Most folks relate “up” with north and “down” with south. East and west are, at best, consigned to left and right as in describing California as the Left Coast. North and south are two of the cardinal directions within the four principal conceptions of direction. The word cardinal originates from the Latin cardo, meaning hinge or elemental. Today, identifying ourselves by one of these directional handles is more fraught than in times past. At the same time, the vitality of directional identification among individuals has increased, mostly as testimonial assertion to political views.
The four principal directions are deeply imprinted upon our cognition; in turn, that impression can connote mystical, even mysterious outlooks, according to our internal, personal gyroscopes, which convert N-E-W-S (hereinafter NEWS) into identifications or affiliations. Up and down or north and south often represent cultural distinctions and right and left correlate to conservative-liberal differences.
Globally, geography recognizes northern and southern hemispheres divided by an equator, as well as the North and South Poles, which are also continents contributing to our NEWS world view. The so-called New World has two continents: North America and South America. There is a South Africa across the ocean but no correlate North Africa except that of a regional designation along the Mediterranean.
Other international expressions of the north-south dichotomy are reinforced with North and South Korea and North and South Vietnam, products of divisions partially created by wars. Of course, there was for a period East and West Germany, diverting the up versus down direction. Europe – both western and eastern – have not been permanently designated by a border.
Within the United States, there is North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This national directional symmetry may be said to be disturbed only by West Virginia not mated with an East Virginia.
Politically, once upon a time, Democrats ruled the nation’s southern states while Republicans prospered in northern ones. That paradigm is currently largely reversed. Up was once down in political party terms.
The military and moral success of the Confederacy could have led to a defined Northern United States and a Southern United States with a border. As it is, there remains a distinction imprinted in memory and culture and in history to some degree delineating the two entities. Politically, once upon a time, Democrats ruled the nation’s southern states while Republicans prospered in northern ones. That paradigm is currently largely reversed. Up was once down in political party terms.
Within Virginia, there has developed a political and cultural identification between Northern Virginia (NOVA) and southern Virginia, with business and elected leaders petitioning and pettifogging for pet interests to salvage the plight of the Commonwealth’s southern tier.
Within Virginia, there has developed a political and cultural identification between Northern Virginia (NOVA) and southern Virginia, with business and elected leaders petitioning and pettifogging for pet interests to salvage the plight of the Commonwealth’s southern tier. South and southwest Virginia have suffered from the decline of coal mining and loss of population, leading to a dwindling tax base in some localities, even to the extent of the disappearance of towns. In prior times, industrial interests and political ones would have been content with ignoring these changes in favor of a kind of Darwinian theory about survival of the fittest. Classical conservative theory aligns with this view in a reflection of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” of the market guiding the dynamics of prosperity and survival.
Economic and industrial changes along with population dynamics have altered the NEWS in fundamental ways. Enthusiasts advocating the Lost Cause of the Confederate states have lost traction in the face of the disappearance of plantations, a Civil War, and an increasing surge of critical analysis of that theory. For some, these changes represent a loss of identity for sentiments of tradition. More radical critics attribute the changes to elitism or globalism or other homogenizing ideas. The most extreme opposition attacks the transformation as a cabal determined to replace a former dominant culture with a mongrelized one.
Allegations of white supremacy and systemic racism are met by countervailing argument seeking to popularize white identarianism as a political and social reality. Designating oneself or being characterized by another as a northerner or southerner generally presents a variable set of impressions with respect to political view, party, or social status.
Allegations of white supremacy and systemic racism are met by countervailing argument seeking to popularize white identarianism as a political and social reality. Designating oneself or being characterized by another as a northerner or southerner generally presents a variable set of impressions with respect to political view, party, or social status. Meet and greet chatter in the past might include “Where are you from” often followed by “What do you do?” In a time of heightened political and cultural sensitivity, such questions may have to be reconsidered as openings to polite and civil conversation.
Unlike at the time of the Civil War, the neutrality of border states seems to be a disappearing sanctuary in the current atmosphere of “us versus them” dialogue. While border state lines were easily identifiable, such lines of distinction or demarcation are disappearing in the cauldron of national dialogue. Attempts to create safe harbors in identarianism and nationalism as badges of identity are to be tested. “Directionally challenged” is a popular, quasi-humorous definition for someone who is uncertain of their location in space, even to the extent of a lack of clarity about left from right. The malady is less prevalent in our politisphere.
Wherever one positions oneself on the geographic spectrum, it should be done with attention to the implications that may be perceived by listeners. It would be prudent also to evaluate which NEWS sector we believe ourselves to follow. No N-E-W-S is no longer necessarily good news.
Categories: cultural icons, democrats, Issues, National, political discourse, political parties, politics, republicans
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