Are the differences between Cajuns and other white Southerners actually so great? We know the atmosphere and vibration are different, and we can cite Catholicism, Tabasco sauce, French roots, accordions, and so on as specific signs of cajunisme.
But in terms of the grievances they cite, don’t others have them? They lost their land and they came here as peasants, because they were so loyal to the French king. Then they lost their language. Is this suffering so unique, or is it comparable to that of those who settled Appalachia?
I’m quite serious. The exceptionalism is one key problem, and the other is the combination of ressentiment and entitlement. I know all this is sold by the tourist board, but the fact that it’s also the academic point of view and the policy point of view really irks me.
And again, the main difference between me and the Cajuns is that they see common resources as something for them as individuals to grab and exploit, whereas I actually believe in public property. To me, their attitude is a serious problem and to them, my objection to it seems to be.
That brings us back to the original question, on whether they are really so different from other white Southerners. I say no. My enormous conflict with both is about the question of whether or not there is a public good. I say yes, and they say no, or if there is, they will steal it. For them, the French Empire and the Confederacy; for me, the French Revolution and the Union. We don’t understand each other and cannot get along. And somehow I get along better with other Southerners, like Georgians or so, or people from Baton Rouge, who actually look sharp and criticize the government rather than just steal.
This, then, suggests that Cajuns are white Southerners you are supposed to feel sorry for and make excuses for. And that is why I feel so manipulated by them, and so white-hot angry at them–especially now that they have bled the university so dry with their corruption that it may not be able to continue.
All of this is of course terribly schematic and overgeneralizing, and part of why I am so exercised is that I live here too, and I am from here too now. Still there is some great ideological difference, largely about whether or not one is entitled to help oneself to public goods, to the detriment of all; and about how irritating it is when the robber justifies himself by saying he is a poor thing and you are an outsider who cannot understand.
That, however, takes us directly to the most insidious aspect of the Cajun Renaissance: it takes a grievance narrative parodied from Civil Rights, where the perpetrator is the Anglo-Americans, and uses that to cover corruption or justify just about anything. Aw, shucks, I’m just a poor, illiterate little thing, always barefoot and sad, says the fattest cat.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 