Nascar & the Confederate Flag

[noonebil]

sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AjDFPseIvQOUpuvGhKwaS1bov7YF?slug=dw-confederateflag100906&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

This article really ticked me off! Nascar was started by a bunch of moonshine running redneck boys. Rebels & thugs the bunch of em. Nascar wonders why their numbers are dropping? It's because the southern heritage is being taken out of it. Nascar is on it's way to becoming another streile pro sport. It's the southern flavor & character that drew the audience. As more of that is removed (including the flag), the more fans will depart.

I guess this is just part of a bigger picture for me. I am VERY proud of being Southern. I feel there is a huge effort to erase my way of life. Blacks can be proud of their heritage. Hispanics can be prod of their heritage. Why is it that Southerners are supposed to hide, deny, or be ashamed of their heritage? Every group (black, hispanic, etc) has something in history that they wish never happened. Why can they ignore theirs but Southerners must bear the cross daily?

I pride myself in being a Southern Gentleman. I even think being called a 'redneck' is a good thing. I hate for a yankee to tell me how they do things up north. I will not let some corporation or government tell me to hide my Southern Pride!

Sorry for the tirade!

[glockguy]

As a fellow Georgian I can relate. I've spent the better part of the last 10 years fighting to keep our heritage and the TRUTH alive.

We know the media hates us. Here in Atlanta we have the Atlanta Journal and Constitution that we lovingly call...

"The Urinal and Constipation"

Bill O'reilly said it was the most left wing paper in the country and I agree. The TV stations are the same way too.

But we must ultimately take the blame for our failings. We are the majority but instead of coming together and vote as a block or run candidates on platforms we support, all we do is talk on bulletin boards and send each other e-mails and won't get involved with legal action pacs and support elements.

I must disagree though about us calling each other red necks. This is no different from black people who always call each other the "n" word.

Red neck is not just a racist term directed to those of us from the South it's also a demeaning and critical poke in our eyes with our lifestyle and heritage.

I'm a Southerner but I'm not a red neck and see the crap like the red neck games in Statesboro as a continuation and perpetuation of the myth that we're all ignorant hicks who marry our sisters and only have three teeth and live in a trailer park.

I believe that we've lost the culture war in any case because nobody wants to get involved and turn things around and make things better.

I believe between the "balkanization" of the US in general and the South in particular has guaranteed that nothing short of bloodshed will return us to the country we had and loved and lived and died for.

IMHO.

[deerslayer11]

First darlington, then toyota, now this. Damn them. Itll be a cold day in hell when I watch another race.

[hunt4fun1]

Yep. I think that's BS!!!

[noonebil]

glockguy said:

Red neck is not just a racist term directed to those of us from the South it's also a demeaning and critical poke in our eyes with our lifestyle and heritage.

Redneck was derived from the red back of the neck of country folks from working in the fields all day. It was originally synonomous with 'good ole boy'. It is those that don't understand a 'Southern Lifestyle' that put the negative connotations on the term.

[glockguy]

noonebil said:

glockguy said:

Red neck is not just a racist term directed to those of us from the South it's also a demeaning and critical poke in our eyes with our lifestyle and heritage.

Redneck was derived from the red back of the neck of country folks from working in the fields all day. It was originally synonomous with 'good ole boy'. It is those that don't understand a 'Southern Lifestyle' that put the negative connotations on the term.

My point exactly sir, nor do they have any intention or desire to know it. But by us standing idly by and behaving in the apathetic manner we have; we give them additional ammuntion to attack us with.

By them calling us racial slurs and us either laughing or ignoring same, emboldens our enemy and allows him to say...

"Hey it must be true what we think and say about these hicks, because they refuse to do anything about it"

Prior to the Braves coming to Atlanta, the minor league team here was called the "Crackers" This was also a dig at our culture, based on the perception all Southerners were lazy and just sat around the "Cracker Barrel" in old country stores in their overalls dipping snuff and acting like white trash.

I'm a college graduate, I speak several languages and I've lived and traveled a great deal inside this country and out.

I can't tell you the number of times, after telling people in other countries and other states where I'm from; I've heard them say almost verbatim the following many, many, many times....

