By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed Dec. 6, 2010
The Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans organization is up in arms over the History channel's decision not to run its ads promoting the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, or what the group calls "The War of Southern Independence." The group accused the cable network to succumbing to political correctness.
According to a Morris News Service story:
The ads also argue that the South seceded partly because "northern congressmen were able to vote themselves virtually anything they wanted, using southern tax money, while the South was powerless to stop it.
Slavery? Not the primary issue and besides, the North trafficked heavily in slavery and profited from it more than the South, the group says in this video.
The History channel (apparently "channel" is no longer part of the name) in a statement says it does not allow such ads as a matter of policy:
History channel does not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial issue (of course we do accept ads from political candidates under the political advertising rules). We have confirmed that the ad was never pitched to A&E Television Networks (AETN), but to a local distributor who accepted the ad without AETN's awareness or approval. We have informed them that the ad is outside the scope of our guidelines and may not be aired during any of our programming. AETN's advertising guidelines, which are similar to those of other broadcast and cable networks, do not permit such an ad as explained above. Indeed, AETN is not aware of any other network who has accepted or aired the ad.To our knowledge, it is not currently running on any of our networks, including History.
The state division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has been running ads in various radio and TV outlets in Georgia including local stations in Atlanta and plans to do so for the next year, said Jack Bridwell, commander for the group, in an interview today.
"We're trying to help tourism," said Bridwell, a retired educator who lives in Moultrie. "Georgia has so much rich history in relationship to the War Between the States. We'd like to get it out there."
"We were very careful in constructing the ads," Bridwell continued. "The one thing they seem to be kicking on was the verbiage when we said the South was invaded. That seemed to bother them. We were invaded. We had legally separated from the union. We were a separate country. If they take offense to the truth, they are losing their reliability. It offends me they aren't going to use it. I had been a big fan of the History Channel. I've quit watching it."
The ads are also on YouTube. Here is the lead ad:
And here's the video script:
Not a "civil war" fought to take over the united States, as it is called in history books today, this was a war in which Southerners fought to defend their homes and families against an aggressive invasion by federal troops. The South peacefully seceded, just like our Founding Fathers did in 1776 with England ; and all we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves. But the north and Abraham Lincoln would not allow the South to peacefully leave because of the taxes and tariffs the South paid.
So the South fought for her liberty... and fought valiantly. Men like Jackson, Forrest and Lee. Outnumbered in some battles 5 to 1.
Don't let others do your thinking for you. Don't allow them to rob you of your heritage while they celebrate their own. Be proud of your Southern history and heritage .
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By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
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