So, I was thinking. December 7th is coming up, the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii. I think we should build a full scale replica of the USS Arizona. Then, the morning of Dec 7th, we should dress up as Japanese pilots and blow it up. Right smack dab in the middle of the Harbor. Sound like a good idea?
On April 20th, we will gather at Columbine High School in South Denver and re-enact the killings that took place. We’ll wear trench coats, and someone with a beard can play Dave Sanders. He is the teacher who bled out and died while authorities waited three hours to enter the school. We can eat food like people did back then, and stay in suburban tract houses.
I know, awesome, right?
On Sept 11th, we will make 1/3rd scale remote control airplanes. We will set them on fire and fly them over the ground zero site into stuff.
Do you see the problem with all of this? Do any of these look like a good idea to you? Insenstive? Cruel? Sick? You would be correct. How is this any different from these folks who re-enact the Civil War? It’s no different, and nothing to celebrate in my eyes. Our own country took up arms against itself. Brothers had to fight each other to death. This isn’t something to celebrate, nor is it something to re-enact. How come nobody is re-enacting WW2. Now that was an enemy worth fighting, and we won that one. There are still people alive who lived through and fought through that. They are the greatest generation. You don’t see them hanging out in tent petting their muskets. They fought so that they wouldn’t have to do that ever again. It’s why you fight a war, to make shit better.
Also, why is it only the South seems to do the re-enacting? Didn’t they lose? Aren’t we glad they lost? Weren’t they proven wrong? Did they not take up arms against the United States of America? Doesn’t that make them terrorists? Yes, it does and yes they are.
So, why are we romanticizing the civil war? Were things so much better back then? Nope. Everything sucked back then. The coffee was shit, the outfits were tacky, we spent all our resources killing off our own country, and torching anything left. They (re-enactors… or ‘racists’ for short) seem to think that things were great back then. It’s not just dumb, it’s offensive. To celebrate the Civil War on the side of the South is to say that Blacks are property and the United States is the enemy. If you are still of that mind set, I am thinking maybe you should gtfo. Instead of re-enacting the Civil War, just buy a shirt that says “I hate black people” and save yourself the time and money of running around in a field pretending to be martyrs.
I will tell you what, confederate fans. If you want to secede, this time we will let you. Shit, I will help you pack. Your values are not welcome here, nor will they be tolerated.
Maybe you should do your research before writing such an article. There are WW2 reenactments. And it’s fairly popular in the States. Here is the website to one WW2 reenacting group in Virginia: http://www.shadows8thinfww2.org/. There are also Roman reenactors, Medival/Renaissance ( SCA is a large group), The French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, Mountain Man Rendezvous, The Mexican War, Gunfighter/ Wild West, and WW1 reenactors. And I’m sure I left some out.
Civil War reenacting also happens in the North. Here is the website to just one New York group: http://www.165ny.com/member_research.php.
The people who fought for the South were not terrorists. At the time of the Civil War, this country was refered to as These United States. It was in the plural. Why? During that time each State was like it’s own country, and the Federal Government was treated as a foreign power. When Lincoln raised an army to suppress the rebellion in order to “preserve the Union”, a vast majority of Southerners viewed this as an invasion of their homes. Only 25% of the Southern population owned slaves, so what did the other 75% fight for? To defend their families. It could hardly be considered treason when your first allegiance belongs to your State, which you are defending. If the Southerners committed treason, then we Americans committed treason when we took up arms against England.
If you would actually talk to some Civil War reenactors, you will find that a vast majority of them do it to preserve history and honor the men that served. Reenacting brings history to life and makes it interesting! It shows people how their ancestors lived. I reenact because of the escapism it provides. I do not want to live during the Civil War. That would be hell on earth. Reenacting romanticizes the war. It’s been almost 150 years since the war. Because it was so long ago, many people seem to think that living in that era was so much better than the era they live in. Reenacting, at least for me, provides an escape from the modern world. It allows me get away from the modern world and unwind.
Most reenactors are not racists. Yes, there are some that are, though a majority of them are not. At one reenactment, there was a teenage African-American boy in the ranks of a Texas Artillery unit. Here in Oklahoma, formerly Indian Territory, there were a lot of Indians supporting the Confederacy. At the reenactments, most of the Indians (me included) fight for the South. Why? Because we don’t want to support a flag that forced us from are homes, and then tried to annihilate us! Yes, that was all done under the U.S. Flag! A Cherokee, Stand Watie, was a Brigadier General for the Confederacy. He was the last Confederate General to surrender. A Cherokee being a Confederate General. And Confederates were racists? Can you please clarify? The North on the other hand, maybe you should read what they did to the Indians after the Civil War, when the regained control of Indian Territory.
Sarah,
thank you for your feedback, and taking the time to read my piece. I appreciate it, sincerely. However, I disagree. Yes, people from the south are racist. I have been often reminded that (it goes both ways, though). Meaning, the black folk don’t like the white folk, either. Regardless, y’all ar racist.
Further, I understand that you see the Confederate Flag as your heritage. However, everyone else sees it as a big mistake. It says slavery and terrorism are ok here. Yes, terrorist. Your ancestors took up arms against The United States of America. That makes them, by all accounts, terrorists.
As for what white America did to the Native population, it is agreed. It was abhorrent. This is why we don’t have flags and traditions that celebrate the genocide of the native people of America. We don’t recreate the attacks on natives people for fun to celebrate our “heritage”.
