"The orientalizing discourse around this film is that rural folk are violent, godless, sexually deviant savages. Urban folk are civilized, honorable, good-natured, and innocent."
To this I would add: Urban folk are *deserving of sympathy* while Rural folk are blamed for their own circumstances, despite having less power and resources to change their situation than Urban folk generally speaking.
Maybe this is just an extension of blame the poor and celebrate the wealthy, too.
This is so totally spot-on, over-target real-world work AND academic analysis. Rare these days. Thank you for doing what you’re doing. It’s pretty awesome.
This is very very interesting/cool. And in a weird way it lines up with some of what I am trying to do, but in a somewhat different way. I was introduced to Highlander when I was just a sprout — my mom worked there — so I was exposed to a lot of similar ideas early on. My father knew a lot about the earlier populist/syndicalist/agrarian movements in the Deep South; his papers are at Ole Miss, so I’m hoping to retrieve the bibliography.
Anyway: I agree with you about the deprogramming, but from my perspective it’s more about deprogramming them from “americanism” — the imperial narrative — or Christian Zionism, which feeds it. The entire “american history” the kids have learned is just wrong.
Somebody — it ain’t the left in the current incarnation, will never be the Republicans — needs to be pro-labor, which in the South (to me at least) would mean pro-small farmer. Have you read the Agrarians or Wendell Berry? I suppose that’s my “party,” not that there is one. Oh yeah, have you read either Christopher Lasch or Eugene Genovese?
Anyway, what you are doing is very cool and much needed. I’d even say we’ve reached roughly similar conclusions but by different means. I look forward to following what you do. I’
Look forward to seeing it. I saw the exchange you had wrt anarchism and honestly, that's where I've landed: the whole "small is better," "moral economist" school because that's how we functioned up until world war 2, which extended the "fascist" principle of govt+finance/industrial capital into the stranglehold it has now; that was what the GOP did from the beginning. We (in the South) have traditions, etc. that we can rely on. Look forward to what you're doing -- I've got a couple of pieces in the hopper on those themes, but it'll be a while before I get to them. (PS, I think Yarvin is a fraud; God help the "right" if he's the best they can do. The left needs a couple of pro-labor types who can put it in the context of Southern tradition. Maybe that's you.)
Can you please elaborate on your thoughts on Yarvin? I have tried to read all his work and still can’t really understand his motivation or purpose . His proposed solutions seem rather naive to me
"The orientalizing discourse around this film is that rural folk are violent, godless, sexually deviant savages. Urban folk are civilized, honorable, good-natured, and innocent."
To this I would add: Urban folk are *deserving of sympathy* while Rural folk are blamed for their own circumstances, despite having less power and resources to change their situation than Urban folk generally speaking.
Maybe this is just an extension of blame the poor and celebrate the wealthy, too.
Tangent: the history of Hookworm in the American South and the stereotypes of poor Southerners as lazy morons needs to be put on blast: https://www.vice.com/en/article/southerners-werent-lazy-just-infected-with-hookworms-stereotype/
Edit: Vice link seems to be crapping out, so here's another: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-south-a-bad-name/
This is so totally spot-on, over-target real-world work AND academic analysis. Rare these days. Thank you for doing what you’re doing. It’s pretty awesome.
This is very very interesting/cool. And in a weird way it lines up with some of what I am trying to do, but in a somewhat different way. I was introduced to Highlander when I was just a sprout — my mom worked there — so I was exposed to a lot of similar ideas early on. My father knew a lot about the earlier populist/syndicalist/agrarian movements in the Deep South; his papers are at Ole Miss, so I’m hoping to retrieve the bibliography.
Anyway: I agree with you about the deprogramming, but from my perspective it’s more about deprogramming them from “americanism” — the imperial narrative — or Christian Zionism, which feeds it. The entire “american history” the kids have learned is just wrong.
Somebody — it ain’t the left in the current incarnation, will never be the Republicans — needs to be pro-labor, which in the South (to me at least) would mean pro-small farmer. Have you read the Agrarians or Wendell Berry? I suppose that’s my “party,” not that there is one. Oh yeah, have you read either Christopher Lasch or Eugene Genovese?
Anyway, what you are doing is very cool and much needed. I’d even say we’ve reached roughly similar conclusions but by different means. I look forward to following what you do. I’
Yes, my thoughts have evolved since writing this. I’m working on another essay that more reflects your position
Look forward to seeing it. I saw the exchange you had wrt anarchism and honestly, that's where I've landed: the whole "small is better," "moral economist" school because that's how we functioned up until world war 2, which extended the "fascist" principle of govt+finance/industrial capital into the stranglehold it has now; that was what the GOP did from the beginning. We (in the South) have traditions, etc. that we can rely on. Look forward to what you're doing -- I've got a couple of pieces in the hopper on those themes, but it'll be a while before I get to them. (PS, I think Yarvin is a fraud; God help the "right" if he's the best they can do. The left needs a couple of pro-labor types who can put it in the context of Southern tradition. Maybe that's you.)
Can you please elaborate on your thoughts on Yarvin? I have tried to read all his work and still can’t really understand his motivation or purpose . His proposed solutions seem rather naive to me
Oh yeah. there is a chapter on that. but it’s a bit in the future.
Fascinating! I am down for this revisionist history.