Fridge Brilliance
- Part of the reason for the documentary's strong negative light is the fact that it's made by the British Broadcasting Service, and the Brits aren't terribly fond of the CSA given their neutrality with Hitler during World War II. Of course, there's also the fact that the CSA's a slave-holding nation that treats minorities like chattel. The fact that the documentary's controversial in the CSA because of its viewpoint is touched upon in the introduction.
- The UK abolished slavery well before the US, and was generally more progressive than the US regarding race relations, so that seems about right.
- Kennedy as a Republican? Well, during the Civil War era and all the way up until The Great Depression, the Democrats were to the right on minority issues in U.S. politics, and the Republicans the more Liberal/left-leaning on that front. That the roles of the Civil War era remained intact in-universe isn't that improbable, nor the fact that the Northern Democrats (who on account of sympathies with the South advocated "peace" and opposed reconstruction) end up becoming Les Collaborateurs to the Confederates.
- The Southern white supremacists weren't exactly fond of Irish Catholics either, who were, ironically, a base for the Northern Democrats. The Union Army recruited Irish Catholics fleeing the Potato Famine, granting immediate citizenship in exchange for their enlistment, and without Reconstruction, the Irish Catholic base might have shifted to the Republicans instead of being a solid one for the Democrats (generally a party for white immigrants).
- While hilarious in their own right, when you watch the film, the hyper-fixation on slaves and racist caricatures might confuse those watching the film for the first time, as in modern America, we don’t hyper-fixate on one thing. The reason every commercial is using these racist things in their commercials is because the C.S.A. culture was so vapid by 2004, that they had nothing else to use to sell products other than their country’s one claim to fame, and one bit of culture…propaganda!
- Japan as an Allied power in WWII? Makes perfect sense considering that they were an Allied power in WWI and that an alliance between Germany and the CSA would make Japan superfluous to Hitler.
- Hispanics are one of the very few, if not the only ethnic minority spared enslavement by the Confederacy, instead being subject to apartheid. While it might seem jarring that the ultra-racist, white supremacist, Confederacy would spare any minorities, it makes more sense when you realize that most Hispanics are either entirely white, or mixed European and Native American (another ethnic group implied to have been spared enslavement). It's likely that that the CSA view Latinos as "tainted" or "lesser" whites rather than as human livestock and therefore decided that they instead have to simply be segregated rather than enslaved.
- It could also be a case of Pragmatic Villainy since Latin America is several times the size of the core CSA. Perhaps even the Confederates realize that governing an entire continent made of up of somewhat developed nations that are confirmed to have put up a decent fight against the CSA's conquest would be a nightmare if they tried to outright enslave its inhabitants.
- How did Abraham Lincoln survive to the age of 96 to do a film interview, complete with sound, in 1905, more than twenty years before such technology was invented? Well, he is in exile in Montreal, and the film indicates that, due to the serious brain drain from the CSA, Canada is rapidly advancing past the CSA technologically. So perhaps by that time, Canada has become advanced enough to develop medical science to keep a heavily ill man alive well into his nineties. Also, the film interview is actually a case of Genius Bonus and Shown Their Work, as attempts at sound film have existed as early as the late 19th century, but these early attempts were stilted and awkward with the sound heavily out of sync. The same is true with the clip shown, where the lip syncing is heavily flawed.
- The notion of Union soldiers running away without fighting seems far fetched and more so Grant surrendering at the White House so quickly and not being loyal to Lincoln. The surrender at the White House doesn't even show an attempt of a doomed pathetic last stand but simply shows Grant openly welcoming the Confederate forces and signing a document. In other words, it's very likely Grant betrayed Lincoln intentionally and the "cowardly" Union forces fleeing without fighting was an intentional retreat! In this alternate reality it's probable through the diplomacy that convinced France and Britain to intervene while bypassing the issue of slavery through loopholes also likely convinced Grant that the war was no longer about saving the Union!