"Oh no. You can't possibly be from Georgia!? You have no accent!! You are not a REDNECK. You're educated and articulate."

They think in their little peanut brained heads, they are giving me a compliment and not insulting me, my family, my people and my heritage.

There is a HUGE double standard here. They can call us anything and get away with it. While we must constantly submit and be passive and apologetic for all the ills of the planet.

They ignore the truth and frequently flat out lie.

With their minions in the electronic and print media, the truth is allowed to be buried and we are allowed to collectivelly be enslaved and while it might be figuratively now. It will be literal in the not to distant future.

And too many of us are to much of cowards to do anything about it.

I respect ALL Americans who farm, ranch and are considered "blue collar" These are the men and women, white, black, brown, yellow and red who made this a great country.

I would never disrespect them regardless of where they live. Most people would probably feel the same way.

Redneck is such a term regardless of original intent.

But we as a group must come together and make it plain and make it simple. We are not hicks. We do have our teeth. We are not married to our sisters. We are not seen on Cops, Jerry Springer, Oprah and the National Enquirer.

Those are abberations and prejuducial portrayals of us by those with an agenda of hate and cultural genocide.

I've spent my whole adult life in uniform. I'm tired of fighting for other peoples in other countries and for the rich and priveledged in this country.

If we don't wake up and realize they ARE out to get us, the only recourse will be by bullets instead of ballots.

Sorry if I sound so intense and so negative, but things are only getting worse.

[noonebil]

The thing is that ALL groups (racial, political, socio/economic, etc) have stereotypes & names branded to them. Even 'blur collar' as you used in a previous post is considered by some as an insult & carries negative connotations. As Robert D Raiford often says, we have become the united states of the offended.
I am agrivated that NASCAR is changing a sport that I enjoyed by taking the southern flair out of it, but it is their show & they can do with it as they please. My retribution is that I don't watch, buy, or promote their product anymore. They shun me (as a southerner). I shun them(as a business).
Name calling doesn't bother me. I am a redneck, blue collar, UNION, gun totin, bambi killin, fat, married, Christian, white, male (all of which are a negative stereotype to someone). As long as you don't try to legislate or ban who I am, you can call me what you want (just expect me to let you know what I think of you too).
If it's government after my way of life, I vote, send emails, call, send letters, etc & let them know my feelings. If it's a business, I call, send emails, send letters & most importantly stop spending money.
Although stereotypes don't bother me, I feel I understand why they bother you. You seem to have national & international dealings that may be affected by peoples mental image of who you are. Guess what though. So does everybody else. Think of any person or group you have ever delt with (Jew, Arab, Japanese, German,New Yorker, Californian, etc) you had some mental picture of how they would act, sound, even feel. Have you ever commented on how well someone you are dealing with speaks english? It's the same thing as them commenting on your accent. It's a barrier that everyone deals with. You will never convince them that all Southerners aren't illiterate, backwoods, hilbillys that marry their sister, chew tabacky, walk round barefoot, & just like killin stuff. The best you can hope for is to convince them that you are the exception to the stereotype.

[glockguy]

I agree you will never get all of these people to educate themselves into a simplistic thing called the truth.

Despite what the "new age" and "insightful" and "enlightened" say....Perception IS NOT reality. Reality is reality. I perceive myself as being rich....Yet...My bank account sadly proves otherwise.

You are correct to an extent that I allow my dealings with others to color my interpretation of how they perceive. Not trying to give myself a pat on the back, but my educational background is in human understandings on the psychological, social, economic and religous levels.

Yes, I am one of those guys who has a bunch of letters after my name to show that "I've got the book learning" as we say in the South.

I've also got something of much greater significance. It's called experience.

I have traveled extensively. I have spoken extensively. I have written extensively, both in peer review journals, but also in White Papers that have been quoted in colleges and universities in this country and others.

Or to be blunt....What I say is right. Period.

I've been there, done that and got a buttload of t-shirts to prove it.

This is nothing new. As I said in my first responce I've been involved in the fighting of the saving of Southern heritage and culture for better than a decade.

You can boycot NASCAR all you want and that's your priviledge. I'm sorry to tell you that it won't ammount to a hill of beans in the long run. Apart from NASCAR being the fastest growing consumer sport in the US right now. THEY WANT YOU TO STOP SUPPORTING NASCAR.

