America is revealed more in its roads than in its politics
“All you need to know about American society can be gleaned from an anthropology of its driving behavior. That behavior tells you much more than you could ever learn from its political ideas. Drive ten thousand miles across America and you will know more about the country than all the institutes of sociology and political science put together.”
–Jean Baudrillard, America
September 12th, 2011 at 7:57 am
I have driven from coast to coast many times and it ought be a requirement for national office. Drive the blue highways, read small town newspapers and listen to small town radio. Stop often at coffee shops and listen to the conversation. (Do not order a latte.) Read the notices on bulletin boards. Do not listen to NPR: this is total immersion: don’t cheat. This is for your own good.
September 12th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Agreed, this kind of travel can be eye opening. It can make you love and fear people and maybe a lot in between.
I enjoyed the rednecks in Oregon but really feared those in the south. When I was in the south, at least half the people I talked to said the N word right in front of me, and one guy even told me that “God made all men — Smith & Wesson made ’em equal.” Now, take a moment and unpack what he meant by that. At the end of my time in the south, as I was heading back north, there was a multi-mile roadside “market” with confederate flags flying at every table.
You can read about how some places in the south still have segregated proms and this and that, and it seems almost made-up, but when you actually go to the south in person and see with your own eyes the nazi flags flying high and real hatred that’s never a mm under the surface, it all makes sense. I don’t have to like every country, and I don’t like the south. I hope never to return.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
You’ve characterized the south in a pretty broad stroke. Don’t you think that is just a bit unfair. I have lived in Tennessee quite a while and visited most of the southern states and I have not seen things as you describe them.
September 13th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
I saw those things in three different towns/cities spread across Tennessee: a western town, Chattanooga and Knoxville.
On a related note, when people defend the confederate flag as a symbol “honoring” their ancestors, I think they’re just being aggressively brazen in order to prevent criticism by showing that dialogue will go nowhere. Everyone knows that the south fought the civil war for slavery. Even the people who say it was for “state’s rights” know that the “right” in question was slavery.
Just imagine what the rest of Europe would say if Germans flew the nazi flag (doing so is illegal) or if half of German state flags were inspired by the nazi flag… Just think of what Europeans would say.
The south isn’t even trying to pretend.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:40 am
well, in the interest of fairness, and I do think Vagabonding supports this, you are over generalizing a bit, Nicolai. There are elements of what you are talking about in the south, but there are plenty of tolerant and balanced people to go around in the south. I am not a Confederate sympathizer, and I think most people down here are friendly to others reguardless of where they come from.
September 17th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
@Roger: Yes, maybe I’m over generalizing. Can you cite my words specifically where you think I’m doing so? By which I mean can you copy and paste what I wrote, quoting me?
@Davis: You’re right; I didn’t mean nazi flag literally. I was equating it with the confederate flag as both being different factions of pure evil.
You saw a sign in public pointing to a Ku Klux Klan meeting? The terrorist organization? Blows my mind and yet doesn’t surprise me.
Would it be okay if I quote you, only changing a few words? Here’s a little story. See if it sounds legit to you.
Six years ago I went driving through Bavaria, tracing the route my grandfather took with the nazis in WWII. These would be, by definition, places that had suffered at the hands of the Allied Army and likely to remember it.
I saw nazi flags, which are popular of course, and even saw a sign for a meeting of neo-nazis. Terrorist groups are allowed and the government doesn’t try to stop them either.
Sounds a bit “fishy” to me. True, not everyone in Germany is a nazi (they’ve made huge and admirable advances in so many ways), and not everyone in the south is proud of those who fought for slavery, but in the south, pride in a history of slavery is so common that many southern states have flags based on the confederate flag and terrorist groups like the KKK are allowed to operate. People vote in elections *in support* of the confederate flags. That must be acknowledged. I think for the south, recognizing that slavery was utterly wrong is step #1 (unmet as of 2011), and for those who already recognize this, I think it would be helpful to recognize that something’s seriously wrong when the KKK is allowed to operate and that pro-slavery symbolism is popular. I’m not saying I don’t understand why such thinking persists — slavery ran for almost 400 years in the south and is therefore deeply embedded in the culture. It just has to be acknowledged, which is pitifully little to ask.
Southerners seem to feel no shame for slavery, instead feeling _pride_. They do war re-enactments, fly the pro-slavery confederate flag, and allow terrorist groups like the KKK to operate. (But only white power terrorist groups are allowed, of course.)
For Germans, generally, WWII is a source of _deep shame_.
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:32 am
@Davis
Slavery is “misguided” ?? Would it be oopsy-daisy misguided to kidnap you, rape the female members of your family, maybe sell them, put you in a shack, and force you to work for 16 hours a day for the rest of your life? That’s slavery.
Simply saying it sounds hostile. Imagine it actually happening to you and everyone you care about for your entire life, to your ancestors, for almost 400 years.
“Misguided.” I just don’t know what to say.
There’s a good quote that goes something like, “Those who strike the blows forget but those who bear the scars remember.” After 400 years of slavery those almost four centuries of brutality were merely “misguided.” Must have slipped on a banana peel or something.
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:50 am
However light we try to travel, we bring a great deal of baggage with us. This can make it difficult to see the place and people we visit.
@Nicholai: This is a travel site, not a history site. No one is making apologies for slavery. It was the Confederate States’ attempt to secede from the Union, which the North fought the War to prevent, that was misguided.
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I think we should stick to travel and appreciating what’s good about that. That’s my focus with Vagablogging.