- Throughout the film, it is shown that the white supremacist Confederate America has a bland and stagnant culture that pretty much amounts to racist propaganda, while Canada, which embraces racial diversity, is thriving culturally. If you're at all familiar with Metropolitan Opera history, then you'll know that most of the great opera stars of the 20th century were Italians, Jews, and, in the latter half of the 20th century, black people, all of whom the Confederates would have spurned as foreigners or, in the case of blacks, slaves. Therefore, it's possible that in this Alternate History, in addition to jazz and rock music, opera has also thrived in Canada, with an alternative Metropolitan Opera House being built in one of the larger cities of Canada and opera singers like Enrico Caruso (who was Italian), Ezio Pinza (who was also Italian), Richard Tucker, Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill (Tucker, Peerce, and Merrill were Jewish), and Leontyne Price (who was black) making big names there instead of the horrendously racist CSA.
- Canada being a much stronger nation, and strong enough to pose a threat to the Confederate States of America, makes sense for several reasons:
- The Confederacy probably has far fewer immigrants than real-life America: Catholics are only barely tolerated, and Jewish people are outright banned from the rest of the nation except for a small area on Long Island. Even immigrants who would be considered "acceptable" by the Confederacy might straight-up despise it for pursuing a system of slavery. While Europeans in the late 19th century were not known for being racially tolerant, the vast majority of them were opposed to outright chattel slavery, would staunchly avoid immigrating to such a corrupt society. Thus the millions of immigrants who would've gone to America instead moved to Canada, which was more inclusive of a society.
- In the movie, it is stated that forcing slavery on the population is a massive economic drain on the Confederacy, which continues the practice for no other reason than ideology. Slave states are historically known for being much poorer than free states. With fewer economic opportunities, the Confederate States looks unattractive to anyone who isn't a mouth-foaming white supremacist. Canada, without the drain of slavery, seems like a much better option.
- On top of enslaving millions of people of African descent, the Confederate States forces millions of Hispanic people into what amounts to an apartheid state. The cost of having to police and subjugate so many people and forcing them to remain under second-class citizenship is a huge drain in terms of wealth and the number of people you need to police the population. Canada, a nation that has pursued interracial and multicultural unity, would be far more cohesive and willing to defend its nation than an empire of large numbers of oppressed subjects.
- Historically speaking the real-life Confederacy was notorious for its inept administration and lack of cohesion among the various state governors, who often asserted their "state's rights" mantra over contributing to the war effort. It is not said if the post-Confederate leadership was able to resolve these issues, but it wouldn't be surprising if these institutional problems persisted into the present.
- If we take in all of the above, it is clear that the Confederacy is very militarily weak and has been for some time. Throughout the documentary, the only nations the Confederacy has been able to conquer are weaker and poorer states. They do manage to win a war against Japan, but that was only because they had the atomic bomb. If a Confederate-Canada war did break out, this is what would occur:
- The rest of the world, which is said to despise slavery, would probably join in an anti-Confederate coalition, funding and backing Canadian defense and joining in, or intervening in the conflict itself.
- With millions of Confederate soldiers being sent to the fight Canada, the government wouldn't have enough soldiers to keep subjugating the population. You'd see large numbers of revolts break out among the slave and Hispanic populations. Heck, some of the Hispanics might start their own wars of secession. The outside world would be happy to throw money and guns behind these movements.
- Considering that the Confederate administration is very corrupt and incompetent, they would probably lose a lot of battles. Even if they conquered Canada, they would be stuck in a prolonged guerilla war with Canadians, one that the rest of the world would be happy to support. The average Confederate soldier has experience putting down a slave revolt, but that would not help them on an actual battlefield against a stronger nation.
- It is implied that many Confederates are beginning to reject the racism they've been taught to believe in. They already live in a poor society with few freedoms, and so pointless war that wastes their lives could be the last straw that drives them into revolt. Either they would be a part of some velvet revolution, they would themselves join the revolts.
- Even some state governments might themselves secede from the Confederacy.
- The Confederates are so insecure toward Canada, they have to build a massive border wall, labeled the Cotton Curtain, to (ostensibly) keep their slaves out, and considering the (implied) corruption and poverty of the CSA, it is obvious the wall is designed to keep their own white citizens from fleeing. This mirrors the insecurity many Real Life communist states felt about their capitalist counterparts.
- East Germany, while well off compared to other communist states, was still much poorer than West Germany. The Berlin Wall was built because East Germany was running out of people who kept fleeing to the capitalist West.
