I'm rewatching Ken Burns' Civil War miniseries for the first time since the 90s.
Last time, I watched it with my buddy Phil. I was born, raised and educated in Ohio. He, South Carolina. Around the time I was gushing about Sherman's foresight in making war on civilians, the 8312th battle of the American Civil War broke out in my living room. The First Battle of Cheney, WA was a furious and bloody affair.
I remember being shocked by Phil's anger. Why the pride? Where's the shame? Uh, didn't you guys fight for pretty much the worst causes in the panoramic history of awful causes? I began to enumerate the South's sins, as if they were news to my friend. Slavery. Mutiny to protect slavery. Killing to protect slavery. Killing to expand slavery. Drafting a new Constitution that protects slavery. Sumner. Killing surrendering soldiers. Andersonville.
"I'M NOT SAYING THE WRONG SIDE WON, JOHN!" he screamed, spitting my name like an epithet.
Last time I watched this miniseries, I was struck by the petulant hysteria leading up to the war. Around the time that pre-war Southern Democrats were accusing that hideous baboon Lincoln and his whore wife of promoting the miscegenation of the white race, I thought "Jesus, people were nuts back then." It was unfamiliar to me. We have evolved, I thought.
Watching it through modern eyes, it's sadly more familiar. Bitter people gleefully fabricating and repeating slanders. Bitter people whining—the very moment they don't get their way—that they should form their own government. Bitter, stupid, villainous people somehow, against all reason, claiming victimhood.
We are a consistent people.