In their eyes you are an embarrasement, as are all of the people who got NASCAR started, but selling their soul for more green is hardly something new and endemic to NASCAR.

They have seen the quitters who backed down here in Georgia over our flag. The quitters who back downed in South Carolina over their flag. The quitters who backed down over Keeping the U of Mississippi a symbol of Southern pride.

The other Southern states who have allowed people from other states to come in and tell THEM how they are supposed to think and feel and behave in their OWN state.

Regardless of the TRUTH.

Maybe it's just me, but I think the TRUTH is important.

In the end they'll treat us like the children they think we are. We'll pout and come on places like here and argue, but at the end of the day; just like children we'll come home and let them...

Tell us what to do.

What to think.

How to live.

Try this little experiment.

Type out the "n" word on this forum and see if it comes up. You'll find it doesn't.

Try any anti-white slur and unless it's a cuss word you'll find they will come up.

Even here there is politically correct big brother.

Maybe those anti-white slurs don't bother you. They do bother me.

I'm gonna' let you in on a little truth.

Right now Southerners are the whipping boys for all ill's on this planet. You say these things don't bother you and I think that's sad.

You by your apathy are ensuring that future generations of Southerners will cease to be Southerners.

As for me I'll keep fighting.

I live in the most beautiful part of the greatest country in the world.

My people BEFORE Jimmy Carter, BEFORE Bill Clinton, BEFORE Lyndon Johnson and BEFORE George W. Bush.

Have given this nation so much in the arts, the humanities, sciences, sports and dare I say culture to give the mosaic of this nation it's true vibrance and vitality.

To remove it is NO DIFFERENT, than the genocide attempted by Hitler on the Jews and other LESSER humans.

One of those little facts that people don't like to admit today.

But during the American Revolution, only 25% of the population SUPPORTED the Colonists. 25% supported Britain.....

Which meant that a full 50% of the population sat on the fence and waited.

I never could SIT on a fence and I'll never WAIT for someone to destroy me and my people.

It's been real.

I'm out a here!

[noonebil]

glockguy said:

Or to be blunt....What I say is right. Period.

Enough said. I understand what I'm dealing with now. You don't know me or have any idea about my level of education, experience, or plainly who I am. I at least gave you the benefit of allowing you your own opinion. Obviously those letters after your name allows you to deny me mine. I'll leave you and your 'better than me' attitude alone. I can tell you have the same opinion of me as those you resent have about you.

You don't even deserve to be called 'redneck'. A$$HOLE FITS BETTER!

[Shorthair]

Cool! ;D ;D ;D

[deerslayer11]

Damn Georgia rednecks....

[noonebil]

deerslayer11 said:

Damn Georgia rednecks....

Thank You!

[Shorthair]

deerslayer11 said:

Damn Georgia rednecks....

I resemble that remark. Heyyyyyy who you callin redneck....sandlapper?

[mudfish2]

We didn't back down in SC....We took it down...from a perch where you had to really strain and look for it to know it was there...then built a confederate monument, with more than one, stars and bars,flyng head high right in your face,,,,,

furthermore...I'm proud to be a back woods, stump jump'n,country boy, with my Alabama/SC southern drawl...

I'm also glad we are sharing Nascar with the rest of the country,even Mexico and Japan probably more countries to come..

just wish they would get rid of the restrictor plates, and let the drivers handle their business the way they use too

[ardon]

Thats totally freakin ridiculous. "Your a Nascar Fan or NOT" The Stars & Bars is apart of this great sport. True Nascar Fans have NO objection to The Stars & Bars. History, Tradition, & Heritage. If they have a problem with" The Stars & Bars. History, Tradition, & Heritage" then "THEY" aint NO Nascar Fan.

Southerners are supposed to hide, deny, or be ashamed of their heritage? Quote From "noonebil " The answer to that is, [glow=red,2,300]They have a lack of knowledge and sensitivty to the Southern Culture.[/glow]
It's ignorance noonebil, just plan ol ignorance. Them folk have No Culture NO Pride, NO Heritage, No History, that all adds up to Tradition. Them type of folks have NO Traditions. "GOD Help them"