- Communist states felt deep insecurity toward their capitalist neighbors because their existence posed an existential threat to them: part of the reason for China's aggression toward Taiwan and North Korea's saber-rattling is that both nations see their nation's democracy and capitalism as a direct challenge to their ideology.
- The Confederate ideology is that non-white races are inferior, that black people should only exist to be used as chattel, that other "lesser" beings must be subjugated, and that "non-Christian" culture is obscene and should be banned. Canada, meanwhile, is a North American state that is a racially tolerant and culturally free society where nobody cares about things like your genetic profile. Canada isn't just an enemy to the Confederates, its prosperity and openness are an affront to the ideology holding the CSA together.
- John Ambrose Fauntroy lying about his racial ancestry makes a ton of sense. His is a Virginian patrician, and in Real Life history the political elites of Virginia passed the strictest anti-miscegenation law in the 1920s but created a "Pocahontas exception" since many of them were descended from Pocahontas and her tribe, hypocritically protecting themselves from their own horrible laws. There are many stories of Neo-Nazis and racists learning they have actual black ancestry.
- Confederate America's twin ideologies of "every white person should own slaves" and "every black person should be enslaved" came from Jefferson Davis' slave. Also, the African slave trade was brought back with the help of African leaders. This can be seen as a subtle swipe at the nonsense of white supremacy, since white people need the cooperation of some black people to achieve it.
- Suicide is described as sinful in the Bible. It is very fitting that Fauntroy V, a man who has misused Scripture to promote his twisted worldview, uses his last act on the Earth to indulge in one final act of hypocrisy.
Fridge Horror
- Horace most likely killed himself. We don't see him after he made his confession, and since he knew Fauntroy would punish him severely for derailing his campaign, he probably took his own life.
- Considering that slaves are constantly treated as racially inferior and domestic violence is trivialized in Confederate propaganda, it implies that the rampant abuse of women of both colors is not only tolerated but protected by the institutions of the state. A slave woman can be violated and have no legal recourse, but even if a free woman was raped or abused, society would either not punish her rapist or even blame her for "asking for it." In Ireland, innocent women who were raped could spend decades in abusive "Magdalene Laundries", so it isn't hard to imagine even free white women trapped in such institutions and forced into some kind of indentured servitude. Being the "right" color or religion will not save you from being persecuted by the state.
- In Real Life America, forced labor is allowed if used as punishment, hence the existence of convict labor. Considering that slavery, in all forms, is legal in the CSA, how often is prison labor used as punishment? Considering the CSA has public executions that are televised events, prisons in the Confederacy may also be draconian places replete with regimes of forced labor, even for white convicts. Even if you are a white man, you could still end up in some kind of indentured servitude.
- The life of a CSA slave is, to put it mildly, really bad. If they try and run away, they are given a pill that "cures" them of their "drapetomania". A medication that carries horrific side effects. Even when the cameras are rolling for outsiders, slaves are still subjected to physical abuse. The slave who gave the cameraman a note was (lightly) slapped, but imagine what he goes through behind closed doors.
- Historically, there were (and still are to a minor degree) severe abuses of black and mixed-race people in medicine, like the Tuskegee experiments. If the Confederates were willing to dope their slaves into submission, what other kinds of medical abuses happened to people with no rights to protect them, especially in a society that fully embraces racist pseudoscience? The implications get worse when the CSA had a friendly alliance with Nazi Germany, a nation infamous for inhumane medical experimentation.
- John Ambrose Fauntroy killed himself with a gun even before his test results came in. This implies one of two things: the racial classification system is at best incompetent since an "innocent" person can have their life destroyed by a simple accusation, or the system is downright corrupt, with rich and well-connected assholes who can game the system and proclaim themselves "white", and framing others as "impure." Or both are true: the system is corrupt and incompetent. How many people have had their lives destroyed, whether they had "impure" blood or not? And how many wealthy bastards can bribe the system to their own benefit?
- John Ambrose Fauntroy probably was lying about not having black ancestry. But there is another heartbreaking possibility: he genuinely didn't know was descended from a black slave. What if the reason he shot himself was not the end of his political career, but that he internalized his family's racism so much, he felt he didn't deserve to live as an impure man ? Fauntroy was a racist asshole but that's got to be a really horrible way to go: killing himself because he was brainwashed into believing he was inferior.
