Indeed. Especially when you consider that the black hole of rank dishonesty formed by Andy, his "era" blog and his circuit-riding visits to other flogger comment threads already fills the whole flippin' state.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
In Texas, Black Holes Are BIG!
Indeed. Especially when you consider that the black hole of rank dishonesty formed by Andy, his "era" blog and his circuit-riding visits to other flogger comment threads already fills the whole flippin' state.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Floggers Flogging ... and A Question for the Newbie
Kevin Levin Can't Get Enough of Flogging Tripp Lewis
He's posted a video of Lewis at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, standing up for the honor of his Confederate ancestors in the face of official callousness.
Levin says, "....no one in the office has the least bit of interest in what he insists is a case of vandalism and disrespect." And he says, "It’s a desperate plea for attention..."
I left a comment that included, "You have identified the problem without meaning to, and without understanding it." And, "This is no more 'a desperate plea for attention' than 'memory' blogging is."
Of course he didn't post my comment....
Dare I note -- Kevin Levin's perception of the quality of the film is not reasonable or proper criteria for determining whether the film-maker got a model release from the cemetery personnel. It's just another evidence that his true purpose is to showcase Southern heritage folks in the worst possible way.
Tripp and his video have made Levin extremely surly, haven't they?
A Question for Flogger Mackey That Will Likely Never Be Answered
Regarding "diversity ," is an individual preference for the dissimilar morally superior to an individual preference for the similar?
Ya know, Mackey, you are slightly, very slightly, less offensive when using your real name than you were while protected by an anonymous screen handle at CRR. Does CRR still exist, BTW?
A Recap of the Verbal Massacre of David Tatum
For those who still don't understand what's going on, here's a quick recap.
David Tatum posted a picture and a comment to his friends at the Southern Heritage Preservation Group on Facebook. His comments are his opinion, to which he is entitled.
HIS. OPINION.
TO. WHICH. HE. IS. ENTITLED.
Anybody wanna argue with that?
Brooks Simpson went to the SHPG, copied David's post, which doesn't have a flippin' thing to do with Simpson or his odious blog, took it back to Crossroads and posted it there for two malicious reasons -- (1) so he and his comment-thread bots could get their rocks off by ridiculing somebody, and (2) to create hatred for David and, by extension, all Southern heritage folks.
The notion that Simpson, his reader-bots and his fellow floggers are simply interested in correcting erroneous history is obliterated once and for all by visiting a blog post and comment thread like the one at Crossroads where David Tatum is verbally flogged.
Due in part to this kind of word massacre, I suspect Simpson harbors a great deal of apathy for history itself. It's something that strokes his ego (getting him on TV and into symposiums and on panels and crap like that). But what history really is for him is a device, an instrument, for ridiculing people ... for mocking what he presents as their inferior intelligence, deficient education and questionable ethics. He will lie to create that exquisite pleasure in himself, if necessary. And it must be necessary a lot because he lies nearly every time he posts about Southern heritage folks.
His pattern is to go for a while without targeting Southern heritage. Presumably, the comments of his bots are sufficient to stroke his ego until, well, until they aren't sufficient anymore. That's when he "tiptoes" through the Internet, stalking Southern heritage victims to take back to the dungeon at Crossroads so he and his minions can indulge in a gratifying orgy of ridicule and hatred that so feeds their needy little egos....
He's posted a video of Lewis at Oakwood Cemetery in Richmond, standing up for the honor of his Confederate ancestors in the face of official callousness.
Levin says, "....no one in the office has the least bit of interest in what he insists is a case of vandalism and disrespect." And he says, "It’s a desperate plea for attention..."
I left a comment that included, "You have identified the problem without meaning to, and without understanding it." And, "This is no more 'a desperate plea for attention' than 'memory' blogging is."
Of course he didn't post my comment....
Follow up ** Follow up *** Follow up
How do we know the floggers aren't as interested in history as they are in attacking, denigrating, mocking and deriding Southern heritage? Let's do a follow up to Kevin Levin's most recent attack on Tripp Lewis.
In the blog post referenced above, Levin writes, "... I have no doubt that they did not ask the female employee for her permission to post the video."
He has no doubt. His no-doubt was formed in ignorance, since he made no effort to verify his claim either with Lewis or the woman who works in the cemetery office.
However, after the post had been up a day or so, the maker of the video posted in the comment thread,
In the blog post referenced above, Levin writes, "... I have no doubt that they did not ask the female employee for her permission to post the video."
He has no doubt. His no-doubt was formed in ignorance, since he made no effort to verify his claim either with Lewis or the woman who works in the cemetery office.
However, after the post had been up a day or so, the maker of the video posted in the comment thread,
I am the film maker that made this documentary. You are wrong. Upon concluding this shoot, before leaving, I had everyone sign a release. To not do so is illegal. I am a professional. You have my permission to share this video but do not make unsubstantiated claims.
Levin replies,
Thanks for confirming that. It's a reasonable question given the quality of the film. For all I know it was shot using an iPhone. I don't need your permission to share this video. You apparently uploaded it to Vimeo and made no adjustments to the sharing options. As a "project" this is a joke.
Dare I note -- Kevin Levin's perception of the quality of the film is not reasonable or proper criteria for determining whether the film-maker got a model release from the cemetery personnel. It's just another evidence that his true purpose is to showcase Southern heritage folks in the worst possible way.
Tripp and his video have made Levin extremely surly, haven't they?
A Question for Flogger Mackey That Will Likely Never Be Answered
Regarding "diversity ," is an individual preference for the dissimilar morally superior to an individual preference for the similar?
Ya know, Mackey, you are slightly, very slightly, less offensive when using your real name than you were while protected by an anonymous screen handle at CRR. Does CRR still exist, BTW?
A Recap of the Verbal Massacre of David Tatum
For those who still don't understand what's going on, here's a quick recap.
David Tatum posted a picture and a comment to his friends at the Southern Heritage Preservation Group on Facebook. His comments are his opinion, to which he is entitled.
HIS. OPINION.
TO. WHICH. HE. IS. ENTITLED.
Anybody wanna argue with that?
Brooks Simpson went to the SHPG, copied David's post, which doesn't have a flippin' thing to do with Simpson or his odious blog, took it back to Crossroads and posted it there for two malicious reasons -- (1) so he and his comment-thread bots could get their rocks off by ridiculing somebody, and (2) to create hatred for David and, by extension, all Southern heritage folks.
The notion that Simpson, his reader-bots and his fellow floggers are simply interested in correcting erroneous history is obliterated once and for all by visiting a blog post and comment thread like the one at Crossroads where David Tatum is verbally flogged.
Due in part to this kind of word massacre, I suspect Simpson harbors a great deal of apathy for history itself. It's something that strokes his ego (getting him on TV and into symposiums and on panels and crap like that). But what history really is for him is a device, an instrument, for ridiculing people ... for mocking what he presents as their inferior intelligence, deficient education and questionable ethics. He will lie to create that exquisite pleasure in himself, if necessary. And it must be necessary a lot because he lies nearly every time he posts about Southern heritage folks.
His pattern is to go for a while without targeting Southern heritage. Presumably, the comments of his bots are sufficient to stroke his ego until, well, until they aren't sufficient anymore. That's when he "tiptoes" through the Internet, stalking Southern heritage victims to take back to the dungeon at Crossroads so he and his minions can indulge in a gratifying orgy of ridicule and hatred that so feeds their needy little egos....
Al Mackey, New Flogger (Tentative)
(Keep Staying With Me, Folks ... You'll See Where We're Headed Soon)
I have provisionally added Al Mackey to the Flogging Bloggers, as seen below, on the basis of a post at his blog, Student of the American Civil War, titled Why Are Neoconfederates Akin to Al Qaeda? (Answer: they aren't. But we'll get back to that in a minute) and on his tendency to echo the content of other flogger blogs -- just like current floggers do....
Mackey's post prompts realization of the necessity of a sub-paragraph for Godwin's Law ("As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1") or, perhaps, a companion law-- call it Connie's Law -- which states, "As an online discussion of Southern heritage by floggers and their echo-bots in comment threads grows, the probability of a comparing white Southerners, heritage advocates, etc., to Al Qaeda and/or other terrorists, approaches 1".
Heritage advocates, when they cheer death at all, cheer the deaths of soldiers in a barbaric army that invaded the Southern states, made war on war on women, children, the elderly, servants and other noncombatants, burned homes, barns, farms, crops in the field, and entire towns, shot pets just for the fun of it, killed livestock and threw the carcasses in streams and wells to contaminate the water, stabled horses in church sanctuaries to show contempt for the religion of Southerners (and for God), and dug up corpses looking for valuables to steal. In short, they cheer the death of those who exhibited Al Qaeda-like behavior a century and a half ago....
