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The Ideal Southern Beau
1. Is respectful of all females regardless of age, color, class, or region -- but especially Southern
ones
2. Owns land
3. Is a responsible employer conscientious about creating jobs and maintaining steady employment of those for whom he
is responsible [unlike the 'Master of the Universe' type of executives who lose no sleep over laying off, firing and downsizing;
destroying lives; or collecting undeserved bonuses]
4. Is not an unthinking superpatriot [Margaret Mitchell got this almost right when she created a Rhett Butler who didn't
enlist in the doomed Confederate Army until it was too late to matter. Exactly right would have been a Rhett who didn't enlist
because the Confederacy fought for slavery.]
5. Is noble in character if not in title
Not all heroes are fictional. Or young.
This is civil rights crusader Morris Dees, co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Council.
Under Dees´ leadership, the SPLC conducts pro bono legal work to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights
Act of 1965. It has been a frequent antagonist of the Ku Klux Klan, having "bankrupt[ed] several Klan organizations" according
to the SPLC website (http://www.splcenter.org/), and has put other white supremacist organizations, such as the Aryan Nations, out of business.
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