I despise a floggin' rooster...twist-snap!

Even though they used a couple of pretty-but-marginally-talented Brits & Aussies to play Civil War-era Appalachian folk, and even though it's a little bit chick-y, I love Cold Mountain and I've been stopping there every time I catch it on cable. How can you not watch it? I like that it shows that as in real life, most southerners did not even own slaves, and that our worst enemies are "our own." Each other.
I normally can't hardly watch Rene Zellweger, but I enjoy the hell out of her in this. If you've never seen Love & a .45, well, do it. The soundtrack alone is worth the watch, and WATTY! and STARLENE! I fell in love at first sight with this girl, unknown to anyone at the time, I had great hopes for her, and she's done nothing but let me down ever since...
Now, since I checked to make sure I spelled "Appalachian" right, let me share this with you:

Appalachian
\Ap`pa*la"chi*an\, a. Of or pertaining to a chain of mountains in the United States, commonly called the Allegheny mountains.
Note: The name Appalachian was given to the mountains by the Spaniards under De Soto, who derived it from the neighboring Indians. --Am. Cyc.

I did not realize Appalachian and Allegheny were the same...I'll look that up tomorrow...
People don't realize that the Confederate soldiers were not fighting to defend slavery. Most of these boys & men were simply poor farmers who had no real interest one way or another about the issue of slavery. Most even probably thought it was wrong.
They were defending their HOMES and FAMILIES and FARMS and shit! They, like us, had been led to believe that they, the people, had the right to govern themselves as they saw fit. And the USA overthrew them. Came into our country and BEAT US DOWN! It took them about 10 times as long as they thought it would, and it damn near took out a generation of innocent boys on both sides, AND everybody fucking STARVED to death, but the USA finally won.
Reconstruction...freed slaves...poverty...ignorance...I don't know.
I know this: I'm so glad that a hundred years later the USA came down here and made the Bad Rebels give it up.
I think when "Gone With the Wind" came out little cotton-picking girls & boys were told that they'd have it made like Scarlett if only we'd won the war. I'm serious. We were taught to be afraid of each other.
I have no idea why people were so terrified of the Blacks. It makes NO sense to me.
I had an uncle (by marriage) who was actually in the KKK! Can you believe that shit? Hell, I once saw him take out a .38 & wave it around in the fucking CAR going down the highway, with his wife, kids & niece (me!) in the CAR, at this NIGGER who dared to pass him!! What!?! In 'bout 1974! What!?!
He was NOT popular in the family...
On being a Rebel:
I've had black friends who were also Rebels. It's not about color. It's about loving your home...it's about loving your grandma...it's about good cookin'...hot, humid summers...clear starry nights...taking it easy...Spanish moss...dusty roads...banjos & fiddles...and most of all: being NICE TO EACH OTHER!
Now, It has taken me about two hours to write this, so I'm sure I've wandered off course, so I may delete this.
Allegheny - word.