Speaking of Al Qaeda-like behavior -- here's a partial list of Southern towns destroyed by the army from the north, most of them by burning... Notice how many occurred in fall and winter, forcing civilians to face freezing temperatures without provisions.
Mackey starts right in carping on race, thus revealing his flogger post-civil rights race obsession.. He does a copy-paste of a Facebook post wherein a heritage advocate asks residents of the South to help out a northern friend wanting to move south. The post says the northerner is looking to stay away from big cities with "diversity" problems.
Mackey sez, "Notice how 'diversity' is a bad thing, and the goal is to get away from it." This is from a man whose county of residence, Cumberland County, PA, is 91.5% white... (By contrast, the county where I live is 71% white and 23% black. Hmmmm.)
I wonder whether his Facebook friend list is as blindingly white as those of some other floggers.
The stench of racial hypocrisy that wafts from flogger cyberspace will burn the rhinal cavaties raw... (Pssst, Al -- America's most dangerous cities are also among its most diverse.)
I wonder how Mackey (and the other floggers, for that matter) would answer this question: "Is an individual preference for the dissimilar morally superior to an individual preference for the similar?" (I'll let you know how I answer this in a later post.)
In any case, Mr. Mackey looks like he'll be a very appropriate addition to the Flogging Bloggers. I'd say "welcome" but, well, you know, I'm not really into welcoming haters and liars....
If there's one thing Brooks Simpson does really, really badly, it's lie. He does it so much, you'd think he'd get better at it. But no. After the entry above about Al Mackey's provisionary inclusion as a flogger, Simpson couldn't resist posting about me at his blog. Let's look at some of the lies -- and the truth beneath them:
(1) I found her too easy of a target, and thus boring. Translation: "She skeers me. She's less interested in history and more interested in motives, agenda and character of us "civil war" bloggers -- which won't bear much scrutiny before the "real us" comes though -- and our motives, agenda and character ain't pretty, folks."
(2) Not to feed her increasingly desperate and shrill cries for attention seemed a wise idea. Translation: "She has got me, my slimy ethics and my sleazy motives down pat. I don't want her exposing my peanut gallery of worshipful comment-thread bots to that reality."
(3) I find her blog humorous (she’s quite interested in noting my visits, perhaps because she lives for that sort of thing). Translation: "She pisses me off to no end because she soooo has me pegged. Of course, she only made note of my visit after I lied and said I wasn't skeered of her, just bored. Obviously, I'm not bored, or I'd never visit her blog, humorous or not. And I do visit it. Often."
(4) It is something to be the object of such intense hatred, anger, and scorn from someone who apparently otherwise has problems living a life worth living. Translation: "Since I don't know anything about her life outside the internet, and I'm self-deluded about what she says and does online, I'm obviously lying again. I do know that for demonstrating intense hatred, anger and scorn, I am the undisputed and unchallenged leader. The difference between us is that I viciously attack; she vigorously defends."
(5) Make of this what you will. Translation: "If I say stuff like this, maybe my dupes and sycophants won't 'make out of it' that she's telling the truth."
Let me close the update with a few responses directly to Brooks Devious Simpson and some of his bots: :
(A) David Tatum made no mockery of the final resting places of American fighting personnel, except for barbaric damnyankee union federalist soldiers who invaded the South for no good reason and laid it waste. And I don't for a minute believe the indignation paraded by your comment bots is genuine. It's all done to feed egos needy for the pleasurable sensation of ridiculing others.
(B) Attending a Southern college does not constitute "significant Southern ties." That's a yankee understanding of "tie" (not to mention "Southern".) Being a ninth generation Southerner, having lived all over the South, feeling an inexplicable bond with the region... these, and more, constitute significant Southern ties, although attempting to explain it further to someone who cannot understand is futile.
(C) For Simpson and his comment-bot Foskett -- I've exhibited no dishonorable humor about, and mocked no sacrifices of, men and women who fought for the freedom I enjoy. Neither of you could copy and paste said dishonorable humor or mockery if your life depended on it, because it doesn't exist. (Foskett, what do you know about Love at Lake Lucy? Nothing? Following in your idol Simpson's footsteps in judging something you know nothing about? Exactly what I'd expect from a prejudiced bigot such as yourself.)
(D) Simpson, your comment, "...it takes a special kind of person to harbor such intense hatred for everyone else..." is a marvelously candid self-revelation for you! I'm surprised you'd do it! No, really! Oh, I'm not surprised you'd attempt to dishonestly project it onto someone else, though. Even your "...especially when she lacks a following of her own. It’s called envy … a very bitter envy," is self-revealing. I have a following. It's small, but growing, and made of good, decent folks. I'd much rather have my following than yours. Believe me, I am not a bit envious of your bots who betray their need to boost their egos with ridicule of others. You can have 'em.
(E) As for how my white ancestors treated the Cherokee -- some of 'em married 'em. I'm surprised you'd link to your false "research" into my family. Aside from the fact that doing "research" into my family history is bizarre on the face of it, indeed, bordering on unhinged, I've already proved that your research is artfully crafted to leave out facts and truth ... in other words, it's the deceitful fruit of your overwhelming desire to mock and deride me for the enjoyment of your bots. It had to be for them because it didn't insult me since I already knew the truth about Benjamin Chastain....For the curious, see How a Professor of History Does ... History?
Remember, folks. Stay with me. This is headed somewhere real, real good.
UPDATED -- See Update Below
I have provisionally added Al Mackey to the Flogging Bloggers, as seen below, on the basis of a post at his blog, Student of the American Civil War, titled Why Are Neoconfederates Akin to Al Qaeda? (Answer: they aren't. But we'll get back to that in a minute) and on his tendency to echo the content of other flogger blogs -- just like current floggers do....
Mackey's post prompts realization of the necessity of a sub-paragraph for Godwin's Law ("As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1") or, perhaps, a companion law-- call it Connie's Law -- which states, "As an online discussion of Southern heritage by floggers and their echo-bots in comment threads grows, the probability of a comparing white Southerners, heritage advocates, etc., to Al Qaeda and/or other terrorists, approaches 1".
Heritage advocates, when they cheer death at all, cheer the deaths of soldiers in a barbaric army that invaded the Southern states, made war on war on women, children, the elderly, servants and other noncombatants, burned homes, barns, farms, crops in the field, and entire towns, shot pets just for the fun of it, killed livestock and threw the carcasses in streams and wells to contaminate the water, stabled horses in church sanctuaries to show contempt for the religion of Southerners (and for God), and dug up corpses looking for valuables to steal. In short, they cheer the death of those who exhibited Al Qaeda-like behavior a century and a half ago....
Speaking of Al Qaeda-like behavior -- here's a partial list of Southern towns destroyed by the army from the north, most of them by burning... Notice how many occurred in fall and winter, forcing civilians to face freezing temperatures without provisions.
And, of course, this list does not include the thousands upon thousands of private homes, barns, farms, crops -- even farm implements -- that were plundered and burned by the yankee army's acts of terrorism.Osceola, Missouri,
burned to the ground, September 24, 1861
Dayton, Missouri, burned,
January 1 to 3, 1862
Columbus, Missouri, burned,
reported on January 13, 1862
Bentonville, Arkansas,
partly burned, February 23, 1862
Winton, North Carolina,
burned, reported on February 21, 1862
Bluffton, South Carolina,
burned, reported June 6, 1863
Bledsoe's Landing, Arkansas,
burned, October 21, 1862
Hamblin's, Arkansas,
burned, October 21, 1862
Donaldsonville, Louisiana,
partly burned, August 10, 1862
Athens, Alabama,
partly burned, August 30, 1862
Randolph, Tennessee,
burned, September 26, 1862
Elm Grove and Hopefield, Arkansas,
burned, October 18, 1862
Napoleon, Arkansas,
partly burned, January 17, 1863
Mound City, Arkansas,
partly burned, January 13, 1863
Hopefield, Arkansas,
burned, February 21, 1863
Eunice, Arkansas, burned, June 14, 1863
Gaines Landing, Arkansas,
burned, June 15, 1863
Sibley, Missouri,
burned June 28, 1863
Hernando, Mississippi,
partly burned, April 21, 1863
Austin, Mississippi,
burned, May 23, 1863
Columbus, Tennessee,
burned, reported February 10, 1864 Meridian, Mississippi,
destroyed, February 3 to March 6, 1864
Washington, North Carolina,
sacked and burned, April 20, 1864 Hallowell's Landing, Alabama,
burned, reported May 14, 1864
Newtown, Virginia,
ordered to be burned May 30, 1864
Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia
burned, June 12, 1864
Rome, Georgia,
partly burned, November 11, 1864
Atlanta, Georgia,
burned, November 15, 1864
Camden Point, Missouri,
burned, July 14, 1864
Kendal's Grist-Mill, Arkansas,
burned, September 3, 1864
Shenandoah Valley, devastated,
reported October 1, 1864 by Sheridan
Griswoldville, Georgia,
burned, November 21, 1864
Somerville, Alabama,
burned, January 17, 1865
McPhersonville, South Carolina,
burned, January 30, 1865
Barnwell, South Carolina,
burned, reported February 9, 1865
Columbia, South Carolina,
burned, reported February 17, 1865
Winnsborough, South Carolina,
pillaged and partly burned, Feb 21, 1865
Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
burned, April 4, 1865
Mackey starts right in carping on race, thus revealing his flogger post-civil rights race obsession.. He does a copy-paste of a Facebook post wherein a heritage advocate asks residents of the South to help out a northern friend wanting to move south. The post says the northerner is looking to stay away from big cities with "diversity" problems.
