8:41 a.m. - 2003-07-02
Proof that I spend too much time reading.
"The reason the South is the most interesting region in the country is that it�s the only place where the psychic landscape is parceled out equally among Marx, Freud, and God. " (An article entitled "The skeleton in Strom�s closet" at: http://www.msnbc.com/news/933525.asp?0cv=CB20)
This sentance made me laugh.
Don't ask me why I was reading a story about Strom Thurmond. I'm not real political but in light of some of his past comments that I remember from my minor interest in the news, an article about Strom's illegitimate black daughter seemed of interest to me. Besides, I'm bored, it's 8:43AM and I don't feel like working quite yet...
Folks, I need to preface this with... remember that I am only 27 years old. I grew up in the 80's and 90's where politics and history weren't shoved down our throats in school. When it was okay to not really know what was going on because life was slower, there wasn't a high-profile war or "close to home" terrorism to fuel up interest in anything other than school work that needed to be done and after school activities (at least for me). World cultures and US History classes brushed over the major events of our world and country's lifetimes but never delved very deeply into any of it. In college, I avoided history and all things political like the plague because history tended to put me to sleep the way it was taught and politics always seemed to lead to arguments and I didn't need the additional stress.
I've never been highly political, same reason, but I know that I didn't even know Strom Thurmond existed until probably after college when I started having "time" to listen in on the news. I don't even know why I remember him so much anyway... (except the quips he had come out with as of late... ) but while I was reading this article I was suddenly dumbfounded by the thought that in this man's lifetime he had seen, and apparently had slaves/servants. This floors me.
Now, for all you who know my D/s lifestyle side, I'm not talking about those kinds of slaves, I mean the black slaves/servants of the south.
I suppose it's not really all that ground breaking really since the Civil Rights Act was passed in the 50's but it still kind of struck me as amazing that many people still alive lived through these times. I suppose it just goes to show how jaded my generation is. We don't seem to often take history into perspective while looking around us. It's strange to me also because I know plenty of people who served in WWII (my mom's neighbor) or Vietnam (my uncle, among others) but I guess I never really put together the time period as coinciding with the Civil Rights movement. It's funny how history is one of those subjects that is so disconnected. But then again, as I think about it... how could you teach it as a flowing topic... history exists in all places on the world that are not related to each other. The Civil Rights movement in the south had very little to do with Vietnam and they happened in the same decade!
It's also funny how I remember more about what I've learned and read about Vietnam which happened NOT in my country than I do about the Civil Rights movement which was in my country. I suppose, to some extent, that may be because Vietnam touches my life through the people I know and love and the Civil Rights movement never really touched my life. I grew up in a town that had only one black family... and eventually, even they seemed to move away. I don't know what the circumstances around their move would have been, probably perfectly innocent but there was a definite pattern of people of color moving into our town and then promptly moving back out. No idea if it was race related at all though, I didn't really pay attention to those things back then.
I'm almost embarassed, or frustrated, that an article about Strum Thurmond could prompt such a diatribe or observation from me... probably just because he was a politician and I hate talking politics (though the longer I work here and talk with the guys the more they seem to pry my opinions out of me and involve me in their little debates.) I guess, though, that I didn't really talk politics, so I'll forgive the article for the frustrations ;)
It's funny how sometimes things that are rather innocent can provide profound thought on something nearly completely unrelated to the subject matter of the article. After all, my entry isn't really about Thurmond himself but the fact that he lived through so many of "history's" huge moments.
I often wonder why people don't talk about the past more. Though I suppose that would require someone to listen. Even I tend to put the now before the then and though, like now, I know that at some point I will regret not asking my uncle questions about the war he was in and what he saw and heard, about what else was going on in our world at that time.
History sometimes amazes me. I only wish they taught it in school in a way that made it interesting, because I'm convinced that high school history classes turned me off from doing more historical research into things. The one history class I ever enjoyed was my "Representing the Holocaust" class at UMass. I probably enjoyed that class because it was focused and... I'm certain that my obsession with that war is probably the driving cause behind my enjoying that class but... it was a good class either way I think.
Anyway, work is creeping up on me and I've been forced into doing some more research that I should really be doing now instead of later... beh...
Perhaps, should I get bored enough, and read another mentally stimulating article ;), I'll write again later!
