Southern Culture on the Skids

Beyond Confederate flags coming down from statehouses, more-mundane symbols are increasingly being questioned on the local level: in town halls, college campuses, and even cemetery committees. It's part of a deepening homogenization of Southern culture that's causing anger and resentment among many in a proud region with perhaps 65 million people who consider themselves Southerners.

Some observers see a note of irony in the growing suppression of conservative Southern memorials at a time when old Confederate values like militarism, chivalry, gentility, and religiosity are gaining political prominence. It's a lesson, they say, in how a rebellious American region maintains its influence beneath pressure to rescind its mottoes and murals.

Now, I do not, by any stretch, consider myself a Southerner. But I think there's a deeper irony here. It's true that the South, loosely defined, is seeing a huge influx of Northerners in the last decade or so, and by all accounts will continue to do so. My suspicion is that the author is correct when he says that a lot of the resentment stems from these immigrants (for lack of a better term) and their perceptions, or maybe better said: preconceptions. I would also think that it's these same folks who campaign against cultural homogeneity. In their hubris, they seek to destroy or marginalize a culture that is one of the last easily identifiable regional cultures in America. The folks who never wanted a Wal-Mart in their neighborhood, or who sit on urban planning committees designed to save the "cultural heritage" of the small New England town whence they came are now in the South, seeking to eradicate that which doesn't conform to their Northeastern/Unionist ideals. I don't think it will be long until we hear them wailing about the death of Southern culture, oblivious as to their part in it.

I don't want to get into a discussion about whether "Southern culture" is worth saving, as I suspect that many of you would argue that it's not, and anyway it's beside the point. The point I'm trying to make here is that the dismantiling of a distincly American culture is taking place at the very same time we're hearing elites telling us that the "Wal-Mart-ization" of America is an increasing danger. This is part of a concentrated effort to eradicate anything, anywhere that could possibly give "offense" to someone, even, apparently, at the expense of an entire culture.
Can't have it both ways, hippies.