Backsass -- Quoth the Raven

ThERAven writes

(Quoting me) "There probably wouldn’t be any links to Southern Unionists on my page...."

And why is that?

Well, The Raven, I probably wouldn't put links to Southern Unionists on my page because I'm not interested. There are lots and lots of causes I'm just not interested in, and that's one of 'em. Capisci?

She continues:

That's right, Connie Chastain writes romance and "southern fiction", such as "southern Man", which "reveals the pernicious fallout of the sexual revolution, the dark underbelly of radical feminism". An anti-feminist, middle-aged woman living in rural Alabama? I'm shocked.

You're shocked? Well, no, actually, what you are, The Raven, is a bigot. A triple bigot, actually. You're prejudiced against (1) middle aged women, (2) rural folk and (3) Alabamians. It's always people who are quickest to point fingers and call others bigots who turn out to be the biggest bigots of them all. Although I have to wonder what this has to do with me, my novel and my website. I'm not middle-aged; I'm a Boomer. And I don't live in rural Alabama. I haven't lived in the Heart of Dixie since Nixon was in the White House. I live in west Florida, in an MSA with a population of roughly 500,000. Hardly rural.... And while I am adamantly opposed to radical feminism (that's the phrase on my website, The Raven -- radical feminism), I support women's rights. Betcha didn't know there's a difference, didja? Perhaps you need to have you reading comprehension skills tested and bolstered....

Folks, when you are dealing with critics, like The Raven here, who just make crap up as they go along, you have to realize, they don't care about truth and reality. They have talking points they must push...

She sez:

This is how you describe yourself: I'm a ninth-generation Southerner. Born in Georgia, I grew up a preacher's kid in Alabama, attended Alabama Christian College (now Faulkner University) and married a Louisiana boy....I'm a culturally conservative Christian but I don't write Christian romances, per se. I do write from a Christian worldview and with the motives of undergirding traditional morals and advancing noble and virtuous ideals.....the reason I write is to honor such men; in fact, to glorify them ... particularly Southern men, who are so often unfairly maligned in popular culture.

Looks like there's generations of fundamentalist Christian denialism running through your family tree, and all over your website. Charitably, I'd call that "marketing". You write pablum for nitwits. It ain't illegal, but don't confuse Levin's blog, or Andy Hall's or any other contentious provider of historical inquiry with "pop culture".

Oh, my -- to paraphrase Fritz Hollings, "There's too much assumin' going on heah!" -- not to mention a whole lot more bigot-ing. Folks, don'tcha just gotta wonder how she knows there's "generations of fundamentalist Christian denialism" running through my family tree -- based on reading sixty-one words? How do you suppose she knows that? Crystal ball? Chicken bones? Collect call to Miss Cleo? Or did she put her hands on her computer monitor and the "knowledge" just flowed up her arms and into her brain? In any case, she is claiming knowledge she can't possibly have -- claiming to know the religious beliefs of nine generations of a family, most of whom are long since deceased....

And exactly how does she conceptualize "fundamentalist Christian denialism"? Does she really have a problem with traditional morals? Does she find noble, virtuous ideals offensive? If morality, nobility and virtue is "pablum for nitwits," then what does she approve of? Meatier stuff for lofty intellects... like iniquity? Exploitation? Baseness? Hedonism?

And where did she get the notion that I was confusing "Levin's blog, or Andy Hall's or any other contentious provider of historical inquiry with 'pop culture'"? Maybe The Raven's concept of "pop culture" is confined to civil war blogs, but that's just more erroneous "assumin'." (She seems to have an unlimited capacity for assumin', doesn't she, folks?) According to Wikipedia, the current meaning of "popular culture" is "culture for mass consumption, especially originating in the United States." Currently, blogs are too new to be more than a blip on the pop-culture radar screen, although that will likely change as the digital era progresses. However, when I say "pop culture" I'm talking about TV, movies, books, music, magazines, etc. And in those segments of the popular culture, Southern men -- Southern white men, anyway -- have indeed been disproportionally and unfairly maligned.

The Raven continues:

You want a real southern man? A man who exemplifies (your words)....real men who struggle not with imaginary foes, but the real demons that plague the human family. Give me heroes who are the flesh and blood sons of Adam struggling to live up to the nobility of human nature and harness their less noble components. The best heroes are tough, sweet, loving men who take their responsibilities seriously -- men of principle, men of courage...

Real demons, you say? Look no farther than Robert Smalls, whose life is practically beyond imagination. Smalls is a real southern hero. Confederate traitors, starting with Lee, only deserved the end of a rope. Smalls fought hard, beat the odds, demonstrated courage under fire and went on to show great, almost saintly levels of compassion towards former oppressors. Smalls, like the 44th President of the United States, was a genuine Christian. Far more so than those who brandish the label.

This part was really fun to read. It's another example of this woman running off at her mouth about somthing she knows nothing about -- although, if she had checked out my website a bit more thoroughly, and watched the second video on the page for Southern Man, perhaps she would have caught on. (Or not.) My comments about men who struggle with real demons rather than imaginary foes is a reference to the sub-genre of paranormal romance, for which I have limited patience. You know, the novels featuring a were-wolf hero, or a vampire-hero or a space-alien hero or a demon-hero... I even read once about a hero who was a "were-python." No joke. It completely escapes me how these imaginary monstrosities could be considered romantic...

In any case, the "real demons that plague the human family" that I'm talking about on my website, and write about in my novels, are human frailties and weaknesses. In the case of Troy Stevenson, the protagonist of Southern Man, the demon is alcohol, and he faces it down and overcomes it, with the help of God, his faith, his family and his friends. This is the kind of pablum for nitwits that I write -- overcoming personal weaknesses and failings. Obviously, The Raven doesn't recognize the demons that plague humanity-- unless they have an element of racial oppression to them.

More from The Raven:

This is truth vs. lies. Robert Smalls ain't exactly in the SVC honor roll. Your so-called "traditional morals" were used to sanction slavery and here you are, ten years into the 21st century, a volunteer SVC propagandist. You've got a vested interest in ignorance. I understand you've got to earn a living, so go write your pulp nonsense.

Once again, I have to wonder how she knows what MY traditional morals are -- but does she really think a man and wife committed to each other in love, and committed to raising good, decent children is a sanctioning of slavery? Because that's partly what I mean by traditional morals. Is a man committed to making his community better somehow "sanctioning slavery"? Because that's also part of my concept of traditional morals. How about living up to the principles of honesty, integrity, and personal responsibility? Is that sanctioning slavery? I'll freely admit it -- I'm completely mystified by what The Raven would consider "traditional morals." However she may conceptualize it, though, she needs to realize that she cannot mind-read what this term means to others and stop projecting her erroneous concept onto them.

Her parting shot:

Just don't expect anyone who thinks for a living to take you seriously.

Obviously, I don't have to worry about being taken seriously by The Raven. Anybody who lets their runaway emotions bounce them off the wall from one knee-jerk assumption to another -- as we have seen demonstrated here in her post to me -- is not thinking for a living.