[LEMONS] 1.31.2002
I'm getting plastered at Plastic today, they didn't like my article in that it didn't do what they wanted it to do. You can only do so much, in my book, and I thought I did a great job. But that's neither here nor there. What's worrisome is the email I keep getting for something I wrote two years ago. Something I probably should not have. I wrote something satirical, and, quite frankly, offensive. I was trying to make a point, but the point was lost in my unnecessarily harsh words. In brief: I was born and raised in the South, I love the South and I honor the South. But I do think that the South is seriously fucked up in many respects, a lot of which are just distractions from the real problems there: namely education and economic opportunities for all. You achieve that and most other things fall into place. However, that's not what I said, and that's not how it's been taken, and so today, many, many people are very, very angry with me. If you're one of them, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry. It was over the top, I admit. But have a look at what I wrote, and ask yourself if there's any possible way--being a Southerner myself whose entire family is from the South--I could have been serious. Do what you want with the battle flag in your home and at memorials for the dead. I've got ancestors who were veterans myself. Probably more than many of those who have rallied round the flag. Yet I didn't think it should have been on Georgia's state flag. I still don't. But nor do I believe the things I said were true, as they would obviously have to apply to me equally as a Southerner. I was trying to make a point that it's a perception that the flag creates. I failed, I guess. In any case, I'm off to get fresh air on what's turning out to be a bad day.
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