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The official publication of the General Robert E. Lee Camp #1640
Sons of Confederate Veterans, Germantown, Tennessee
Duty, Honor, Integrity, Chivalry ~ Deo Vindici

June 2011 Traveller

CAMP MEETING

June 13, 2011
Speaker: Sid Witherington
Topic: Civil War Relic Hunting
7:00 p.m. at the Pickering Center

Honor, Violence, and Civilization

Dr. J. Michael Hill

For evidence that academics frequently miss the obvious one need look no further than a study by two mid-western psychologists on the proclivity of white Southern males to resort to violence when their honor is challenged. This clap-trap from the pointy-head class is enough to underwhelm Southerners who have long known that good ole’ boys like to get into a scuffle now and again over questions of propriety and good manners.

Psychologists Richard Nisbett (University of Michigan) and Dov Cohen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) conducted a series of, it would seem, rather risky experiments with their collegiate charges and concluded from them that insulting a non-Hispanic white man from the South can be downright dangerous. The professors’ toil has led them to postulate that white Southern boys, when insulted or threatened, tend to experience a testosterone surge normally absent in their gentler northern brethren. The unleashing of this most politically-incorrect hormone accounts for the South’s much-maligned “culture of honor.”

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Neither Nisbett nor Cohen claims to impugn white Southern manhood, and most of us indeed greet the results of their study with a good deal of prideful chest-beating. Years ago, in my dissipated youth, when I dabbled at being a Southern rocker in the days of the original Allman Brothers Band, Lynard Skynard, and the Marshall Tucker Band, a female groupie (I suppose there are other varieties on today’s music scene) said she liked Southerners best because they were still “real men.” What she meant was that, unlike the long-haired, hippie peaceniks from Boston, New York, and San Francisco, Southern musicians and other assorted rowdies had not offered their testicles on the altar of an emoting feminism that characterized the 1960s and early 1970s. As reflected in many of their songs—both rock and country—raucous and hard-drinkin’ Southern boys tickled the distaff fancy by frequently engaging in knock-down, drag-out barroom brawls over the slightest affront to Momma, Old Spot, Sweet Thang, or some other loved one. To the average, red-blooded woman-child, such a manifestation of high-testosterone bravado more often than not proved sexually alluring, all but assuring the cultural/biological continuation of this trait.

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Never one to defend (or understand) the ways of the South, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh intoned shortly after the publication of the study that Southern men should take Nisbett’s and Cohen’s study as an insult to their civility. Of course Limbaugh the Political had a solution ready at hand: vote for Bob Dole and y’all won’t have to endure such abuse any longer. Moments later, a caller who identified himself as a resident of the “first capital of the Confederacy,” informed Limbaugh that the revelations about white Southern males was not news in his neck of the woods, and that it was a good thing that at least one group of American men still had their anatomy intact after several decades of government imposed feminization. Limbaugh agreed, but both host and caller excluded Bill Clinton from this category, of course. I suppose we’ll have to await final confirmation from Paula Jones’s testimony, however.

What indeed should we Southrons make of this study? There are, after all, some not-so-obvious implications at work here. Twenty years ago, my academic mentors at The University of Alabama, historians Forrest McDonald and Grady McWhiney, began looking seriously into the Celtic (Scottish, Irish, and Welsh) influence on Southern culture. As Southerners themselves, McDonald and McWhiney knew that most crackers claimed to be at least partly Celtic, and that the Celts were products of a martial society in which men of action were held in high regard. In one sense, these historians did not tell Southerners of Celtic descent anything they did not already know: that they were a people prone to commit violent acts over questions of honor and repute. What they did was provide a proper historical understanding of why this cultural trait is so prevalent in Dixie. Professors McDonald and McWhiney advanced their “Celtic thesis” with understandable regional pride. It gave Southern crackers and rednecks (the only group that can still be insulted with impunity in polite company) a wider historical identity and made them proud to be descended from a fierce and independent people. In doing so, it suggested to them that their “culture of honor” was nothing to be ashamed of.

I seriously doubt that Nisbett and Cohen intended their study to contribute to the self-esteem of Southern Celts. But perhaps there is more here than Yankee cracker-bashing. Noting that a white Alabama boy is more likely to shoot someone over an affaire d’ honneur than is someone from Massachusetts (I’m reminded here of candidate Michael Dukakis’ craven response to a hypothetical question about what he might do to avenge his wife’s rape), they seem to suggest that it is somehow unwise to permit Southerners to exercise their rights under the 2nd Amendment. Now, its all right with me if the gentlefolk from New England and elsewhere above Mason and Dixon’s line wish to perceive us as gun-totin’ cowboys. Perhaps this will stem the influx of snowbirds (distinguishable by sandals over black socks), yuppies, and Yankee socialist professors.

