Response to Confederates in the Attic

I found Confederates in the Attic to be incredibly interesting. I am familiar with Salisbury because it is very close to my family's lake house. We have made multiple trips there for dinners and movies. Salisbury, and many surrounding towns, are very southern and seem to be stuck in the past. You see Confederate flags everywhere and very few African Americans. It did not really surprise me when I read this chapter about the Confederate groups, but the extent to which they devote their lives to the cause astonished me. I thought it was interesting that people seemed to treat Confederacy as a religion and almost pushed Christianity aside, which is usually strongly associated with the South. Also, racism was clearly shown to still be very prevalent in their lives. For example, Tarlton said that Walt "hates all minorities the same." This shows that even though we try to say that racism has ended and everyone is equal, there are still a significant number of whites who do not believe it and have their beliefs stuck in the past. Another thing that caught my attention was during the Children of the Confederacy meeting, when Violet asked her son if there was anything he hated more than Yankees. His response showed extreme hatred and fear of Yankees and really showed how these people were raising their children with the same closed minds that they possess.

Even though I'm sure this article was based on true facts that he discovered, Horwitz seems to select certain sayings and actions in order to persuade the reader to believe a certain way. He makes it seem like these people are crazy and emphasizes things that most people disagree with.