Birth of a Nation/Gone with the Wind
The author attributes central symbolic status to two landmark films in Hollywood history as bearing responsibility for propagating the myth of the Confederacy. Birth of the Nation revolutionized the film industry by transforming it from a YouTube-type medium dependent almost exclusively upon short productions lacking a complex narrative into what it still remains today. Gone with the Wind reigned as the biggest-grossing American film for twenty-five years and even today is still the number one box office champ of all time when adjusted for inflation. Together, the popularity of these two films did, indeed, inflict considerable damage upon the reality of slavery in particular and African Americans in general.
August Landmesser
The book commences with a striking and stirring symbol for rebellion against the oppressive status quo. The opening paragraphs describe the famous photo of August Landmesser—member of the Nazi Party—surrounded by hundreds of fellow German with their arm stretched out in the “Heil Hitler” salute while he quite notably stands defiantly alone with his arms crossed. His refusal to take part in the lemming-like worship of the sick author of an abominable ideology has long been interpreted as a symbol of the courage it takes to stake the claim for decency and truth in the face of overwhelming opposition.
An Old House
America is invested with the symbolism of being an old house in which the upkeep never ends. Bad things happen to old houses and though the owners may feel a strong and understandable desire to not even have to look at consequences of those bad things, the conscientious homeowner knows that problems don’t go away just because you don’t look at them. The old house that is America has suffered severe problems over the centuries and as much as some elements in society strive not just to ignore them, but to prevent others from even learning about them, the truth remains coherent: those problems are going away simply as a result of being ignored. Just the opposite, in fact.
“A Long-Running Play”
The manner in which a caste works so effortlessly at times with the apparently willful compliance of those who are at the bottom of the hierarchy is compared to a long-running play in which each performance is carried off to perfection almost without the need for conscious thought anymore. The system has been so fine-tuned through decades or centuries or millennia of rehearsals that everyone knows the part they are supposed to play and never give a moment’s thought to stepping outside the role that has been assigned to them.
