Letter: Faith truly infuses South

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Upon considering Bryce Taylor’s claim that the South is superior to the North (“The South is better than the North,” April 22), I was perfectly prepared to arm myself with all the usual psychological defenses against superiorist thinking. The claim is unprovable, I told myself. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I only want to believe it because it appeals to my Southern pride and vanity! No, mind, forget you ever heard it!

Just then I opened The New York Times to read a story about the revival of West Point, Ga., due to the opening of a new Kia plant. The paper carried a photograph of a yard sign that read, “Thank you Jesus for bringing Kia to our town!”

Taylor’s thesis was proved in an instant. This was the very essence of the Southern spirituality he cites: the ability to find God in everyday events; the need for a deeper meaning. I gave the photo a hearty laugh, as anyone would, but I imagine that the nature of my amusement draws the line between the Southern and Northern cultures. Rather than laughing derisively at the “silly” or “primitive” beliefs of this family, as a true Southerner I laughed along with them out of joy for their job-creating godsend.

Faith, like honor, is a beautiful thing, and Northerners miss out when they choose to disdain rather than to understand. I hardly think my Northern friends lack faith, honor or spiritual joy, but I am thankful that I grew up in a place where these values are celebrated with appropriate reverence.

Hamp Watson

April 22

The writer is a freshman in Pierson College.

None 2 years, 10 months ago

The South didn't lose the Civil War. America lost the civil war--and with it our states rights, and everything that our Declaration of Independence stood for.

How many equally-racist Northerners do you think would have fought and died over slavery?

8 Is right.

Lincoln, our worst president, trashed our constitution and our American ideals, trading our federal system or a national one.

None 2 years, 10 months ago

Like I said in another post, the civil war was not fought over slavery. Or at least thats not what they teach us here. They teach us that it was fought over the right to secede.

None 3 years, 1 month ago

We were the South before the Civil War. We are the South today. We are not racist, we're just not as obsessively politically correct as this incredibly intolerable institution. I feel like I am crawling in my skin here because NOTHING can be said that isn't racist or offensive, so the stimulating discussion and discourse I heard Yale was all about is really just censored fluff. Look at the African American Studies department for a prime example: they can do no wrong, and produce students favoring white guilt and reverse discrimination. I'm sorry that you hate the South, but slavery is not my fault and I hate that a lot of Yalies refuse to look through the less-pretty parts of our past to see what a glorious culture the South had and continues to hold dear.

None 3 years, 1 month ago

amen!

None 3 years, 1 month ago

So let me get this straight - the author of this letter was fully prepared to resist "superiorist" thinking, but then saw a picture of a yard sign and decided that northerners mock God and don't have the same sense of honor that southerners have? If that is all it takes for the author to succumb to such a blanket ugly stereotype, I certainly hope he never finds himself in a position of authority. As a northerner myself who believes in and loves God, and who tries to be honorable, I'm not terribly offended, but I'm more than a little annoyed.

None 3 years, 1 month ago

it's not faith that infuses southern culture, it's protestant christianity. the north shove these values into the public sphere because the north is so much more religiously diverse. i consider my religion a private, personal thing, not something i'd display on my car bumper. that's because i don't want to seem obnoxious to my hindu, muslim, jewish, etc. friends.

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Letter: Faith truly infuses South