Larry Wilmore explains it beautifully on the Daily Show clip. “No one is saying you invented slavery, but you held onto it like a mother fucker!”
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-9-2010/the-south-s-secession-commemoration
man you have seriously got the wrong attitude towards the south, war re-enacting and the confederate flag. as sarah pointed out people re-enact almost every major war that has been fought. i myslef am a civil war reenactor as well as an ex army ranger with five combat tours under my belt. i am also a very very proud son of dixie. im sure that you have never served anything or anyone other than yourself. i could try to explain to you why we do what we do and why history is so important to us but you arent worth my time or effort. i would however encourage you to be very careful about running your mouth as you do about southerners. i promise you that if i ever met you face to face and you spewed your ignorant opinion at me i would most certainly commence with what we call a good ole southern ass whoopin. thanks for your time and god bless dixie.. deo vindice.
I call lie to the one called James R Guenard… My brother was a ranger… and as far as documentation goes nothing shows you as a ranger … who was attached to the 51st …… no ranger no airborne…. and maybe from the south but no ties to dixie as they would disown him… ESPECIALLY without 5 combat tours… lol… maybe dreamt of 5 but no such thing for him…. and he need not explain but to recover from the lies that were presented…. and ignorant… maybe when you can explain your own actions….I represent Dixie… on my GLee … but no misrepresenters like you sir
Sir:
Normally I would not respond to anything like this, but some of this intrigues me. What has your contact been with Civil War reenacatments? Are you aware that there are probably an equal number of people from the northern states that participate as there are from the Southern States? In addition, there are people from all over the world that travel here for the big events. I had a great time about 10 years ago with some guys from Northern Ireland that camped next to me at an event in Raymond, Miss.
Do you have a problem with the demonstrations (called living histories) that are put on by the National Park Service (that would be the United States Government Park Service)? Those are the same people that participate in the reenactments.
I suspect that blacks and whites get along better here in the South than they do up north, the exception being those involved in activist organisations like the klan or the naacp.
So far as all the Confederates being racists and terrorists, and I believe you included us in the present day, let me put it in perspective. I had seven family members that fought in the War Between the States. Five of them were immigrants. Two of these were officers. Four were from Ireland and one was from Cuba. The one from Cuba was Hispanic and by todays standards part of an oppressed minority. He made the highest rank of the bunch (Major) and was elected mayor of his town at the end of the reconstruction period.
All,
Again, thank you for reading and commenting. I appreciate the feedback. However, some points i must clarify as the author. Sarah, above, wrote that people re-enact all kinds of wars. Wrong. I ran a search on re-enactments and ‘war re-enactments’; the results that came up were almost exclusively civil war events.
They were also almost exclusively in the South.
So, I absolutely did execute stereotypes here, admittedly. I implied, seemingly without remorse, that folks South of the Mason-Dixie like are all: hillbillies, racists, and/or terrorists.
I gotta tell you, with some hindsight and further research, I totally stand behind what I said. Plus, an awesome bonus is that James is going to personally give me a ‘southern style ass whoopin’, when he is done with Robert, who implied that every word of James’ response was total horseshit.
This is even better. When my critics forget about my argument and start slandering each other… well then my work here is almost done! Go get ‘im, Cooter!
Oh, I should say there are a couple of responses that I didn’t approve. One dude questioned my ‘ebucation’ and then called me an ‘imbacle’.
Sorry, bro… but your comment was denied. My education is precisely why you were edited out. My degree is in Lit, so I abhore typos. Also, it means I read your hillbilly tomes glamorizing the civil war.
Lono, maybe if you would do a little more research, you would find there are reenactors of a lot of other eras. Yes, Civil War is the most common. It also tends to be the most farby(far be from it;inaccurate). Do a search on ACW reenacting groups in Europe and Australia. I have a friend in Malta who does Napoleonic War reenacting and is currently starting an Confederate ACW unit there. He’ll be coming to Gettysburg in 2013 for the 150th reenactment. There are more out there than you think. In the U.S., I’d say the majority of Civil War reenactors are in the south. The MAJORITY. But there are Civil War reenactors in every State. I have reenacting friends in Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts(that one is a Confederate), and Michigan. The reenacting style does differ on the west coast such as in Washington, Oregon, and California, but it is there. The mild winters we have in the south enable us to do it almost year round. Up north, they have an actual reenacting season. I’d say the next biggest reenacting in Oklahoma is Mountain Man Rendezvous. These are also large. I know five people who those and three of them are in my Civil War unit. There are a few WW2 groups in the southwest and midwest as well. WW2 is an era of reenacting that I’ve been thinking about getting into. Further east, they have French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Mountain Man Rendezvous as well. These don’t attract near the people that Civil War reenacting does, but they are out there. And from the people that have talked to who do them, they tend to be a little more authentic. A bunch of my ACW reenacting friends are starting up a Mexican War unit. They’re going to hold two-three events a year at Ft. Gibson, OK. What we do is really about living history. I have been reenacting for almost four years. With all the research I have done, I think I know a thing or two about this hobby by now. Maybe if you would do more than one or two searches on this topic you’d find different evidence. Take a look at this site. You might be able to find a few things on here about reenacting different eras.
http://www.livinghistoryworldwide.com/
[...] as long as they are reasoned and decently articulate… I embrace them. See my post on Civil War, where I intimate they are all racists and sore losers. Well, the 2 that can read found it, and teed off on me. Just take the jump here. [...]