Thank you, Mitch. Agreed.
The only thing that sorta makes sense (at least in the context of the near complete ignorance so common here in the south among whites) is a desperate kind of "overseer" attitude: that slaves were simply an extension of their “white betters” and only knew how to pull on their pants each day because white men were there to show them how, anew each day. Thus, all the work done by slaves was “our work! WE did that! WE made the South rich!” (A claim still common among abusive and underperforming bosses and supervisors.)
Basically, they could believe anything before they could believe that they were of so much less value than “their” slaves. (Just like they would rather die from lack of health care than admit Obamacare was something they needed yet were unable to obtain from any white man in American history.)
At best, they might acknowledge that even now, under white guidance, a few Black Americans may have “gotten lucky”. (The alternative is the total illogic of “you people have been given everything by us white folks! Of course, some of you are smarter, richer and more skilled and more talented than we are!” They always seem to forget that 1) no one can be given “harder working”, and 2) what has been obtained by Black Americans is despite only being allowed to have the WORST job on Earth for America’s first > 200 years, and 3) being tortured or killed for an equal amount of time (>200 years) if they ever so much as tried to learn the alphabet, much less get a formal education):
https://foofaraw.medium.com/mcconnells-supreme-court-and-affirmative-action-11d74479b33d
With no evidence other than the projection of their own complete lack of personal responsibility, everything good that any Black American has obtained or accomplished is, to ignorant white southerners, because of the white man.
It almost seems to me that it might actually be easier to grow a sense of personal responsibility than to understand such a confusing and contradictory mindset.
You're right.
And I suspect it's easier to whine than to risk testing their beliefs in a field of battle a second time.
