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ohnohetaliasues · 2 years ago

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Confederate States of America (APH OC)

This was brought to my attention by the same person who brought the Milky Way OC to my attention, so a shout out to them.

NGL, I’m not excited about this one.

Possible trigger warning for racism? I dunno, but this is an OC of the literal Confederacy, so I wouldn’t be surprised. That being said, racism pisses me off, as it should anyone, so I may get a little heated.

"Don't think you're so much better than me, North. Someday you'll acknowledge me, too!"

...There’s a lot to unpack there, but we’re just... gonna throw away the whole suitcase.

Confederacy (コンフェッデラシー, Konfedderashī) is a fan-made character for the anime and manga series: Hetalia representing the Confederate States of America. His human name is Alexander S. Jones, usually shortened to "Alex."

Okay, I guess that’s fine. I don’t really have any qualms with the name, but the actual existence of this OC is another story. Bear with me, it’s history rant time. Also, a minor history lesson, for my foreign readers who don’t know much about American history, brought to you by a girl who went through the U.S. school system.

First of all, I don’t think the American Civil War was ever touched on in Canon Hetalia, but I found a discussion on Reddit about this topic that said that a new country would probably be created upon the rebellion, since the Confederacy was supposed to be an entirely new country. However, when the Union was victorious over the Confederacy, the states making up the Confederacy were reabsorbed by the North. So, by that logic, whoever represented the Confederacy would have probably died since they had nothing left to represent.

Now, the topic of Prussia could be brought up here, but he’s slightly different. First of all, Prussia was an actual nation with a history. Prussia was officially called The Kingdom of Prussia, and was one of the main precursors leading to the establishment of the actual nation of Germany. Its culture, history, and land still exist, though the land is now a part of Germany. It makes sense that Prussia still exists, since he appears to represent this important period in German history, but also because Germany still recognizes him as a country, and he lives with him.

There’s also the topic of The Iron Curtain, and how it’s widely accepted that Prussia represented the East, since he often calls Germany ‘West.’ That’s another reason why he still exists. In addition to representing the history of his former nation, he also holds some representation of East Germany.

The Confederacy, however, was never recognized. It was a group of states who wanted to keep slaves around, partially because their economies were largely dependent on the commerce and goods that slave labor brought. They also thought white people were superior and didn’t want to share their rights with the freed slaves because they felt threatened by that. It was really mostly that, they were just really fucking racist. When the Confederacy was dissolved, that was it. Gone. It didn’t exist anymore. There’s no reason for a representation of the Confederacy to still exist, as it does not represent a period in history or still existing piece of land in the same way Prussia does. The Confederacy doesn’t even have a history to represent that isn’t a dark period of hatred and racism.

Anyway, my point is made, back to the review.

He is the younger brother to the United States and is referred to as "South" by other nations (as he is an unrecognized nation).

As I said, he’s also just not a nation. He wasn’t even recognized when the Confederacy rebelled back during the Civil War. The states that rebelled were referred to as ‘Rebels’ for a reason. I learned this in history class.

Germany recognizes Prussia as a nation. I doubt America recognizes the Confederacy as one. He sure as hell didn’t during the Civil War.

He considers his birthday February 8th, the date the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States of America was proclaimed, though he had lived with America before then.

Why? There’s no reason for him to have even existed before the Civil War. There just isn’t. The Confederacy didn’t exist before 1860-1861(ish).

I say ‘ish’ because the 11 states that made up the Confederacy all seceded at different points in time, but the first state to secede, South Carolina, did so on December 20th of 1860, following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. The rest of the states seceded over the course of the next six months, all in 1861. They were never recognized as a sovereign nation.

Confederate States Information:

Nation:

Confederate States of America (1861-1865), Southern United States (1787-Present)

No. As I said, the southern states that rebelled rejoined the northern United States after the defeat of the Confederacy. There is no reason for this at all.

