Thread by @JYSexton

Y'know, it's a busy day, but let's get into the Lost Cause Mythology, Woodrow Wilson, Confederate nostalgia, and America's domination of the world through propaganda and white supremacy.

I found this researching my new book American rule, on preorder. 1/

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…

So, after the Civil War, there was an immediate attempt to retroactively change the war's perception and turn it into a baptism of blood by which the country could redeem itself, as if it was this chaotic moment that pitted brother against brother to rid the country of slavery 2/

Now, the Confederates seceded because of slavery. They wanted a nation ruled by slavers and dedicated to the protection of slavery. The North wasn't particularly interested in ending slavery, just stopping its spreading. There were abolitionists, but it was also about power.

In many ways, the Civil War was about a reevaluation of the methods of power set during the framing that prioritized the South and gave it leverage. As things changed, that balance and deal fell by the wayside. The separation led to a schism in reality. 4/

The South was beset by conspiracy theorists who believed the North was obsessed with ending slavery. This wasn't exactly true, but it caused a schism.

If this sounds familiar, it should. The reality schism between the South and North is kind of what we see now. 5/

A quick word on the Confederacy: it was white supremacy completely and totally realized, a top-down world where the rich ruled over everyone and every book and publication was used to maintain cultural dominance. Their preaches preached religious racism. Just frightening stuff 6/

So. Abraham Lincoln. Here's some tough truth. Lincoln talked a lot about white supremacy. His views on race were "evolving," if we want to be kind. He stated over and over he would fix the problem without ending slavery. His current status is largely myth of the past. 7/

Here's some disturbing truth: Lincoln wanted to rid America of its race problem by getting rid of African-Americans. He wanted to send them somewhere else, including colonies. He tried to sell them to the British to be offloaded. 8/

Anyway, eventually we get emancipation. It's a complicated thing and not at all the cut and dry story we've heard. Lincoln's views evolve, but emancipation is also a major weapon against the South and changes the narrative of the war. 9/

Post-war, a new story emerges. All the bloodshed and loss is turned into a baptism. America had the sin of slavery, but it was rid by death and destruction. Suddenly, the narrative is that we're free of racism, even while the South is still a white supremacist society 10/

This is why Reconstruction is one of the most forgotten about periods of American history. It reveals the Civil War didn't end racism, it only changed it, made it different. There was a time where African-Americans thrived with self-government, but they were attacked. 11/

As African-Americans organized unbelievably quickly, white supremacists in the South fought back. This includes the KKK, but so many different groups as well. It turns into a mini-Civil War. Terrorism. Unbelievable violence. 12/

I can't do Reconstruction justice in a twitter thread. Go and look it up. It's jaw-dropping stuff. But we saw in it a time where African-Americans were able to succeed but then get snuffed out by white supremacists and white politicians willing to throw them to the wolves. 13/

All right. The Lost Cause. Post-Civil War, post-Reconstruction, we start seeing a movement to redeem Southerners. Historians start telling a story like the Confederacy was this beautiful world, a pastoral paradise where master and slave loved one another. A total lie. 14/

One of the pushers of this myth was Woodrow Wilson. Listen. In my research for the book, I came to hate Wilson with a fiery passion. Just a disgusting person and a stain on American history and legacy. He was more than a Confederate apologist, he yearned for it. 15/

Wilson is an elitist. He believes in systems of control. Top-down lies and manipulation. He wants to create a society where the poor and stupid are controlled. And guess what? Slavery looks awful good to him, as does the Confederacy. 16/

Wilson is also a "historian," and his work is total Confederate propaganda. He portrays a South that is noble and beautiful and a slave race that needs domination and is so, so grateful to be slaves. It's a complete alternate reality, but it spurs on white supremacy. 17/

His books are just dripping with white supremacy, Confederate propaganda. By the end of his section on the Civil War, he's proposing that an America where African-Americans are dominated by laws and culture is ready to take on the rest of the world and dominate. 18/

