I have lived in the South most of my life so I have heard this crap for a really long time. In the South, most people refer to the Civil War as "The Second Revolutionary War", "The Aggression by the North", and many others. But do not dare go up to a southerner and ever ask them if they want to discuss the Civil War. There is a simple reason for this, they do not recognize that war as the Civil War.
It is quite the thing to listen to people of the South talk about this war. Keep in mind these are the people that today proclaim to be the most patriotic Americans and yet they are still bitter that the Confederacy lost the Civil War.
I worked with a history teacher for a year that fits into this category. He will not even let the words "Civil War" cross his lips (unless he is teaching and even then he puts his spin on it).
These are the same people that get absolutely pissed off if someone living in this country displays a flag from their home country, all the while proudly displaying their Confederate flag for all to see.
I have two sons. They both really like the Confederate flag. I have explained to them what the flag truly represents, one has taken to this notion and no longer sees the flag as cool or rebellious. The other on the other hand comes up with excuse after excuse for why he still likes the Confederate flag. It does not fly with me. One day I hope he will see this but I will just have to wait and see.
I simply do not understand and never will why people in the South are so bullheaded when it comes to the Civil War. They want to pretend that close to 150 years later the flag stands for something other than hatred and racism. They essentially, from my best guess, have ignored how the flag has been used since the Civil War.
The truth is that the Civil War for the south represented much more than just slavery at that time and the flag was their symbol. But since that time the flag has been used to represent hatred and racism (and to identify a redneck or someone trying to be a redneck).
The thing that gets me is the younger generation that truly does not understand what the Civil War and what the Confederate flag represents today. This is one of the most difficult things with teaching kids history. They already come into class uninterested in the class and even if you manage to make the class fun and interesting it's unlikely that kids will truly understand these things.
We are fast approaching the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and sadly there are segments in the South that still do not recognize or believe that the South lost. These are the people you see at the Tea Parties. These are the people that proclaim that they are true Americans all the while holding a sign up that they have handwritten and misspelled America.
On a final note the same people that are still bitter about losing the Civil War are the same people that today are bitter that the GOP lost the presidential election. Lesson? The GOP is filled with very bitter sore losers that can hold grudges for large amounts of time.