Also, why in the fuck has he existed since 1787? That was when the constitution was ratified, but at that time, there were no southern states in existence, just the original thirteen colonies. Well. Sort of. There were really only three official states at this time, and those were Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, all founded in December of 1787.

The first southern states to be declared actual states were states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, all of which were founded in 1788. Regardless, why would these states need a separate representation when Alfred F. Jones already existed as the representation of America? It just seems rather redundant.

Human Name:

Alexander S. Jones

Age:

About 300

That would be wrong, though. 1787 was 235 years ago, and even then, that would make him weirdly younger than America, if he has existed for as long as he has for whatever reason. I don’t understand, Alfred originally was the representation for the thirteen British colonies, hence why he’s often considered England’s younger brother. Why would Alexander even need to exist??

Birthday:

February 8th (Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States)

Why not the date the first Confederate state succeed, December 20th?

Height:

6’1”

I don’t really have a problem with that, but he’s weirdly taller than America, who is 5′9.”

I just realized America is only two inches taller than me. That’s kinda wild. But, I’m also just a tall young woman. I’m taller than a lot of people.

Weight:

170lbs

Languages:

Various - primarily English

List those various languages. He could speak Klingon for all I know.

Current Residence:

Charleston, South Carolina

Governments:

Confederation Republic (1861-1865), Federal Republic (1787-Present)

There’s a contradiction there. By this information, he used the federal government used by the United States while also using the Confederate’s government simultaneously. So that’s interesting.

Religions:

Catholic, Evangelical, Methodist, Baptist. In the modern day he has developed significant non-Christian populations.

So he has several religions?? Those are all Christian denominations, so it would probably just be easier to say Christian with varying beliefs. I could call myself that as well, minus the Evangelical bit, because I believe in human rights, but we’re not here to talk about my religious beliefs. We’re here to tear apart this questionable OC.

Contents

Appearance Basic Bio Family Relationships and History Trivia Pages of Interest America England and France

Oh, let’s hope some research has been done. It’s clear a base level of research has been done, because there are some dates that do match up with history, but a lot of this is full of interesting holes. Let’s see if that continues.

Appearance

A young man with blonde hair and gray-blue eyes; he had a love of fancy uniforms in his younger days, but now dresses in the same "modern" style as the rest of the country. He had longer hair in his youth, but since his decimation by the North has now cut it. His current image still seems a little privileged, but he has a reputation as a redneck and hard worker as well.

Okay, so, the grey-blue eyes bit is interesting, because of the colors of the Union and Confederacy uniforms, grey and blue respectively, so that’s a nice bit of representation, I suppose. Apart from that, why did he have longer hair? I can’t find any supporting information regarding hairstyles in the Confederacy, but men usually wore their hair short back then, if I remember correctly. I suppose the most I have to say about that is a little bit of nitpicking.

I don’t care much about the hard working bit, that’s fine. That’s just a character trait that could be said about many characters in Hetalia. The redneck bit is what I wanna talk about. I am not from the South, I am from the Midwest, but let me tell you, since I’m from farm country (Iowa), we have rednecks up here as well. My point is, something that rednecks from here and the South have in common is one thing in particular: racism. ‘Redneck’ is a word often used interchangeably with racial intolerance. I know not all people who do farm work are racist, but I can’t really think of anyone who could be described as a redneck that isn’t conservative as all hell.

So that’s just a really fancy way of saying your OC is a racist asshole. Good to know.

Basic Bio

He was a conflicted young nation whose peoples seemed unable to get along. In his early years, he housed large plantation owners as well as "small" slave owners, independent farmers, slaves, free blacks and Northern immigrants.

Northern as in Canadian? Because if someone moves from one state to another while still remaining in the same country, that doesn’t make them an immigrant.

Since he housed so many peoples, he often disagreed with the minority, whites-only government - and with himself - suffering breakdowns from internal divisions and his constituent states' desire for independent government. Despite his polite debutante manner, he has a prideful (and sometimes rebellious) streak and can't stand the idea of North (USA) dictating what he does.

