More Things I Think

There's been a well-worn meme for generations about the noble, poor Southerners who took up arms to defend the Southern way of living during the Civil War that's always used as a "you can’t blame the Civil War on slavery" talking point; we're supposed to see these people as brave warriors fighting for something bigger than themselves who, while coming up short in the end militarily, are held in an even more glorious sort of esteem with their own righteous maker.

We're not allowed to question the intelligence of these people - theirs of course is from a higher calling than some nerd with a book - and so nobody ever feels the need to explain why, if YOU'RE poor as dirt, would you fight FOR the side that is actively trying to keep the labor market you’re in remarkably uncompetitive – why would you so bravely fight & die for the ultimate goal of continuing unpaid labor in your area while you & your family starve? NONE of these noble patriots thought you know what, no slavery = we won’t have to compete in a job market against people – willing or not – currently getting $0/hr. for their efforts?

I’ve learned over the years that there is a particular strain of American for whom while the term racist is not a slur to them questioning their intelligence is a bridge too far, and yet I *have a feeling* there’s a connection between the dirt-poor Southerner fighting for the Confederacy and their descendants:

I think it’s kind of funny that in 1861 poor white Southerners by the millions went to war so that plantation labor could continue to be monopolized by slaves and the same people in 2026 think that if we just got rid of all the brown people then poor white people would pick strawberries 12 hours a day. 🤔🤷‍♂️