Mackey sez, "Notice how 'diversity' is a bad thing, and the goal is to get away from it." This is from a man whose county of residence, Cumberland County, PA, is 91.5% white... (By contrast, the county where I live is 71% white and 23% black. Hmmmm.)
I wonder whether his Facebook friend list is as blindingly white as those of some other floggers.
The stench of racial hypocrisy that wafts from flogger cyberspace will burn the rhinal cavaties raw... (Pssst, Al -- America's most dangerous cities are also among its most diverse.)
I wonder how Mackey (and the other floggers, for that matter) would answer this question: "Is an individual preference for the dissimilar morally superior to an individual preference for the similar?" (I'll let you know how I answer this in a later post.)
In any case, Mr. Mackey looks like he'll be a very appropriate addition to the Flogging Bloggers. I'd say "welcome" but, well, you know, I'm not really into welcoming haters and liars....
** UPDATE ** UPDATE ** UPDATE ** UPDATE ** UPDATE ** UPDATE **
If there's one thing Brooks Simpson does really, really badly, it's lie. He does it so much, you'd think he'd get better at it. But no. After the entry above about Al Mackey's provisionary inclusion as a flogger, Simpson couldn't resist posting about me at his blog. Let's look at some of the lies -- and the truth beneath them:
(1) I found her too easy of a target, and thus boring. Translation: "She skeers me. She's less interested in history and more interested in motives, agenda and character of us "civil war" bloggers -- which won't bear much scrutiny before the "real us" comes though -- and our motives, agenda and character ain't pretty, folks."
(2) Not to feed her increasingly desperate and shrill cries for attention seemed a wise idea. Translation: "She has got me, my slimy ethics and my sleazy motives down pat. I don't want her exposing my peanut gallery of worshipful comment-thread bots to that reality."
(3) I find her blog humorous (she’s quite interested in noting my visits, perhaps because she lives for that sort of thing). Translation: "She pisses me off to no end because she soooo has me pegged. Of course, she only made note of my visit after I lied and said I wasn't skeered of her, just bored. Obviously, I'm not bored, or I'd never visit her blog, humorous or not. And I do visit it. Often."
(4) It is something to be the object of such intense hatred, anger, and scorn from someone who apparently otherwise has problems living a life worth living. Translation: "Since I don't know anything about her life outside the internet, and I'm self-deluded about what she says and does online, I'm obviously lying again. I do know that for demonstrating intense hatred, anger and scorn, I am the undisputed and unchallenged leader. The difference between us is that I viciously attack; she vigorously defends."
(5) Make of this what you will. Translation: "If I say stuff like this, maybe my dupes and sycophants won't 'make out of it' that she's telling the truth."
Let me close the update with a few responses directly to Brooks Devious Simpson and some of his bots: :
(A) David Tatum made no mockery of the final resting places of American fighting personnel, except for barbaric damnyankee union federalist soldiers who invaded the South for no good reason and laid it waste. And I don't for a minute believe the indignation paraded by your comment bots is genuine. It's all done to feed egos needy for the pleasurable sensation of ridiculing others.
(B) Attending a Southern college does not constitute "significant Southern ties." That's a yankee understanding of "tie" (not to mention "Southern".) Being a ninth generation Southerner, having lived all over the South, feeling an inexplicable bond with the region... these, and more, constitute significant Southern ties, although attempting to explain it further to someone who cannot understand is futile.
(C) For Simpson and his comment-bot Foskett -- I've exhibited no dishonorable humor about, and mocked no sacrifices of, men and women who fought for the freedom I enjoy. Neither of you could copy and paste said dishonorable humor or mockery if your life depended on it, because it doesn't exist. (Foskett, what do you know about Love at Lake Lucy? Nothing? Following in your idol Simpson's footsteps in judging something you know nothing about? Exactly what I'd expect from a prejudiced bigot such as yourself.)
(D) Simpson, your comment, "...it takes a special kind of person to harbor such intense hatred for everyone else..." is a marvelously candid self-revelation for you! I'm surprised you'd do it! No, really! Oh, I'm not surprised you'd attempt to dishonestly project it onto someone else, though. Even your "...especially when she lacks a following of her own. It’s called envy … a very bitter envy," is self-revealing. I have a following. It's small, but growing, and made of good, decent folks. I'd much rather have my following than yours. Believe me, I am not a bit envious of your bots who betray their need to boost their egos with ridicule of others. You can have 'em.
(E) As for how my white ancestors treated the Cherokee -- some of 'em married 'em. I'm surprised you'd link to your false "research" into my family. Aside from the fact that doing "research" into my family history is bizarre on the face of it, indeed, bordering on unhinged, I've already proved that your research is artfully crafted to leave out facts and truth ... in other words, it's the deceitful fruit of your overwhelming desire to mock and deride me for the enjoyment of your bots. It had to be for them because it didn't insult me since I already knew the truth about Benjamin Chastain....For the curious, see How a Professor of History Does ... History?
Remember, folks. Stay with me. This is headed somewhere real, real good.
Keep Staying With Me, Folks
The Case of the Wrong Picture
A wonderful example of verbal flogging found on Brooks D. Simpson's "Crossroads" Blog:
As of 11 p.m. or so on January 29, there were 36 comments following the above post. They can be found in their entirety here:
But I want to bring some of them individually to my readers' attention to showcase the hypocrisy, poor taste, and borderline (for some) and outright (for others) mendacity and falsehood contained therein.
I have to say that at first glance, it is mystifying why David Tatum's post on a Facebook group -- or anything posted on any informal social media/networking group -- should be of such grave interest, or of any interest at all, to a professor of history at a major state university, and those who follow his "history" blog.
Apparently, though, they are vitally interested in some individual's making a historical mistake (posting a picture and misidentifying it). However, the attraction doesn't seem to be a love for historical truth and a desire to correct error or set the record straight. The real attraction seems to be the wonderfully heady opportunity to wallow satisfyingly in some tasty ridicule, scorn and mockery ... over the "ignorance," don't you know. They seem to get such orgiastic pleasure out of it, perhaps they should be thanking David for giving them the wallow...
But it doesn't stop there. They also apparently love to wax indignant over what they perceive to be David's insults. And what's fascinating about that is that they couch much of said indignation in such vulgar and offensive insults, it makes David's look like a dainty cream-cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off, by comparison.
Before moving on and showing my readers what I'm referring to, I would just offer a word of caution to Simpson's followers -- if you want to call attention to an insult someone else made, and you want it to be to be taken seriously, don't do so with an insult twice as bad as what you're pointing out. It really, really neutralizes your criticism, takes attention off the object of your indignation, and focuses it on you and your crass hypocrisy. Okay?
Now, to some specifics. Somebody named SF Walker says, "Yep, that’s a testament to Confederate marksmanship, too–and A.S. Johnston’s grave. This offering from the SHPG really shows a lot of class, doesn’t it? What it has to do with preserving Southern heritage, I’m sure I don’t know..."
Class? You want to see some "class," Mr. Walker? Stick around for some more of the Crossroads comment thread.... For example, the namecalling:
Brooks D. Simpson posts, "Imagine someone posting a picture of McGavock Confederate Cemetery and jeering the dead there. Then we’d hear all about heritage and how Yankees dishonor it. Remember, not only did David Tatum make that remark … others 'liked' it, including the group’s 'chaplain,' and no one thought it was tasteless. ... That’s all you need to know about the SHPG."
