Friday, February 22, 2008
Deep South
Let's all tip a Yazoo in honor of my Cousin David, who had letter published on the American Spectator's Web site today. 'Tis a pretty good geography lesson, indeed. Check it out:
Re: Quin Hillyer's Veep, Veep!:
Forgive me, gentlemen, but Mr. Hillyer's description of several states as either "Deep South" or "border states" is deeply flawed. The South is a very large place, and more complex than his terms reflect.
Just as Big Apple mayor Ed Koch denied his support for a Southerner upon his endorsement of Tennessean Al Gore in 1988 ("Tennessee didn't even secede!" Wrong.), Mr. Hillyer falls for the "small South" fallacy. While correct enough in modern terms to describe Virginia and Kentucky as border states, they are better called the Upper South. Tennessee, my home state, is considered by her citizens to be the Mid-south, with Alabama below and Kentucky above her.
Just try going to Memphis, essentially a Deep South city bordering Mississippi, and telling its people they are in a border state! You will be refused both barbecue and cornbread, and given unsweet tea for your trouble.
The term "border state" has historically been applied to those states which had divided loyalties between the United and Confederate States, and the institution of slavery at the initiation of the Civil War. They are: Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
Neogeologisms such as "Mid-Atlantic states" (not used by Mr. Hillyer in his article) to describe southern territory such as North Carolina and Virginia are symptomatic of the rush by modern, "progressive" Southerners, to deny their history and any personal association with the truths and the fictions, not to mention the prejudices, about Southern culture and history. These are the same people who blush should anyone detect a trace of Southern speech falling from their lips.
However, most Southerners not in the Florida panhandle (derisively called "Lower Alabama" by some) would likely agree that, though the Deepest Southern state of all, Florida is no longer Southern.
Otherwise an excellent article and those of us who know Marsha Blackburn are glad to see her getting national recognition.
Bless her, and your, heart, Mr. Hillyer.
-- David B. Allison, Sr.
Queen Creek, Arizona
Re: Quin Hillyer's Veep, Veep!:
Forgive me, gentlemen, but Mr. Hillyer's description of several states as either "Deep South" or "border states" is deeply flawed. The South is a very large place, and more complex than his terms reflect.
Just as Big Apple mayor Ed Koch denied his support for a Southerner upon his endorsement of Tennessean Al Gore in 1988 ("Tennessee didn't even secede!" Wrong.), Mr. Hillyer falls for the "small South" fallacy. While correct enough in modern terms to describe Virginia and Kentucky as border states, they are better called the Upper South. Tennessee, my home state, is considered by her citizens to be the Mid-south, with Alabama below and Kentucky above her.
Just try going to Memphis, essentially a Deep South city bordering Mississippi, and telling its people they are in a border state! You will be refused both barbecue and cornbread, and given unsweet tea for your trouble.
The term "border state" has historically been applied to those states which had divided loyalties between the United and Confederate States, and the institution of slavery at the initiation of the Civil War. They are: Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
Neogeologisms such as "Mid-Atlantic states" (not used by Mr. Hillyer in his article) to describe southern territory such as North Carolina and Virginia are symptomatic of the rush by modern, "progressive" Southerners, to deny their history and any personal association with the truths and the fictions, not to mention the prejudices, about Southern culture and history. These are the same people who blush should anyone detect a trace of Southern speech falling from their lips.
However, most Southerners not in the Florida panhandle (derisively called "Lower Alabama" by some) would likely agree that, though the Deepest Southern state of all, Florida is no longer Southern.
Otherwise an excellent article and those of us who know Marsha Blackburn are glad to see her getting national recognition.
Bless her, and your, heart, Mr. Hillyer.
-- David B. Allison, Sr.
Queen Creek, Arizona
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Friday, February 22, 2008 
