Sunday, January 8, 2012
I'll Take My Stand - The Twelve Southerners
Twelve Southerners collaborated to write this Introduction to "I'll Take My Stand". This piece of writing not only focuses on the South, but it focuses on America as a whole. This writing was in response to the "Sahara of the Bozart". The Twelve Southerners actually agreed on the basics of what was said in the "Sahara of the Bozart", but what angered them was the attacks on southern culture and traditions that they strongly valued such as Agrarian philosophy. In this piece, they blame the loss of the "Old South" on industrialization. They say, "The younger Southerners , who are being converted frequently to the industrial gospel, must come back to support of the Southern Tradition." They talks about Industrialization as a naive answer to all problems, when in truth in wont solve anything. He says that industrialization will depress religion, the arts and simple amenities of life such as "conversation, hospitality, sympathy, and family life". I thought it was interesting to read of piece from that time period and to see how relevant the same issue is now. Industry has take over the world today, and maybe if they had stopped it from spreading earlier, the old traditions and interest in the natural would be more prevalent today.
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I think it's interesting how the "I'll Take My Stand" authors, while agreeing with H.L Menken's points in Sahara of the Bozart, say that not only are the 'beaux arts' in the New South victims of industrialization but also religion and the arts and amentities of life such as conversation, hospitality, sympathy, and family life. And I agree that it is really interesting to read something from the thirties that is still be relevant today - and even maybe more so than when it was written.
ReplyDeleteIn response to what Jo said about "I'll Take My Stand' being written in the thirties, I also thought that it was very interesting to read about a topic that has been controversial for so many decades - this "problem" has been going on since the Civil War. It's funny that the twelve southerners' point about industrialization being a never-ending cycle that would put the whole country in a disarray has actually come true - if there was an easier way to fix the situation, don't you think we would have already done it? In that sense, their prediction about the industrial cycle came true.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest things about "I'll Take My Stand" is that I find myself siding with the Southerners on many of the issues, while in many other scenarios I take my stand with the North. Reading "Sahara of the Bozart" prepared me agree with the Southerners, as Menken pointed out every flaw he could find, and then invented some in case those weren't sufficient. Then, reading an article which protected Southern culture, I felt more prepared in my defense for the South. However, this is one of the rare occasions when I have felt this way. A dominant impression for me about the South would be the Civil War. Today, I think it is safe to generalize that a great cause of the Civil War was slavery, and had it not been for the Civil War our nation would not have progressed the way it has.
ReplyDeleteI think that this was the most effective argument in "I'll Take My Stand", due to the fact that this issue was prominent in 1930 and still is today, showing that our country hasn't quite found the perfect balance of industrialism and agriculture. I can understand why immediate action would not have been taken at the time this was written, because industry was beginning to kick in, and, similar to how a child obsesses over a new phone for the first few weeks, the Northerners put all their time and focus into the new idea of industry, accelerating production to the point where they were in over their heads, but too deep to really do anything about it. However, knowing that this was written in 1930s, it is surprising and disappointing to step back and realize that the world, especially America, has not been able to change at all with respects to industry and that it has most likely gotten worse. In response to Mari's comment, now that the country has gone through this "never-ending cycle" multiple times, consumerism, which is heavily advertised, feels as routine as any other daily activity. It would be interesting to see what our country would look like if the Northerners took this response seriously and cut back on industry because at this point only radical change could change our country's view on industry.
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