Okay. But that isn’t what the Confederacy stood for. The Confederacy was a white supremacist group, primarily. They believed white people were superior to black people. That was their literal ideology. It was centrally based "upon the great truth that the black man is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition."

According to a historian, “The statesmen who led the secession movement were unashamed to explicitly cite the defense of slavery as their prime motive. Acknowledging the centrality of slavery to the Confederacy is essential for understanding the Confederate.”

That was the ideology of the Confederacy. It wasn’t just the South wanting to have independence because they were rebellious and didn’t want to be controlled. They wanted independence because they didn’t want their slaves taken away, and Lincoln was going to do that. Their motivations were self-serving and racist. Hell, the Confederate Constitution was full of racist rhetoric.

But ‘oh, no, he didn’t agree with everything his people, the ones he’s supposed to represent, believe. Only the good parts.’ Sorry, but you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. That period of history was horrific, and you can’t just gloss over the atrocities committed by the Confederacy towards Black people by saying “he didn’t agree with everything and suffered breakdowns over conflicting thoughts.”

Also, it was not a minority of people who believed that. There was a rise in Southern nationalism in the lead up to the war, and they unanimously supported a pro slavery presidential candidate. This character description is trying to put a time in history that should not be viewed with sympathy into a sympathetic light. It is downplaying the actual horrible beliefs the Confederacy had, and that frankly disgusts me.

Alex isn't intentionally cruel, unlike some of his people, and feels the pain of the slaves and a select few abolitionists. In many cases, he genuinely tries to relieve their suffering. However, he did have the same paternalistic attitude towards blacks as the wealthy white population - the same idea that they must work hard to be "saved." After the war, he learned - though slower than North would‘ve liked.

My jaw literally dropped. Nobody should have to work to be saved. That should go without saying. How in the fuck is that a ‘paternalistic attitude?’ I literally have nothing to say to that other than ‘what the fuck?’

For his pride, he usually holds on to the views of his more historically-minded peoples or tries to stay neutral, though he is often unable to suppress the pains of the large minorities. He is soft-spoken in general,

I-- Have you ever met a redneck? They’re not really known for being very quiet.

though every bit as opinionated as his brother - he is annoyed by Yankees in general and refuses to truly pay attention to what they say. Though he was a spoiled southern gentleman before the Civil War, he toughened up during Reconstruction after losing the war. Now, he can't get enough of fried foods and has something of a redneck reputation.

I mean, the south is famous for comfort food, so I guess that makes sense. But again, the redneck bit is just saying he has a reputation of being a racist.

He is still bitter about the Civil War and North's claims to “superior morality”,

Excuse me? The idea that people shouldn’t be enslaved is very much superior to the idea that they should be. I hate this guy.

and has developed something of a preservationist complex that North is quick to dismiss and is attempting to destroy.

If this is about the removal of monuments of Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee, then yeah, those should be taken down. They glorify these men who stood for such racist things, and while they’re a part of history for sure, we don’t see monuments of Adolf Hitler standing, do we? He was a part of history. But we don’t glorify him. After the Nazi party was defeated, every trace of them was destroyed. Flags were torn down, as were statues and monuments, because A) that government no longer existed, and B) they stood for such hateful things. Nobody wanted them standing anymore.

The statues in the South that were removed were long overdue for removal, if you ask me.

Even now he feels some sectionalist loyalties and is more religious and conservative than the rest of the US.

Okay. So he is racist. I bet he doesn’t like trans people either. Damn those gays. Think of the children.

Because Alfred refused to acknowledge Alex as a separate country, America (and most other countries) has always called him "South." Alex refers to him as "North."

If I were Alfred, I’d call him ‘that guy who I thought died in that war.’

Because he should have.

Family Relationships and History

America

Alex’s older brother, with whom ha has a long and complicated relationship. Though the two have tried for a long time to reconcile their views, expansion into the West (amongst other things) brought the tensions between the two to the boiling point.

