(04-03-2022, 02:25 PM)americus 2.0 Wrote: This is maybe going to be a weird subject but indulge me because you have nothing better to do or you wouldn't be on the political section of a football message board on a Sunday afternoon during the offseason. Lol. I was going to put this in the Let's Talk Political Edition thread but I thought it might get lost or bogged down or whatever. Also, I was hoping it would create some interesting discussion. I'm not one who is uninterested in others' points of view on things and enjoy discussing things I may not agree with because I believe perspective is important. The following is what I wrote for the other thread but decided to start this one. Bear with me!   I wasn't even sure how to title the subject.

So, I saw a book at the library yesterday titled Dixie Rising by Peter Applebome and decided to check it out. Several of you said I was not a "proper southern woman" and I "must be kidding" when I said I didn't know the name of the tune plays as the General Lee's horn on Dukes of Hazzard. To which I replied I was raised in the south but me and my folks are from Colorado. I was not raised by southern people and was somehow not influenced by my southern surroundings. I had no idea there was a southern tradition of eating black eyed peas and collard greens for the new year until I moved to NC in 2011. 

All that being said, I decide I want to know what I "missed" being raised without southern pride and southern traditions so I checked this book out and started reading it last night. Evidently there was an uprising of conservatives and Christianity in the south that spread across the nation, particularly in the 90s. I have no recollection of this even though I was in my 20s. I guess I was too busy living life and it seems my situational awareness of national events was impaired by my youth. 

Me being the curious person I am decide to research "conservative uprising in the south" to get a timeline of sorts. The Cliff's Notes version if you will. I ended up on the Wiki page "timeline of modern conservatism" which is definitely not a Cliff's Notes version of anything because there is a boatload of information there. I usually do not use Wikipedia for anything serious but I wanted to see what it had to say. 

Wow. This country was very, very different 100 years ago, even just 40 years ago. Politically it was the opposite of today. The timeline starts in the 30s and outlines the political parties, the POTUS at the time and his platform and projects that were passed in his administration; opposition to those platforms and projects in the form of political parties, corporations, the media, etc., and the list goes on. It explains (to me) things I've heard and read about over the years but couldn't quite see the big picture. An example: how the conservatives were for desegregation and democrats were the opposed and definitely not the champion of minorities as late as the 70s from what I understand right now. The late 60s looked very similar to where we are now and many have compared 2020 to 1968 the difference being the adults who participated in the activities of that time were professors of the parents of the current progressives who are driving a lot of America's issues now. These kids now are purists. That's kind of scary. 

Anyway, I know this is random but I wanted to say how the things we think we know are not always as 100% as we think they are. We all come on here and talk about a lot of subjects and we have our ideas, beliefs and opinions that we speak as facts, but do we really know what we're talking about? The book is interesting so far and what I read on the Wiki timeline.....that blew my mind. I just had no idea. I don't remember much from my history classes in school so don't give me a hard time about why didn't I know such and such. School was a long time ago and history was not a priority.

This is by design. 

Republicans and Democrats didn't "switch" sides in the 80's, as they like to have you think, at least not because of racism. The growth of the Christian coalition and the rise of anti-Religion rhetoric among the left is what caused the shift in the south. I think the Christian coalition ultimately hurt Republicans, because they started trying to force their cultural values onto society at large, and that created a backlash, especially since the radical left were intentionally targeting the institutions that could best influence the youth of the nation. Progressivism got a foothold with the boomers, and they brought a lot of the ideology into our modern-day institutions. When you combine that with massive amounts of tech censorship, you have the conditions that we currently have, where it's now the purists on the left that are forcing their values onto society at large, but without the intentional counter-pushback from the right. Any attempts to change the teachings of our children are censored and demagogued as evil. And any attempt to share a message counter to the prevailing narrative is censored. We are in bad times for free speech. 

I think the complete opposite of Marty (go figure). World history has some utility, namely understanding that humans have largely been in the same boat for thousands of years. I read old works, and I'm often dumbfounded how similar human emotion is throughout the ages. However, if you want to really understand our situation, you have to learn modern history. It's how you get the best understanding of our current paradigm. I spent time learning the philosophy of the right and left, and, if for no other reason, the philosophy of the right is superior because it lacks guile. Progressive ideology is steeped in human manipulation. When you get a grasp of the philosophies, then combine that with the history of the movements, it's clear that we are heading backwards. 

The truth is that our government is neither progressive or conservative anymore. It's essentially fascist, but with global aspirations. That said, it knows the left will embrace authoritarianism, so it parrots that message and the enthusiasm of their radical base to harness more and more power. The right's only response is also an authoritarianism of sorts, which is why they are deathly afraid of Trump and his radical followers.

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