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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2253 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Uh, vigilante hangings in the south had been a big thing for a while, and ended because the law managed to crack down on criminals enough that it wasn’t viewed as needed. It wasn’t some sort of fad; the republic of Texas had a civil war over the practice, although it gets lost in the history books for ‘also being at war with the commanches and Mexico simultaneously’ reasons.

There was a bit of a spike circa 1915. Noisy, yes, but there are a couple obvious suspects. I think it’s fair to describe the Second Klan as a cultural moment.

For reasons discussed previously, I think OP’s choice of Leo Frank is pretty disingenuous.

I concurrently believe that 1) Leo Frank was a pedophile who deserved to hang, and the actions of the klan in defending an innocent black man are a rare mark in their favor and 2) wanting to talk about Frank all the time is probably not motivated by sincere interest in justice practices in 1910's Georgia. So no disagreement about that.

Lynching was definitely A Thing which has been a feature of the south since there was a cultural region identifiable as the south; describing the second klan as a cultural moment is fair, referring to a bump in lynchings concurrently with the great war is probably fair, but referring to lynchings as a cultural moment is not.

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