That is not what triggered the Civil War. Lincoln’s election was the tipping point.

Even after secession, Alex occasionally wished to return to the Union - even modeling his first flag after that of the USA somewhat.

There are still regional tensions between the two, but Alex has accepted their existence as a Union.

I mean, I suppose, if you’re talking about the first Confederate flag. We should probably mention that the second flag of the Confederacy has turned into a symbol of racism, because that was what it was when the Confederacy existed. I don’t think the southern states were remorseful.

England and France

Alex sought diplomatic recognition from these two leading powers by leveraging his cotton supply, but did not receive any. England switched to cotton supplies in Egypt and India and suffered a recession, but was glad to escape the political entanglements of recognizing the Confederacy. France had considerably more problems in refusing, but withstood them well enough.

France had no problems refusing. At all. The British had so much cotton from India and Egypt that they were exporting it to the French. The French straight up didn’t need the cotton from the Confederacy.

Let’s also note that the Confederacy failed miserably with any sort of diplomacy with France or England, as it tried to send diplomats to London and Paris and was then intercepted by the US Navy and forcibly sent back to Boston.

I must also note that some British and French politicians and monarchs expressed interest in recognizing the Confederacy, in order to at least mediate the war, but decided not to. They weren’t completely disconnected.

Although England had already abolished slavery and maintained neutrality, he wished the Confederacy luck in reconciling with America and advised him to go home, remembering the days of his own struggle with America.

The hell he did. The British were firmly anti-slavery, and even deployed the Royal Navy to patrol the oceans in order to stop slaving ships. England was not neutral in all of this, and supported the North. The British also started an anti-slavery convention in 1840, and abolitionists did speeches across the UK regarding the realities of American slavery. It was largely regarded as shameful and horrific. I’d imagine England would’ve sent him home in disgust rather than goodwill after learning what he was doing, at least going off of what historically actually happened regarding the spectacular failure of the Confederacy’s diplomatic attempts.

Trivia

He was in a coma during the military rule in the Reconstruction years, when the South had virtually no political power.

It would make more sense if he’d just died. I mean, Rome supposedly died after the fall of the Roman Empire in canon Hetalia.

His human name, is based on the way he fought for his people, it means Protector of Men.

You mean the way he fought for a racist ideology?

He is annoyed by Northerners - and the many Southerners - who don't recognize the "real" Confederate flag (see the link below).

Okay. There was the first Confederate flag, which looked like this:

I believe this is the one being referred to as the ‘real’ Confederate flag.

The one that looks like a blue x on a red background is the second iteration of the flag. It is just as much the Confederate flag as this one is, it’s just more well known. It is also more tightly associated with racist symbolism.

He loves jazz, blues, hard rock, country rock, bluegrass, and old country music (none of this newer country).

Hysterical to me that despite how racist he is, his favorite types of music are mostly music genres pioneered by black people. Then again, a lot of this originated from songs sung by slaves, so in a weird way that makes sense.

During the War for Southern Independence (as he knows it), he wore a simple officer’s uniform without rank on it but was quite the renowned sharpshooter.

Okay. It was not a war of independence. Let’s call a spade a spade. It was a war to keep slaves. That was literally what the leaders of the Confederacy said it was. That was the motivation. God, the point was missed by so much distance that you may as well have landed on the moon. I don’t think this person ever payed attention in history class, because the only way someone could be this goddamn ignorant is if that was the case.

Or they’re just trying to excuse their racist beliefs. That could also be possible.

Yikes. Just. Yikes.

This OC does not need to exist. Genuinely, it doesn’t. The complete misunderstanding of history was shocking and enraging, and just... bad. Bad is a good word. The casual, blasé racism, the fact that Alfred already represents the land he’s supposed to stand for. He’s a redundancy that doesn’t need to be here. I didn’t know such an insensitive character could exist, but here we are.

Yikes. That is all. Just yikes.

- Kat

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