And you wonder why the region is still different?

There are a lot of people here who have changed. We are still pushing.

The loudmouths get all the airtime.

It is a 2-way street. The cycle of hate isn't just from one side. Every time somebody bashes the South in terms that you have just used, people remember the war.

Except for the goofball secessionists & Confederacy freaks, people don't dwell on the Civil War 24/7.

How can we forget the war when it is constantly thrown at us all the time?

If people can't discuss the issues in modern terms, then it will never go away. I am not saying it should be forgotten. The horrendous nature of the war and slavery should still be a lesson never forgotten.

However, when every issue involving the South somehow circles back to that time, then the whole issue erupts again. It happens on DU with South bashing comments and threads.

I am so liberal my family and friends are gone. I keep pushing back so that the region will eventually change, and they will too.

DU can be a sanctuary. It can also be just another place to get bashed, and this time from another side. When you broadbrush the South with your comments, you hit me too.

Do you realize the toll that pushing back down here takes mentally and physically? Sometimes DU can just add to it.

Somebody will probably tell me to just leave DU.

{and no, I am not trying to claim that what I face is nearly as bad as the problems minorities still face. Unfortunately, there is till too long a way to go yet.)