Originally posted by tothetenthpower
It's the "God Hates Fags" and "Damn them N Word's" rethoric that the media portray that holds it back.

Originally posted by mrwupy

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
It's the "God Hates Fags" and "Damn them N Word's" rethoric that the media portray that holds it back.

For the record, the "God hates fags" signs are from the Westboro Baptist church which resides in the north.

Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens said [12][13] that slavery was the chief cause of secession in his Cornerstone Speech shortly before the war. After Confederate defeat, Stephens became one of the most ardent defenders of the Lost Cause. There was a striking contrast between Stephens' post-war states' rights assertion that slavery did not cause secession and his pre-war Cornerstone Speech. Confederate President Jefferson Davis also switched from saying the war was caused by slavery to saying that states' rights was the cause. While Southerners often used states' rights arguments to defend slavery, sometimes roles were reversed, as when Southerners demanded national laws to defend their interests with the Gag Rule and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. On these issues, it was Northerners who wanted to defend the rights of their states.

[12] From Alexander Stephens' Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861, The Athenaeum, Savannah Georgia - Stephens said: 'African slavery as it exists amongst us -- the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization ... was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right.'

[13] From Alexander Stephens' Cornerstone Speech, March 21, 1861, The Athenaeum, Savannah Georgia The larger Stephens quote, for more context, is as follows: 'The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution -- African slavery as it exists amongst us -- the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew." Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
Not be religious of anything, cause i'm not but...

The sins of the father, become the sins of the son.

People just aren't gonig to forget what the confederacy wanted or stood for during those times, i understand that it is not the view held by most southerners in these times but the world does not easily forget.

Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint

On the other hand, one can be proud of being from the south if they celebrate the non-racist aspects of Southern culture. The South's has a colorful dialect, a rich literary history, and a genteel culture. Perhaps one can celebrate these things, as well as other aspects of Southern culture while at the same time renouncing racism.