Well, no, that's not all you need to know about it. What Simpson won't say is how many members of the group did NOT click "like" for that remark... See, that's something more for you to know about the group that Simpson doesn't want you to know, because his thing is to smear an entire group of 1800+ people with one or two comments, or the comments of one or two people....
I simply point out that Dave's original comment was not a jeering of the yankee dead, but praise for Confederates. So you don't agree that Confederates deserve the praise? Fine. But that's no excuse for lying.
Simpson continues with his lies: "In other words, Mr. Tatum now says he simply used the wrong picture, but he stands by what he says, and doesn’t quite understand why people might be offended by his actions. That in the process he continues to mock the final resting place of United States soldiers says a great deal about who he is. Can’t wait to see the people who defend Mr. Tatum’s actions." Pay careful attention, folks. When Simpson says, "In other words," the "other words" are almost always lies, which says a great deal about who he is. David isn't mocking the final resting place of United States soldiers. He was praising Confederates.
Then we have John Foskett, one of Simpson's faithful echo-bots, who sez, "A desecrator is a desecrator, so he’s probably okay with his mistake."
So is it desecration? Or a mistake? Dictionary.com defines desecrate as "1. to divest of sacred or hallowed character or office. 2. to divert from a sacred to a profane use or purpose. 3. to treat with sacrilege; profane." It lists synonyms as, "defile, violate, dishonor, pollute, outrage." David's post does none of that -- even with the picture of the wrong headstones. Again, to praise Confederates is not synonymous with desecrating yankee graves....
Then we have this marvelously refined and dignified comment from TFSmith1, "What a crass little pissant you are, Mr. Tatum. What’s the matter, didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?" Always got to be an amateur psychologist in the crowd. Mr. Smith, don't quit your day job.
Somebody identified as cc2001 is the first to break Godwin's law. Apparently, she expects Southern heritage folks to follow in the wonderful example of the ex-Nazis and their progeny... She's joined by Jimmy Dick, who writes, "In Germany they don’t allow a myth built around Nazism to develop. They go after it and those they want to idolize the Nazis hard and fast. They want their future generations to know the truth, not some propaganda myth and then see history repeat itself."
However, these attempts to analogize the Third Reich and the Confederacy are a no-go because the differences that existed between the CSA and Nazi Germany far outweight the similarites. Some examples:
Didn't I tell you? What follows Simpson's "In other words," is mendacity. David Tatum isn't mocking anything. He's praising Confederates. Period. Plain and simple. What is there about Simpson's personality, or his academic training, or goodness knows what, that compels him to lie this way? As far as defending David, there's nothing to defend. Simpson is lying, and that's what I'm condemning.
Then we have an earth-shattering dispatch from Eric A. Jacobson -- reporting direct from the SHPG's Facebook page -- that you just KNOW the entire civil war community is waiting for with bated breath:
"Well Tatum has now posted on the ol’ SHPG wall that he was 'informed' that the graves are 'not at Gettysburg but at the National cemetery…' Huh?? I guess he’s trying to cover his tail, and even in that effort proceeds to make himself look like the same fool as before."
Jacobson guesses? He guesses? But-but-but critics of Southern heritage don't guess -- they know! You can tell by the arrogance and nastiness of their posts that they know everything there is to know about Southern heritage folks. They "know" these folks have no integrity. They "know" their motives (nefarious). They "know" their educational level (bottom of the barrel) and intelligence (barely above imbecile).
Simpson replies, "Mr. Tatum is an officer of the SHPG. So is the so-called 'chaplain' who 'liked' the post. So these are not a few stray individuals, but members of the group’s leadership."
They are two members of an informal social media/internet group of over 1800 members. Why Simpson wants to invest this group with such import, who knows -- except to cover his academic posterior for showing such interest in it. And why? Because, as already noted, it gives him an opportunity to mud-wallow in some ridicule, scorn and mockery -- apparently something he takes great pleasure in... an activity that really does something for him....
Someone identified as Damian Shiels jumps on the Simpson falsehood bandwagon, ending his comment with, "The mind boggles at how any individual can denigrate the horrors of war in such a fashion, reducing death to an opportunity for an ill-considered joke." No, what boggles the mind is how a person of integrity could fabricate such falsehoods out of David's post. David was neither denigrating the horrors of war or making a joke about death. He was honoring men who fought at great odds to protect hearth and home, family and community, from a brutal invading army.
Besides, you shouldn't be such a stick in the mud, Mr. Shiels. If you want your mind to get really boggled by the denigration of the horrors of war, I have more for you to look at than a simple ill-considered joke (although that wasn't what David's post was--that's you're perception, not David's intention). How about an entire comedy video about Confederate soldiers shootin' and killin' each other? Hahaha, what a scream, huh, Shiels? Kevin Levin posted it on his blog and said, "This has got to be my favorite Civil War video." You can watch it at Civil War Memory here. I blogged about it here.
A Jerry Desko sez, 'The ignorance, stupidity, vulgarity and thoughtlessness of this posting is unfathomable. I wonder if the poster is aware that the photograph shown is one of the graves of veterans of possibly the Spanish-American War, World Wars I & II and Korea. Ignorant morons that don’t deserve the attention given to them. They are un-American jackasses." He posted this AFTER David's comment acknowledging he mistakenly used the wrong picture. What'sa matter with this Desko guy? Can't he READ? Or does he just pretend not to see David's comment? I guess we just have to take his own advice and ignore him for the ignorant-moron behavior he's exhibiting....
Then we have this jewel from Bob Nelson: "Finally, I would like to point out that Pete Taylor and I spent a week in the Shenandoah Valley last fall. One of our stops was at the Confederate Cemetery in Winchester (Turner Ashby is buried there). We were quiet and respectful. I would never even THINK about posting such a message." Talk about making your stomach roll. All that's missing is, "What a good boy am I!" Hope you didn't throw your shoulder out of joint patting yourself on your self-righteous back, Mr. Nelson....
Simpson's parting shot: "The Southern Heritage Preservation Group uses its Facebook page to demonstrate its commitment to preserving Confederate heritage … as its members define it. Unfortunately, comments such as the one highlighted here are not that unusual over there. Neither is a rather astonishing ignorance of history."
I wonder how much astonishing ignorance of history Simpson lets slip past him every day without so much as a syllable of mention -- without any notice at all? I'd warrant nearly ALL of it that doesn't provide him with the opportunty to mud-wallow in the denigration of others....
Remember, stay with me on this folks. We aren't finished discussing ... mistakenly posted pictures.....
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Photo of pig in mud from the public domain.
~ridiculing Southern heritage advocates when they perhaps get history wrong (or even for just seeing it differently than you do) because your real problem with them is that they honor a heritage you think they should abhor and reject.In my previous blog post, I said I would address the comment above in future blog entries, and it would relate not only to Kevin Levin's blog but to those of other floggers. I should add here that I also include some of the reader comments the floggers allow through on their blogs.
A wonderful example of verbal flogging found on Brooks D. Simpson's "Crossroads" Blog:
As of 11 p.m. or so on January 29, there were 36 comments following the above post. They can be found in their entirety here:
But I want to bring some of them individually to my readers' attention to showcase the hypocrisy, poor taste, and borderline (for some) and outright (for others) mendacity and falsehood contained therein.
I have to say that at first glance, it is mystifying why David Tatum's post on a Facebook group -- or anything posted on any informal social media/networking group -- should be of such grave interest, or of any interest at all, to a professor of history at a major state university, and those who follow his "history" blog.
Apparently, though, they are vitally interested in some individual's making a historical mistake (posting a picture and misidentifying it). However, the attraction doesn't seem to be a love for historical truth and a desire to correct error or set the record straight. The real attraction seems to be the wonderfully heady opportunity to wallow satisfyingly in some tasty ridicule, scorn and mockery ... over the "ignorance," don't you know. They seem to get such orgiastic pleasure out of it, perhaps they should be thanking David for giving them the wallow...
But it doesn't stop there. They also apparently love to wax indignant over what they perceive to be David's insults. And what's fascinating about that is that they couch much of said indignation in such vulgar and offensive insults, it makes David's look like a dainty cream-cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off, by comparison.
Before moving on and showing my readers what I'm referring to, I would just offer a word of caution to Simpson's followers -- if you want to call attention to an insult someone else made, and you want it to be to be taken seriously, don't do so with an insult twice as bad as what you're pointing out. It really, really neutralizes your criticism, takes attention off the object of your indignation, and focuses it on you and your crass hypocrisy. Okay?
