It is hard to believe that any American could hear “Dixie” without thinking Confederates sang it in the Civil War and racist Southerners like those in the KKK still do. Yet I have heard Southerners defend waving the Stars and Bars and claim they are honoring bootleggers who fled from “revenooers” (IRS agents). They swore it wasn’t racist. I think singing “Dixie” and waving the Stars and Bars and denying racism show the power of cognitive dissonance.