THE NEVER-ENDING CIVIL WAR

This is the creepiest thing I've seen on the Internet in a while:



Erik Loomis of Alterdestiny posted it over the weekend. I'll let him explain what it is:

... this poster [was] made for the country/metal musician Hank Williams III by Art Schmuck.

The image takes an old picture of Robert E. Lee, puts a Jason-style hockey mask thing on him, and has him holding the decapitated head of William Tecumseh Sherman.

That's right -- just in case you're one of those naive people who thought the Civil War was over.

Here's part of Erik's gloss on this image (though you really should read the whole thing):

... The Lee image is iconic and many of the people who purchased that poster no doubt know where it comes from. Even if they don't, the artist and Hank III certainly do. By giving Lee that mask, they make connections between the Confederacy and terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. While the actual imagery may be different than the KKK, using the horror movie theme impresses upon viewers that Confederate leaders were as tough as Freddy Kruger and Jason and that anyone who gets in their way will be crushed like roaches. Of course, in reality the people this terror was turned upon was not Sherman or other Union leaders but African-Americans who escaped the horrors of slavery only to face a southern white populace determined to destroy all vestiges of black freedom and personal dignity. As Sherman played such a large role in freeing the slaves, the decapitation of him also serves as a decapitation of all he stood for, including the ending of slavery....

All true -- but I'd also add that it's a message of violent defiance against the the North as a whole. And though I suppose it's meant to be in good fun, and though it's based on wishful thinking rather than an actual act of violence, it's almost like an insurgent beheading video.

George W. Bush's appalling presidency is a setback for the culture war some Southerners will never cease trying to wage against non-Southern America -- but it's a long war, and I can't help thinking the South will rise again.