Now, to some specifics. Somebody named SF Walker says, "Yep, that’s a testament to Confederate marksmanship, too–and A.S. Johnston’s grave. This offering from the SHPG really shows a lot of class, doesn’t it? What it has to do with preserving Southern heritage, I’m sure I don’t know..."
Class? You want to see some "class," Mr. Walker? Stick around for some more of the Crossroads comment thread.... For example, the namecalling:
"...fool ... desecrator ... crass little pissant ... cretins ... stupid ... ignorant morons ... unAmerican jackasses ..."Lovely, huh? Such class! And so veddy, veddy edumucated....
Brooks D. Simpson posts, "Imagine someone posting a picture of McGavock Confederate Cemetery and jeering the dead there. Then we’d hear all about heritage and how Yankees dishonor it. Remember, not only did David Tatum make that remark … others 'liked' it, including the group’s 'chaplain,' and no one thought it was tasteless. ... That’s all you need to know about the SHPG."
Well, no, that's not all you need to know about it. What Simpson won't say is how many members of the group did NOT click "like" for that remark... See, that's something more for you to know about the group that Simpson doesn't want you to know, because his thing is to smear an entire group of 1800+ people with one or two comments, or the comments of one or two people....
I simply point out that Dave's original comment was not a jeering of the yankee dead, but praise for Confederates. So you don't agree that Confederates deserve the praise? Fine. But that's no excuse for lying.
Simpson continues with his lies: "In other words, Mr. Tatum now says he simply used the wrong picture, but he stands by what he says, and doesn’t quite understand why people might be offended by his actions. That in the process he continues to mock the final resting place of United States soldiers says a great deal about who he is. Can’t wait to see the people who defend Mr. Tatum’s actions." Pay careful attention, folks. When Simpson says, "In other words," the "other words" are almost always lies, which says a great deal about who he is. David isn't mocking the final resting place of United States soldiers. He was praising Confederates.
Then we have John Foskett, one of Simpson's faithful echo-bots, who sez, "A desecrator is a desecrator, so he’s probably okay with his mistake."
So is it desecration? Or a mistake? Dictionary.com defines desecrate as "1. to divest of sacred or hallowed character or office. 2. to divert from a sacred to a profane use or purpose. 3. to treat with sacrilege; profane." It lists synonyms as, "defile, violate, dishonor, pollute, outrage." David's post does none of that -- even with the picture of the wrong headstones. Again, to praise Confederates is not synonymous with desecrating yankee graves....
Then we have this marvelously refined and dignified comment from TFSmith1, "What a crass little pissant you are, Mr. Tatum. What’s the matter, didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?" Always got to be an amateur psychologist in the crowd. Mr. Smith, don't quit your day job.
Somebody identified as cc2001 is the first to break Godwin's law. Apparently, she expects Southern heritage folks to follow in the wonderful example of the ex-Nazis and their progeny... She's joined by Jimmy Dick, who writes, "In Germany they don’t allow a myth built around Nazism to develop. They go after it and those they want to idolize the Nazis hard and fast. They want their future generations to know the truth, not some propaganda myth and then see history repeat itself."
However, these attempts to analogize the Third Reich and the Confederacy are a no-go because the differences that existed between the CSA and Nazi Germany far outweight the similarites. Some examples:
There were nine million Jews in Europe before the Third Reich -- three million afterward. By contrast, the black population in the United States, before the war, during it, and afterward -- both during slavery and after emancipation -- grew at basically the same rate as the USA's white population. Even during the chaos and privation of war, the black/slave population of the South/Confederacy grew at a rate of 7%. An increase in the population is, ah, emphatically NOT genocide.Later in the thread, Simpson reiterates his lie. To Corey Meyer's question, "Aren’t those more recent graves since they have “stand up stones”. Aren’t Union burials marked with ground level markers in Gettysburg?" he replies, "You are correct. Given the wall in the background, I’d wager that these headstones are of United States military personnel that ring the Gettysburg burials west of the circular path. In other words, David Tatum is mocking the gravesites of United States military personnel. Now watch the usual suspects defend that. They certainly won’t condemn it."
Laws in various states mandated that slaveowners support aged slaves who were no longer able to work and that pregnant slaves be given lighter duties. By contrast, inmates in Nazi death camps were worked to death and/or given rations scientifically calculated to starve them in three months. Compare that with American slaves, who ate much the same thing white people ate -- at least, in the South. What they ate is called "soul food" today and it's viewed very positively -- tasty and nutritious, if rather high in starch.
There were no concentration camps that slaves were herded into in the Confederate states. What more closely resembles concentration camps were the reservations onto which American Indians were herded, by U.S. federal law, in conditions worse than plantation slavery.
Didn't I tell you? What follows Simpson's "In other words," is mendacity. David Tatum isn't mocking anything. He's praising Confederates. Period. Plain and simple. What is there about Simpson's personality, or his academic training, or goodness knows what, that compels him to lie this way? As far as defending David, there's nothing to defend. Simpson is lying, and that's what I'm condemning.
Then we have an earth-shattering dispatch from Eric A. Jacobson -- reporting direct from the SHPG's Facebook page -- that you just KNOW the entire civil war community is waiting for with bated breath:
"Well Tatum has now posted on the ol’ SHPG wall that he was 'informed' that the graves are 'not at Gettysburg but at the National cemetery…' Huh?? I guess he’s trying to cover his tail, and even in that effort proceeds to make himself look like the same fool as before."
Jacobson guesses? He guesses? But-but-but critics of Southern heritage don't guess -- they know! You can tell by the arrogance and nastiness of their posts that they know everything there is to know about Southern heritage folks. They "know" these folks have no integrity. They "know" their motives (nefarious). They "know" their educational level (bottom of the barrel) and intelligence (barely above imbecile).
Simpson replies, "Mr. Tatum is an officer of the SHPG. So is the so-called 'chaplain' who 'liked' the post. So these are not a few stray individuals, but members of the group’s leadership." They are two members of an informal social media/internet group of over 1800 members. Why Simpson wants to invest this group with such import, who knows -- except to cover his academic posterior for showing such interest in it. And why? Because, as already noted, it gives him an opportunity to mud-wallow in some ridicule, scorn and mockery -- apparently something he takes great pleasure in... an activity that really does something for him....
Someone identified as Damian Shiels jumps on the Simpson falsehood bandwagon, ending his comment with, "The mind boggles at how any individual can denigrate the horrors of war in such a fashion, reducing death to an opportunity for an ill-considered joke." No, what boggles the mind is how a person of integrity could fabricate such falsehoods out of David's post. David was neither denigrating the horrors of war or making a joke about death. He was honoring men who fought at great odds to protect hearth and home, family and community, from a brutal invading army.
Besides, you shouldn't be such a stick in the mud, Mr. Shiels. If you want your mind to get really boggled by the denigration of the horrors of war, I have more for you to look at than a simple ill-considered joke (although that wasn't what David's post was--that's you're perception, not David's intention). How about an entire comedy video about Confederate soldiers shootin' and killin' each other? Hahaha, what a scream, huh, Shiels? Kevin Levin posted it on his blog and said, "This has got to be my favorite Civil War video." You can watch it at Civil War Memory here. I blogged about it here.
A Jerry Desko sez, 'The ignorance, stupidity, vulgarity and thoughtlessness of this posting is unfathomable. I wonder if the poster is aware that the photograph shown is one of the graves of veterans of possibly the Spanish-American War, World Wars I & II and Korea. Ignorant morons that don’t deserve the attention given to them. They are un-American jackasses." He posted this AFTER David's comment acknowledging he mistakenly used the wrong picture. What'sa matter with this Desko guy? Can't he READ? Or does he just pretend not to see David's comment? I guess we just have to take his own advice and ignore him for the ignorant-moron behavior he's exhibiting....
Then we have this jewel from Bob Nelson: "Finally, I would like to point out that Pete Taylor and I spent a week in the Shenandoah Valley last fall. One of our stops was at the Confederate Cemetery in Winchester (Turner Ashby is buried there). We were quiet and respectful. I would never even THINK about posting such a message." Talk about making your stomach roll. All that's missing is, "What a good boy am I!" Hope you didn't throw your shoulder out of joint patting yourself on your self-righteous back, Mr. Nelson....
Simpson's parting shot: "The Southern Heritage Preservation Group uses its Facebook page to demonstrate its commitment to preserving Confederate heritage … as its members define it. Unfortunately, comments such as the one highlighted here are not that unusual over there. Neither is a rather astonishing ignorance of history."
