[Penni]

Ok, I think the Fuck the South thing is funny....but of course I would becaue I'm a raging liberal and I don't live in the south. I can admit I wouldn't think it was very funny if it was a diatribe against my beloved home.

So, here's what I think. We all know that piece is directed toward the people that strut around like peacocks and try to maintain all these Southern myths...the fundamentalist Southerners, if you like (since it seems popular on these various boards to throw around the word fundamentalist lately). It's certainly not directed to the kind of freethinking Southerners we know here on our board. Still, I can see why there would be a negative reaction by all southerners. But, I think that, much like I would like, and try, to reclaim the word liberal from those who are trying to turn it into a bad word, all southerners (and non-southerners) should change the meaning of the term southerner and not let those fundamentalist southerner types co-opt the word and tie you and it to bad connotations.

Of course it won't be easy, because the bad connotations with "The South" run deep with many, but I would submit that it was not the writers of Fuckthesouth.com that turned the south into a bad word. The fundamentalist southerners defined it; and they defined it that way on purpose, so people rebutting and railing against those people are simply using a definition that was provided to them. Don't let those fundamentalists get away with turning freethinkers against each other because of a little terminology!!

PS who else is as annoyed as I am by my inconsistent capitalization of the south and southerners? I just couldn't decide...