But at its core this study reeks of feminist propaganda in that much is made of the bugaboo testosterone. Convince enough females that they are really “equal” with males in all respects, and convince enough males that their traditional role as protector is biologically aberrant, and you have created social chaos and revolution. In the New World Order of Perfect Gender Equity lies the justification for the ostracization or extermination of this type of biological anomaly. No testosterone, no males, no violence, no spouse and child abuse, no rape, no war—the complete triumph of the feminist vision.

As the last of a dying breed of men, Southerners should wear the “culture of honor” mantle proudly. Men who allow their families, friends, and society to be dishonored without so much as a harsh word in response don’t deserve to be called men, much less civilized men. While Yankees and Englishmen might rightly ignore insults against Abe Lincoln and the Queen, respectively, Southerners and their Celtic cousins should not be expected to react so passively to unkind words about Jefferson Davis or Robert the Bruce.

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The South has historically been home to gentlemen who took affronts to their honor seriously and who understood that the manly arts of self-defense were necessary components of civilization. Since the South was the most extensive frontier in antebellum America, the dexterous use of weapons was of peculiar importance there. If a young man wished to survive past his teen years, he had to devote a considerable amount of practice to the use of fists, blade, and gun.

Indeed, a reputation for toughness was, and is still, the best keeper of the peace, and this is why the South (or at least the small towns and rural areas) remains an oasis of civilization in an otherwise cultural and social wasteland. We can only hope that coming generations of white Southern men will carry on this tradition of honorable self-defense. Otherwise, whence shall come our Rolands, our Don Johns, our Bedford Forrests, our John Smiths, Andrew Jacksons, and Jim Bowies? Should this life-sustaining pugnacity disappear, so too will the South. And with the South will go the last remnant of a once-vigorous, self-confident, and manly Western Civilization.

Commander’s Corner


Hello fellow Sons of Confederate Veterans,

Soon after Sumter, a unionist east Tennessean Congressman Horace Maynard reported that "the President's extraordinary proclamation" (for 75,000 troops) had unleashed "a tornado of excitement that seems likely to sweep us all away.... For what purpose, they asked, could such an army be wanted "but to invade, overrun and subjugate the Southern states." The growing war spirit in the North further convinced southerners that they would have to "fight for our hearthstones and the security of home." So come and meet with your compatriots and hear how the southern men and women fought for southern independence.

See you Monday evening, and bring a friend! And of course, a desire to hear good things about the Confederate fighting man!

Deo Vindice!

Commander
Mark E. Buchanan

Crossed Flags-0311


SCV LIFE MEMBERS ROSTER

  • T. Tarry Beasley II
  • T. Tarry Beasley III
  • Winston Blackley
  • John Cole
  • James Anthony Davis
  • Hubert Dellinger Jr., MD
  • H. Clark Doan
  • Eugene Forrester
  • Robert Freeman
  • Frank Holeman
  • William P Hunter, Jr.
  • Bobby Lessel
  • Jerry C. Lunsford
  • Frank M. McCroskey
  • Arthur Oliver
  • Charles Wendell Park
  • Bill Simmons
  • Larry J. Spiller, Sr.
  • Charles E. Toney
  • Osborn Turner, IV
  • Charles L Vernon
  • William C. Wilson

Lt. Commander Rick Lance Announces the Summer Slate of RE Lee Camp Meeting Speakers


Monday, June 13th

Our own Sid Witherington will make a presentation on relic hunting. As you know, Sid is the premier relic hunter in the area and has a tremendous collection. Also, actively involved in the Germantown History Museum, he will give us a status update and answer questions.

Monday, July 11th

Hal Rounds will provide a-not-to-be-missed comparison between the Confederate Constitution and the US Constitution. Hal is well-known for conducting a workshop around the country called "Constitution Refresher". He is a local attorney, a veteran, and obviously a constitutional expert.

Monday, August 8th

The star-studded lineup continues with Larry Tolbert, longtime member of the Lee Camp, providing us with his outstanding presentation on Stonewall Jackson's last words. Larry is a very engaging speaker and actively involved in preserving the heritage of the Confederate veteran.

Without exception, we have had an outstanding slate of speakers during 2011. That is only made possible by those of you who continually make recommendations of potential speakers. Thanks to all of you.

Summer is a great time to invite and bring your friends and prospective members to the meetings. We have air conditioning, refreshments, and great presenters....perfect for those warm summer evenings!

As always, we welcome all our friends from the other SCV camps in the area.

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Traveller is the monthly newsletter of:
The General Robert E. Lee Camp #1640
Sons of Confederate Veterans
and
The Mary Custis Lee Chapter,
Order of the Confederate Rose
P.O. Box 171251
Memphis, Tennessee 38187
Steve M. McIntyre, Editor