarian. Walt's extremism and white supremacist ideas evolved out of the tumultuous politics of the 1960s and a lack of faith in government. For Walt, the Confederacy represented subjected peoples around the world and he fit them into an obsessive, self-deduced picture of the conspiracies that run the world. Naturally, Walt is a crazy person, but does this progression from the unrest of the 1960s to a neoconfederate position have some kind of linear path? --Erin B. | One of the most interesting people Horwitz meets - and certainly one of the most provocative - was Walt, the cable-box repairing, Star Trek-loving, anti-Semitic vegetarian. Walt's extremism and white supremacist ideas evolved out of the tumultuous politics of the 1960s and a lack of faith in government. For Walt, the Confederacy represented subjected peoples around the world and he fit them into an obsessive, self-deduced picture of the conspiracies that run the world. Naturally, Walt is a crazy person, but does this progression from the unrest of the 1960s to a neoconfederate position have some kind of linear path? --Erin B. | ||
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| + | How does the grandson of a Russian Jew from "between Minsk and Pinsk" get interested in the Confederacy? R.King | ||
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| + | On page 149 Shelby Foote talks about the "difference between North and South", is this 'difference' why the South still clings to the memory of the Civil War and believes such a distorted history of the event? R. King | ||
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| + | While Horwitz is in Vicksburg, he notices a different kind of racial divide than he saw in some other places. What is different about the culture of Vicksburg? Or is any place in the South a Guthrie waiting to happen? --Erin B. | ||
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| + | When Horwitz is talking to the African American preacher Michael King, he asks him "if there was any way that white Southerns to honor their forebears without insulting his." King responded with: "Remember you ancestors, but remember what they fought for too. and recognize it was wrong." (pg. 44) I was just curious what yall's thoughts on this was... -MK | ||
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| + | It bugged me, honestly. I don't think the South was "wrong" for what they fought for, and I don't think the north was inherently right. The ideology and rhetoric coming out of the Civil War is that the North was fighting to end racism. We've all come to realize that wasn't really the case, and that the South may honestly have just been fighting to maintain their beliefs. While I don't view myself as a Lost Causer, I think it is a little naive to immediately say that what the South fought for was wrong. --Cash | ||
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| + | In Chapter 6, Horwitz is at the reenactment of the Battle of Wilderness. He discusses some of the draws for reenactors to either fight for the North or South. One of the reasons for siding with the South was "Americans' instinctive allegiance to underdogs." (pg. 136) How much do you think this plays into the general public's minds about the South? -MK | ||
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| + | Before reading this book, I never realized how hardcore some Confederate re-enactors really were, although it does seem to be the select few. These guys, like Hodge, try really hard to get everything exactly right and are willing to re-enact in the dreariest of weather conditions. It makes me wonder, if they try so hard to get the clothes, rations, and battles exactly right, do they try really hard to get the political or social history of the war right as well? - Angie | ||
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| + | Of course, they'd be adamant that you use the term "living history" rather than "reenacting." But the point still stands-these guys are nuts. I have never hear someone use antiquated terminology (read: racist terms) or discuss the political environment of the 1860's, but I'm sure it happens.- Drew | ||
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| + | After our recent discussion of the Confederate battle flag, the section on Michael Westerman, the man with the flag on his truck who was killed in Kentucky, really struck me. I think that this shooting really shows how controversial and dangerous this symbol has become. Horwitz says that during the war, the majority of that county did not even support the Confederacy. The flag seemed to have no real history in the place, yet it became an enormous problem anyways. - Angie | ||
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| + | What is the reason for the continued care and devotion southerners show to the civil war, as seen through Horowitz's many travels? (Family, history highs, religion, way of life, etc)- AJ | ||
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| + | This is a really good question, and one that I really wish I could come to a better answer for. I think it's a matter of commemorating what was lost. I think the Southern belief is truly that they were invaded, and then beaten, despite an inherent belief that they were in the right. I think they probably still hold onto it as a means of understanding. Just a guess though. --Cash | ||
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| + | Is Reenacting truly the "most popular vehicle for civil war remembrance" as Horwitz states on pg 126, or is it just one vehicle? It's hard to discount media, even if it has to be narrowed into subcategories of movies, internet,etc, as a huge vehicle for civil war remembrance. - AJ | ||
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| + | When Horwitz interviews Walt, Walt expresses his disapproval of the State, and insists that he considers himself as a citizen of the Confederate States of America, which has been under military occupation for the last 130 years. I think this is the most extreme example of a Lost Causer I have ever heard of, and frankly, it did not even cross my mind that someone would believe such a thing. Can Walt even be lumped in as a Lost Causer, or is he in whole different category of Confederate loyalists?- aaskins | ||
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| + | I find it fascinating how the Civil War has developed into a sort of cult culture. Horwitz's descriptions of the reenactors I think best illustrate the constant connection (physical and emotional) with this past event and how much it dominates the present.- aaskins | ||
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| + | After our somewhat disparaging comments about Shelby Foote the other day, I found myself understanding- if not agreeing with- his analysis that the Civil War "measures what we are, good and bad. If you look at American history as the life span of a man, the Civil War represents the great trauma of our adolescence. It's the sort of experience we never forget." So my question is: do you agree, or does such a comparison feel forced?- Drew | ||
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| + | At one point Horwitz is speaking with an elderly black woman that weaves and sells baskets. He asks her if it bothers her that the stand next to her is so outwardly pro-confederacy and she replies that "they can talk about the war all they want as long as they remember they lost". Throughout many of the books we're read and discussions that we've had, the idea of the South having lost the war is somewhat more complicated than it should be. The word "lost" seems to have taken on a different idea to many lost causers. So does the South remember that it lost like this woman states? - Victoria Y. | ||
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| + | What did you all make of the forgotten "skirmish" of the Citadel cadets? The importance that the institution held it at just reminded me of another claim to fame that you see all over the East Coast. Just another "George Washington slept here" kind of thing. - Victoria Y. | ||
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| + | At reonactments why were there usually more people who wanted to portray the Confederacy instead of the North? Reonactors even discussed how it was difficult to accurately demonstrate battles that were supposed to have twice as many Union soldiers, when twice as many reonactors for the Confederacy took part. What problems do these pose on reonactments that strive to be historically accurate?- Nick | ||
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| + | Why did the events of January 9, 1861 become forgotten as the first shots fired in the American Civil War? How did the bombarment at Fort Sumter replace the fighting on January 9, 1861 as the first shots fired in the war?- Nick | ||
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| + | There's seriously a Cats of the Confederacy? That takes crazy cat lady to a whole new level. -Megan Mc | ||
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| + | There seems to be a decent amount of Vietnam Veterans obsessed with the Civil War, why might this be? -Megan Mc. | ||