I wonder how much astonishing ignorance of history Simpson lets slip past him every day without so much as a syllable of mention -- without any notice at all? I'd warrant nearly ALL of it that doesn't provide him with the opportunty to mud-wallow in the denigration of others....
Remember, stay with me on this folks. We aren't finished discussing ... mistakenly posted pictures.....
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Photo of pig in mud from the public domain.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Stay With Me On This....
Recently (January 22), Kevin Levin posted the following at his Civil War Memory blog:
(One correction. The "Confederate Village" was sold by the Bradford Exchange, not the Franklin Mint.)
The main thing I want to call your attention to, dear readers, is this (highlighted above):
~ridiculing Southern heritage advocates when they perhaps get history wrong (or even for just seeing it differently than you do) because your real problem with them is that they honor a heritage you think they should abhor and reject.
I will be addressing this in future blog posts that relate not only to Kevin Levin but to other *floggers hopefully in the next day or so....
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*Floggers -- contraction for "flogging bloggers" -- i.e., "civil war" bloggers who expand their blogs' focus far beyond the civil war in order to create more opportunity to verbally flog those who disagree with them, particularly people in the Southern heritage and Southern independence communities.
"...why, in the minds of some, has my blogging and other activities been interpreted as reflecting a hatred for the South and I assume Southern/Confederate heritage. Perhaps you’ve seen comments in this vein both on this blog as well as other places around the Internet....I note that he prohibits responses that are insulting but ends his invitation with an insult -- however difficult that might be for you. In any case, I posted a few things I remembered from his blog that, to me, indicate his hatred for the South and its history. My reply:
For those of you who do believe that I harbor some kind of hatred for the South and its history here is your chance to share it. You can post whatever you like as long as it is not insulting or merely a rant. What I want is something that approaches a reasoned explanation however difficult that might be for you.
Hate is perhaps too broad and nonspecific a concept to characterize the attitude you exhibit toward the South and Southerners, past and present --at least, white Southerners. Contempt and scorn, ridicule and mockery, might be more accurate. Some examples:
~ saying slaves should be honored for surviving the Confederacy, when slavery was no worse during the four years the CSA existed than it had been for generations in the USA.
~glossing over the fact that abolitionist Julia Ward Howe's beliefs about blacks revealed in her book, A Trip to Cuba, were almost identical to the ones in Alexander Stephens' Cornerstsone speech.
~ridiculing Southern heritage advocates when they perhaps get history wrong (or even for just seeing it differently than you do) because your real problem with them is that they honor a heritage you think they should abhor and reject.
~holding Southern heritage advocates responsible for the misuse and abuse of historical symbols by people who have nothing to do with them...or...
~seeing the misuse and abuse of Confederate symbols as a way to ridicule Southern heritage (an example seen recently in the wrestling video posted on CW Memory).
~your scorn for history that comes to Southerners through family stories passed down from generation to generation.
~passing judgment on sponsors of things like Secession Balls ... ridiculing events such as the Stephen D. Lee Institute's recent meeting in Florida.
~smearing, scorning, mocking Southern heritage folks with things they have nothing to do with and have zero influence over (the Franklin Mint's "Confederate Village," for example)
I could go on -- I've seen this sort of thing countless times on your blog -- but this should give you an idea. If it doesn't clear it up for you, just say so, and I'll post more of the disparagement of white Southerners you've showcased numerous times on your blog. You'll no doubt present some lame explanation -- a claim, perhaps, that your comments are misunderstood, taken out of context, whatever. The fact is, most people have no trouble recognizing smears and ridicule aimed at them, and we are not an exception. We *clearly* see exactly what you're doing and how you think of us.
(One correction. The "Confederate Village" was sold by the Bradford Exchange, not the Franklin Mint.)
The main thing I want to call your attention to, dear readers, is this (highlighted above):
~ridiculing Southern heritage advocates when they perhaps get history wrong (or even for just seeing it differently than you do) because your real problem with them is that they honor a heritage you think they should abhor and reject.
I will be addressing this in future blog posts that relate not only to Kevin Levin but to other *floggers hopefully in the next day or so....
__________
*Floggers -- contraction for "flogging bloggers" -- i.e., "civil war" bloggers who expand their blogs' focus far beyond the civil war in order to create more opportunity to verbally flog those who disagree with them, particularly people in the Southern heritage and Southern independence communities.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Dixie's Dystopian Future?
So it's perhaps a little surprising that the idea came to me recently to write about the fall of the United States. Or, maybe, considering what we see happening in our country, it isn't surprising at all.
Some folks know from my author website and elsewhere that I write novels to honor white, Christian men, especially Southern men, because they are so maligned in the popular culture. So any post-apocalyptic story I wrote would need a Southern hero at the center.
Scenarios began to take shape in my mind, and came up with a tenative storyline, and working cover (to keep me inspired).
The book will probably be novella length. The idea is still in the development stage and may change as the writing progresses. However, I have written a tentative cover blurb to help guide the development.
A PERILOUS JOURNEY ~~AN ABIDING LOVEThe United States of America exists no more, collapsed by its crushing debt, its people crushed by tyranny. Civil war, starvation, and disease have decimated the population. Entire cities stand in ruin.
But in the southeast, a new nation has risen from the cataclysm. Caught a thousand miles away from their native Alabama when the final breakup occurs, Guy Holiday and his bride must make a perilous trek across the country to the Republic of Dixie, the only place in the scorched and barren land where peace, liberty and safety can be found. But the new nation's borders are tightly sealed.
Will the border patrol let them in? Or will their journey, if they survive it, be for naught?
I'm a bit surprised that some of my Facebook friends have already expressed an interest in reading the story based solely on the working cover and the hastily composed blurb. Apparently, this genre is more popular than I knew.
I guess that means I need to get started -- and suddenly, I wish I'd read more of those dystopian novels and paid more attention to the distopian movies I've seen. On the other hand, I'm basically free of influences of existing stories, so whatever I come up with will largely be my own concoction.
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Cover image from Stock.XCHNG
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Caption This Image
Kevin Levin posted this picture to his blog with an invitation to his followers to caption it. I left a caption in the comments, but since I never know whether he's gonna let my comments through, I captioned it on Facebook -- and now here...
Image from Kevin Levin's blog. I don't know where he got it....
___________________Longstreet: "It's another of those dispatches from the future, Sir. Several editorials with comments following, from those internet blog periodicals by yankees. Content -- more of the same."
Lee: "So the yankees are still hating us, still lying about us, a hundred and fifty years in the future... Why does that not surprise me?"
Hill: "What'd you say that internet thing is, again?"
Hood: "Apparently, some kind of very advanced telegraph..."
Image from Kevin Levin's blog. I don't know where he got it....
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Sin of Tripp Lewis
Anybody even remotely aware of Southern heritage and its critics know of the animosity the latter exhibit for the Virginia Flaggers. I am speaking specifically of "civil war" bloggers Kevin Levin, Brooks D. Simpson and Andy Hall (and several other hangers on I'm aware of).
I call these folks "floggers" -- i.e.,, "flogging bloggers" -- because they frequently exhibit less interest in informing and educating their readers about the civil war, and more interest in verbally flogging people who see the war differently than they do, especially Confederate heritage advocates and most especially the flaggers.
Observers also know that these critics and their followers, with Andy Hall out front, have demonstrated extreme displeasure over the arrest of Flagger Tripp Lewis. Oh, they weren't particularly concerned that Lewis got arrested. They exhibited annoyance -- hostility, actually -- over what they believe was Tripp's deliberately provoking the arrest, and doing it in front of his children, who were traumatized by the event. (You can read about the "outrage" expressed on the "behalf" of Tripp's children here.)
The great gusts of super-heated harangue blasting Tripp's way from the floggers -- with Texas cowboy Andy riding the circuit of the other flogger blog comment threads -- are mystifying -- at least, on the surface. Why is Tripp -- why are the flaggers as a group -- any of their concern? Why even pay attention, much less regularly tantrumize about them on their blogs? I haven't conducted a deep study of the floggers' attitudes about it, but I have done some observing and drawn a few conclusions.
First of all, these folks think they own the civil war, and they are the sole authority for telling the great unwashed masses what to believe about it. As I have noted, they are self-appointed civil war thought cops. Apparently that job classification accompanies being a "historian."
As my friend Eddie Inman noted, "'I am a historian!!' Seems to be the claim of every South basher with a blog." Indeed, it does.
On Facebook, I linked to Andy's "coverage" of the Tripp arrest, and followed it with this observation,
That Tripp, the flaggers and Southern heritage types in general don't bow and scrape before the floggers assumed authority -- their self-appointed exclusionary ownership of the civil war -- is an affront, no doubt. But the animosity for the flaggers goes deeper than that would explain. There's something more at work here.