Unbelievably, Wilson becomes president and his ideas are running through America. You start getting all these pro-Confederate groups and statues and movements. The actual story of the Civil War, an America that is lost and unable to deal with its own sins, gets transformed. 19/

Now, under Wilson's vision, America's Civil War was a misunderstanding among its white people, a squabble over how to best control its vile African-America population. The result is quiet white supremacy through laws and manipulation over overt white supremacy. 20/

Oh. And it doesn't stop there, because Wilson's friend Thomas Dixon is obsessed with this, as they've both sprung from the same academic and ideological tree. He takes Wilson's histories and turns them into a book: The Clansman. 21/

The Clansman gets turned into The Birth of a Nation, a racist propaganda film that takes the country by storm. If you watch it, one of the first things you'll see is a quote from Woodrow Wilson's writings. It's the main inspiration. 22/

Wilson is a total monster narcissist, and loves Birth of a Nation. He screens it in the White House. Gives it a giant audience. Propels it into a culture that's ready to completely redo the Civil War and turn it into a tale for white supremacy. 23/

Birth of a Nation doesn't stop there though. It furthers Wilson's ideas of how to control populations and leads to the emergence of weaponize propaganda. Heading into WWI, he pushes for state-run propaganda to reposition America as it begins the fight. 24/

For WWI, Wilson employs George Creel and an army of propagandists, including Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew, to create psychological operations that will brainwash America. Here's the thing: it works. It changes our perception of ourselves and our history. 25/

Now. Some really disturbing stuff. The propaganda Wilson and Creel and Bernays create works so well, they spread it through the world. And it's such a new thing, such a new weapon, that it works on an unbelievable scale. Woodrow Wilson is turned into a living god. 26/

Wilson was able to use propaganda to manifest himself as a living savior of the human race. He's greeted with massive crowds who are screaming for liberty and freedom, slogans Wilson used but never, ever intended to fulfill. 27/

Remember, Wilson's beliefs are white supremacist beliefs. He wants to manage everyone, to have a technological, intellectual, economic elite that dominate the masses through lies. Saying America is about freedom is a fulfillment of his re-visioning of American history. 28/

Post WW1. All these smaller nations have taken Wilson at his word. They think they're about to move into a post-colonial, post-oppression society. It'll be heaven on Earth. But it was all lies. He never intended self-rule or determination. They were slogans, propaganda. 29/

Wilson and Creel and Bernays sold the world on a new product: The United States as the arbiter of a moral universe, the chosen people dedicated to liberty and justice and freedom. It was all propaganda. All of it. 30/

The rebranding of the Civil War by Wilson and his compatriots was a mission that meant to create the possibility for American power. Wilson said as much in his writings. What's crazy and terrifying is that it worked. It all worked. It changed history. 31/

The 20th century starts with the emergence of America as the world's foremost champion for freedom, and it happens because Wilson was able to realize his Confederate fantasies and re-interpretation. The Lost Cause Mythology made that domination possible. 32/

This, of course, continues. It's how Reagan and Bush and Trump are able to say America isn't racist, that everything's fair, that there's no such thing as white supremacy. Because the Civil War was transformed into an evening of the scales. But it wasn't...at all.

33/

The Civil War and everything that came after simply made racism change its tactics, made it become more subtle and hidden. It installed a system of quiet white supremacy hidden behind the slogans of freedom and dignity and liberty. 34/

This whole story is disturbing, but necessary to understand. We have to look at where we came from, be honest about who we are, and reckon with the sins of this nation's past. So much of what we know is weaponize propaganda created by white supremacists. 35/

Anyway, there's a reckoning that needs to happen. We have blood on this nation and a lot of unlearning to do.

If you're interested, this is part of the body of AMERICAN RULE: HOW A NATION CONQUERED THE WORLD BUT FAILED ITS PEOPLE. 36/36

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…

Oh. This state of mind, that America is past its racism and everything is equal, is what Donald Trump means with Make America Great Again. It's a call to return to the belief that everything is equal even while hidden racism controls everything.

A Neo-Confederate society

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