Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Lies of Brooks Simpson

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I cannot help but wonder how somebody with such
questionable ethics could land such a responsible

position at a major state university. ~Connie Chastain
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I hadn't really planned to start tracking the lies of the Lyin' SOBs this soon, but Brooks Simpson has made himself hard to ignore. In the comment thread of a blog entry dated Dec. 29 and titled "Stirring the Pot," his mendacity is on conspicuous display.

He quotes part of a post I made at the Southern Heritage Preservation Group thusly:

Crossroads has a very recent post titled “Who Supports “Flagging” the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts?” and in which Professor Simpson engages in one of his favorite pasttimes — tarring people with the racist brush, in this case, the VMFA flaggers. I cannot convey to you how much I despise phony racism smears, particularly of good people like CC Lesters, Susan Frise Hathaway and others….

The professor replies with this:

Now, how did I tar the SNN with the “racist brush”? By mentioning that the flaggers were endorsed by SNN? By quoting Ms. Chastain’s good friend Dr. Hill? By mentioning that Ms. Chastain’s own blog heads the link list at SNN? By pointing to a flagger podcast with SNN? How is any of that racist?

Ah, no, perfesser, that's not how you wielded the fake-racism tar brush, but dealing with your questions will have to wait. Right now, I want to call my readers' attention to your claim that Dr. Hill is my "good friend."

It's a baldfaced lie.

And it is by no means the perfesser's first lie about moi. It's just the first one I've decided to devote an entire blog post to.

Not that I would object to calling Dr. Hill a good friend, if it were true. In fact, I'd be glad to acknowledge him as such, if he were. It just so happens that he isn't. He's an acquaintance of mine.

I've met Dr. Hill in person quite a number of times at public events, and "swapped howdies," as my Daddy used to say. I've heard him make speeches perhaps half a dozen times at some of those events.

I used to be a member of the League of the South, of which Dr. Hill is president, and I received quite a few emails from him during that time. They were virtually all mass mailings. Only a handful were to me personally, and even those were about League business.

From 2000 to 2004, I published a personal e-zine, 180 Degrees True South, a pop culture look at the proSouthern movement that featured its successes and failures, its movers and shakers, its critics and defenders -- which sometimes included articles about the League of the South or League events. Occasionally, Dr. Hill himself was the subject. A few times, I received emails or comments in my guest book from him, always about the content of 180 DTS articles.

Since Dr. Hill joined Facebook and friended me several weeks ago, he has made a few comments to and/or about me, some of them quite complimentary, which I appreciated very much.

I dunno. Maybe in the perfesser's world, those things are what constitutes good friendship. Maybe it's drafty and cold and lonely way up there in the Ivory Tower, and nearly anything can look like "good friendship" from that distance. Pathetic, huh? But my concept of good friend is more than minimal contact, mostly via the Internet, with an acquaintance, however personable and admirable I think he or she may be....

I suspect Dr. Hill would also be very surprised to find out that he and I are good friends.... Perhaps he will let me know if/when he reads this.

Now, I'll admit this is not a huge lie. It's not a lie of much consequence, for me, anyway. It's no skin off my nose to be called Dr. Hill's good friend. Presumably, it's no skin of his nose, either.

It just simply isn't true. Which makes Brooks Simpson a liar.

Which leads to the question ... why? What makes somebody lie the way Brooks Simpson does? (And he does, frequently.) Yes, this particular lie isn't of any consequence for me, but any lie is of consequence to the liar, whether they may realize it or not.

So, what do you suppose it is? Could it be as I've already alluded to, that the professor is so inexperienced in human relations that he doesn't know the difference between good friendship and acquaintanceship? Or does he know and he's "confusing" them on purpose to make a point? And if so, what point? Does he imagine that because he holds (or feigns) a bad impression of Dr. Hill, that everyone does? And thus, Dr. Hill is somebody he can use to smear others, by association?

And why this obsession with tarring and smearing people, anyway -- to the point of telling baldfaced lies, even when they turn out to be of no consequence? The obsession to smear others -- particularly with society's witch-hunt issues, of which "racism" is a major one these days -- is sometimes an indicator of a person's feelings of uncertainty about their own morality. Could that explain it, at least partly?

Whatever may be his motivating factor, I cannot help but wonder how somebody with such questionable ethics could land such a responsible position at a major state university.

It's a little creepy, when you think about it. Are all faculty at our nation's institutes of higher learning held to such a low ethical standard? Or are liars like Professor Brooks Simpson the exception rather than the rule?

(Photos: Dreamstime and Public Domain Pictures)

7 comments :

  1. It is true...he is a professor at Arizona State University. I contacted the president's office about his blog....here is the response......I look forward to the Dean and head of the History Department's response.

    Dear Mr. Hall:

    Thank you for your e-mail to President Crow. I was asked to reply on his behalf. ASU is a public institution that promotes the free exchange of ideas and opinions and it is not within the purview of the university to regulate the content of personal blogs. Thank you again for taking the time to write.

    Sean Storrs
    Constituent Communications Coordinator
    Arizona State University
    Office of the President
    480-965-9582
    sean.storrs@asu.edu
    htttp://president.asu.edu

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  2. The good perfesser likely doesn't understand real friendship. It is indeed flattering to me to be called a "good friend" to Miss Connie, a woman I've admired for some time now (Connie, I'm probably getting you in deeper trouble . . .). But she is correct; we are more good acquaintances than good friends. I, like most people, have only a few really "good friends." Most of them I've known for a long time (at least 20 years). Maybe it's just me, but I have to have a lot of experiences with someone to call them a "good friend." I think some folks throw the word around too loosely these days.

    Now, regarding the good perfesser's opinion of me . . . I am happy to be on his bad list, just like I'm happy to be on the SPLC's. It's a badge of honor to be despised by leftists of all stripes. So let him spew all the garbage he wishes . . . I'll continue to live well, God willing. And I hope you do, too, Miss Connie.--Michael Hill, President, The League of the South

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  3. Thank you, Dr. Hill, my very, *very* good acquaintance...

    Just one quick clarification. I ain't in trouble. Like you, I'm happy to be on the bad list of folks like that Lyin' SOB... LOL!

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  4. HOw many cars does one have to steal in order to be a car thief? 1. How many lies does one have to tell in order to be a liar? 1. People like Professor Simpson, however, have been propagating his falsehoods for so long that they have totally lost all concept of what the truth is, and have begun believing their own lies. A sad condition in which to find oneself! Thanks Connie for exposing these self-deluded for what they are! Keep standing for truth! Deo Vindice!

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  5. Connie, I like your attitude in the wake of this sad little man's attacks. There is so much that could be said about the various accusations he makes and the half-truths and lies he spouts, but the one you chose to focus on speaks volumes about the kind of folks who love to hate us. It must be an empty existence writing dust-collecting propaganda on the tax payer's dime for a living.

    In my experience at university (at both undergrad and grad levels) there are some good professors but they are the exceptions. When I went to the chair of my department with a solid example of racial bias and political indoctrination in the classroom I was totally dismissed. From what I have seen, the function of the US university is to advance the prevailing ideology of the US Empire - that being multicultural liberal-democracy. In this, the sad professor from Arizona State fits the bill perfectly.

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  6. Thanks for the comments, Michael. I've always had the sneaky suspicion that the folks who ridicule and denigrate Southerners -- and, of course, lie about us -- are motivated in large measure, by envy. Thanks to the feds and the yankee mentality that has become pervasive throughout much of the country, Dixie is the poorest part of the nation, resulting in a large portion of the population being the stereotypical hick focused on low-brow pursuits -- and *still* they envy us....

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