You don't have to read flogger blogs for long -- even those posts that purportedly deal with history -- to see where they're coming from.
I have described the floggers as politically correct, post-civil rights and race-obsessed. I believe they are highly motivated by the leftist meme that white people, especially white men, are responsible for most if not all the evils of human history and that they have an obligation to call forth white guilt in their Caucasian brothers ... an uncomfortable task, no doubt, since they are, well, white men. So they must find and/or fabricate certain exceptions.
Thus, the antebellum white north's armpit-deep immersion in slavery, even after abolishing it in their states, is glossed over, "forgiven" because, as Rob "Tu Quoque" Bakur noted, the north "shed its sins" of slavery and racism. Presumably the yanks did this by fighting to "free an entire race kept in bondage..." blah-blah-blah -- except, of course, we know that's not what the north was fighting for... But it can be claimed, and so it is, and thus the "white north" is relieved of the bulk of its white guilt.
I'm thoroughly convinced that escaping or downplaying their own culpability in the world's evil that their gender and the deficient melanin content of their skin bestows upon them plays no small part in the floggers' motivation. This takes the form of finding white folks who are so much worse than they are, they look noble and honorable by comparison. Thus the stench and filth of white guilt is maximumly minimized in their case -- maybe rendered totally unnoticeable.
There's no better white folks to illustrate this great gulf than antebellum Southern whites. And to increase the distance and highlight the distinctions, antebellum Southern whites must continually be demonized -- their billowing evil perpetually magnified, like watching a volcanic plume through a telephoto lens.
As I have noted before, for floggers, nothing illustrates Southern white evil better than repeatedly zeroing in on black slave misery because, you see, white evil exists in exact inverse proportion to black misery. The more miserable the (black) slaves, the more evil the (white) slave owners.
Southern heritage folks not only have the effrontery to give black misery far less attention than floggers and other leftists think it deserves ... they also to refuse to twist themselves up, pretzel-like, with white guilt. They even note, sometimes, those instances where slaves were not as miserable as they're portrayed. But basically, their attention on slaves and slave owners is peripheral. They focus primarily on Southerners (the vast majority of whom were white) who fought for their independence from the United States government. And they not only give their ancestors attention, but honor for the unfathomable sacrifices Confederates made in fighting a brutal invader.
If that isn't insulting enough, Southern heritage folks reject the politically correct, post-civil rights, race-obsessed efforts of those out to remove all positive reminders (in some cases, all reminders at all) of the Confederacy from the American memory and consciousness ... and all artifacts of it from the Southern landscape.
Thus you have the evilization campaign not only on flogger blogs, but in the popular culture, which is pretty much owned by the left -- the recent Lincoln movies, Tarantino's Django Unchained, the left-wing media's history of presenting anti-white, anti-Southern judgments from the Southern Poverty Law Center as gospel-truth without the slightest independent verification, the History Channel's biased "civil war" documentaries and those showcasing the KKK, along with the talk-show media's near worship of anti-white, anti-Southern film propagandist Ken Burns, and the respect for anti-racist Tim Wise (who just happens to live in an upscale, virtually totally white section of majority-black Memphis -- what a surprise, huh).
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the leftist anti-white mentality that lies behind and beneath the evilization of antebellum Southern whites and their present-day defenders in Southern heritage. So the motive behind the smokin' hot breath on which ride the words of condemnation aimed at Tripp Lewis becomes a little clearer...
But where there's smoke, there's fire, and what ignited the fire in the throats of the floggers is Tripp's greatest sin.
He got himself arrested during a protest.
He got himself arrested during a protest.
Whether he planned it or instigated it, as the floggers claim, really matters little. Getting arrested for protesting or demonstrating is a hallowed leftist methodology. The left believes it owns it, the way floggers believe they own the civil war. Protesting with resulting arrests became a venerated leftist stratagem in the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the student anti-war movement, the gay movement, the environmental movement and, more recently, the Occupy movement.
When leftists do it, they're just exercising their constitutional rights on behalf of a worthy cause, don't you know, and nothing makes them madder than those on the right appropriating the method for their own causes. Thus, leftists shriek that Tea Partiers demonstrating for smaller government are not exercising their constitutional rights -- they are perpetrating violent, racist affairs for the purpose of re-instigating the oppression of helpless minorities and lining the pockets of rich, war-mongering vulture corporatists...
In the leftist flogger view, when Southern heritage folks protest, say, the removal of Confederate battle flags from Confederate graves, they're either (a) spouting hate or (b) wasting time. When they engage in political protests, such as in Lexington, Virginia, they're messing around where they have no business messing. And when they flag the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, very orderly civilized affairs (that include fun and fellowship) compared to their leftist counterparts in, say, Occupy protests (i.e., no deliberate trashing of the area, no public urination displays, no tents for long-term occupyin', no refusals to bathe for weeks on end, thus no stench of human B.O.wafting on the air for blocks in all directions, etc) -- well, they are behaving reprehensibly.
On Facebook, in a thread started by a purported Confederate supporter (with the handle Susie Confederate Clark, which I think is a ruse*), another purported Confederate supporter (with the handle ConfederateRebel Kashie, which I also think is a ruse*) posted a slobbering, heaving diatribe against Tripp in which she opined, "Breaking the law is breaking the law. He is now among the likes of the meth and drug dealers because what I saw on that video sounded the same." She went on to issue the disclaimer that this is just her opinion, which is her first amendment right, "...and these flaggers forget that, and you cant continue to harass people and not get arrested even if it is a publicity stunt."
I'm not sure how she knows that the flaggers forget her First Amendment rights, but I suspect they'd be far more aware, and respectful, of hers than she is of theirs. Except for likening Tripp to meth and drug dealers (when was the last time you saw meth and drug dealers publically demonstrating for their rights to make and sell drugs, and disfigure and kill people with them?), Kashie's hissing, spittirng tirade is just an unscholarly version of that with which "Cowboy Andy and the Floggers" have rock-and-rolled the "civil war" blogosphere.
For these folks, Tripp's sin is using a leftist methodology in a decidedly non-leftist cause. And that is more than merely unforgivable. It is boilingly, seethingly outrageous.
*This is my opinion, my First Amendment right...
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Images from the Public Domain
I call these folks "floggers" -- i.e.,, "flogging bloggers" -- because they frequently exhibit less interest in informing and educating their readers about the civil war, and more interest in verbally flogging people who see the war differently than they do, especially Confederate heritage advocates and most especially the flaggers.
Observers also know that these critics and their followers, with Andy Hall out front, have demonstrated extreme displeasure over the arrest of Flagger Tripp Lewis. Oh, they weren't particularly concerned that Lewis got arrested. They exhibited annoyance -- hostility, actually -- over what they believe was Tripp's deliberately provoking the arrest, and doing it in front of his children, who were traumatized by the event. (You can read about the "outrage" expressed on the "behalf" of Tripp's children here.)
The great gusts of super-heated harangue blasting Tripp's way from the floggers -- with Texas cowboy Andy riding the circuit of the other flogger blog comment threads -- are mystifying -- at least, on the surface. Why is Tripp -- why are the flaggers as a group -- any of their concern? Why even pay attention, much less regularly tantrumize about them on their blogs? I haven't conducted a deep study of the floggers' attitudes about it, but I have done some observing and drawn a few conclusions.
First of all, these folks think they own the civil war, and they are the sole authority for telling the great unwashed masses what to believe about it. As I have noted, they are self-appointed civil war thought cops. Apparently that job classification accompanies being a "historian."As my friend Eddie Inman noted, "'I am a historian!!' Seems to be the claim of every South basher with a blog." Indeed, it does.
On Facebook, I linked to Andy's "coverage" of the Tripp arrest, and followed it with this observation,
"What I don't understand is... if he thinks the Lexington's flag restriction is none of the Virginia Flagger's business, and not the SCV's business, and nobody's business but the Lexington City Council (and, presumably, some out-of-state student petition-signers at W&L U), why does he think it's any of HIS business to comment on it at his blog? These people exempt themselves from all sorts of restrictions and criticism they level at others...."Which led to this exchange with Eddie:
Connie Chastain Wait! Eddie, I just figured it out. It's because he's a HISTORIAN!Whereupon I directed Eddie to some earlier thoughts I had on this subject, here.
Connie Chastain Bein' a HISTORIAN gives you all SORTS of privileges ordinary sods and suckers don't have!
Eddie Inman looks like there is not enough history for "historians" to occupy their time with. they must fulfill it with attention to current events.
That Tripp, the flaggers and Southern heritage types in general don't bow and scrape before the floggers assumed authority -- their self-appointed exclusionary ownership of the civil war -- is an affront, no doubt. But the animosity for the flaggers goes deeper than that would explain. There's something more at work here.
You don't have to read flogger blogs for long -- even those posts that purportedly deal with history -- to see where they're coming from.
I have described the floggers as politically correct, post-civil rights and race-obsessed. I believe they are highly motivated by the leftist meme that white people, especially white men, are responsible for most if not all the evils of human history and that they have an obligation to call forth white guilt in their Caucasian brothers ... an uncomfortable task, no doubt, since they are, well, white men. So they must find and/or fabricate certain exceptions.
Thus, the antebellum white north's armpit-deep immersion in slavery, even after abolishing it in their states, is glossed over, "forgiven" because, as Rob "Tu Quoque" Bakur noted, the north "shed its sins" of slavery and racism. Presumably the yanks did this by fighting to "free an entire race kept in bondage..." blah-blah-blah -- except, of course, we know that's not what the north was fighting for... But it can be claimed, and so it is, and thus the "white north" is relieved of the bulk of its white guilt.
I'm thoroughly convinced that escaping or downplaying their own culpability in the world's evil that their gender and the deficient melanin content of their skin bestows upon them plays no small part in the floggers' motivation. This takes the form of finding white folks who are so much worse than they are, they look noble and honorable by comparison. Thus the stench and filth of white guilt is maximumly minimized in their case -- maybe rendered totally unnoticeable.
There's no better white folks to illustrate this great gulf than antebellum Southern whites. And to increase the distance and highlight the distinctions, antebellum Southern whites must continually be demonized -- their billowing evil perpetually magnified, like watching a volcanic plume through a telephoto lens.
As I have noted before, for floggers, nothing illustrates Southern white evil better than repeatedly zeroing in on black slave misery because, you see, white evil exists in exact inverse proportion to black misery. The more miserable the (black) slaves, the more evil the (white) slave owners.
Southern heritage folks not only have the effrontery to give black misery far less attention than floggers and other leftists think it deserves ... they also to refuse to twist themselves up, pretzel-like, with white guilt. They even note, sometimes, those instances where slaves were not as miserable as they're portrayed. But basically, their attention on slaves and slave owners is peripheral. They focus primarily on Southerners (the vast majority of whom were white) who fought for their independence from the United States government. And they not only give their ancestors attention, but honor for the unfathomable sacrifices Confederates made in fighting a brutal invader.
If that isn't insulting enough, Southern heritage folks reject the politically correct, post-civil rights, race-obsessed efforts of those out to remove all positive reminders (in some cases, all reminders at all) of the Confederacy from the American memory and consciousness ... and all artifacts of it from the Southern landscape.
Thus you have the evilization campaign not only on flogger blogs, but in the popular culture, which is pretty much owned by the left -- the recent Lincoln movies, Tarantino's Django Unchained, the left-wing media's history of presenting anti-white, anti-Southern judgments from the Southern Poverty Law Center as gospel-truth without the slightest independent verification, the History Channel's biased "civil war" documentaries and those showcasing the KKK, along with the talk-show media's near worship of anti-white, anti-Southern film propagandist Ken Burns, and the respect for anti-racist Tim Wise (who just happens to live in an upscale, virtually totally white section of majority-black Memphis -- what a surprise, huh).
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the leftist anti-white mentality that lies behind and beneath the evilization of antebellum Southern whites and their present-day defenders in Southern heritage. So the motive behind the smokin' hot breath on which ride the words of condemnation aimed at Tripp Lewis becomes a little clearer...
But where there's smoke, there's fire, and what ignited the fire in the throats of the floggers is Tripp's greatest sin.
He got himself arrested during a protest.
He got himself arrested during a protest.
Whether he planned it or instigated it, as the floggers claim, really matters little. Getting arrested for protesting or demonstrating is a hallowed leftist methodology. The left believes it owns it, the way floggers believe they own the civil war. Protesting with resulting arrests became a venerated leftist stratagem in the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the student anti-war movement, the gay movement, the environmental movement and, more recently, the Occupy movement.
When leftists do it, they're just exercising their constitutional rights on behalf of a worthy cause, don't you know, and nothing makes them madder than those on the right appropriating the method for their own causes. Thus, leftists shriek that Tea Partiers demonstrating for smaller government are not exercising their constitutional rights -- they are perpetrating violent, racist affairs for the purpose of re-instigating the oppression of helpless minorities and lining the pockets of rich, war-mongering vulture corporatists...
In the leftist flogger view, when Southern heritage folks protest, say, the removal of Confederate battle flags from Confederate graves, they're either (a) spouting hate or (b) wasting time. When they engage in political protests, such as in Lexington, Virginia, they're messing around where they have no business messing. And when they flag the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, very orderly civilized affairs (that include fun and fellowship) compared to their leftist counterparts in, say, Occupy protests (i.e., no deliberate trashing of the area, no public urination displays, no tents for long-term occupyin', no refusals to bathe for weeks on end, thus no stench of human B.O.wafting on the air for blocks in all directions, etc) -- well, they are behaving reprehensibly.
On Facebook, in a thread started by a purported Confederate supporter (with the handle Susie Confederate Clark, which I think is a ruse*), another purported Confederate supporter (with the handle ConfederateRebel Kashie, which I also think is a ruse*) posted a slobbering, heaving diatribe against Tripp in which she opined, "Breaking the law is breaking the law. He is now among the likes of the meth and drug dealers because what I saw on that video sounded the same." She went on to issue the disclaimer that this is just her opinion, which is her first amendment right, "...and these flaggers forget that, and you cant continue to harass people and not get arrested even if it is a publicity stunt."
I'm not sure how she knows that the flaggers forget her First Amendment rights, but I suspect they'd be far more aware, and respectful, of hers than she is of theirs. Except for likening Tripp to meth and drug dealers (when was the last time you saw meth and drug dealers publically demonstrating for their rights to make and sell drugs, and disfigure and kill people with them?), Kashie's hissing, spittirng tirade is just an unscholarly version of that with which "Cowboy Andy and the Floggers" have rock-and-rolled the "civil war" blogosphere.For these folks, Tripp's sin is using a leftist methodology in a decidedly non-leftist cause. And that is more than merely unforgivable. It is boilingly, seethingly outrageous.
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*This is my opinion, my First Amendment right...
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Images from the Public Domain
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Tripp Lewis Drama Continues -- The Andy Angle
At his Dead Confederates, A Civil War ERA Blog, Andy Hall has allowed four whole comments in response to his post about the Tripp Lewis arrest. Don't know if that's all there was, or if he got more comments but for some reason hasn't posted them.
Over at Brooks Devious Simpson's Crossroads there is, as of the writing of this post, a whopping twelve comments about the Lewis arrest ... or, at least, twelve that Simpson has allowed through moderation. And look at this! Four of the twelve -- fully one third of them -- were authored by Andy Hall!
The comment thread at Kevin Levin's Civil War Memory, though, leads the way with 23 Tripp Lewis comments, as of 6:13 p.m CST on January 17. And my, my -- five (5) f-i-v-e of them were made by -- you guessed it! -- Andy Hall!
Andy's really into this Tripp Lewis arrest, isn't he?
Now I see where Corey Meyer, not to be outdone and left out, has put up a two-sentence blog post about the incident -- complete with video, just like Levin, Simpson and Hall. Brace yourself, Corey for a stampede from Andy to your comment thread....
With these four Floggers jumping on the Tripp Lewis arrest bandwagon, can Rob "Tu Quoque" Bakur be far behind? Probably not. He doesn't blog much. He'll probably content himself to posting to the comment threads on these other blogs.
It might be interesting to know what prompts Andy's obsession with Tripp Lewis's arrest, and why his flurry of comments about it on other people's blogs.... Any guesses?
Over at Brooks Devious Simpson's Crossroads there is, as of the writing of this post, a whopping twelve comments about the Lewis arrest ... or, at least, twelve that Simpson has allowed through moderation. And look at this! Four of the twelve -- fully one third of them -- were authored by Andy Hall!
The comment thread at Kevin Levin's Civil War Memory, though, leads the way with 23 Tripp Lewis comments, as of 6:13 p.m CST on January 17. And my, my -- five (5) f-i-v-e of them were made by -- you guessed it! -- Andy Hall!
Andy's really into this Tripp Lewis arrest, isn't he?
Now I see where Corey Meyer, not to be outdone and left out, has put up a two-sentence blog post about the incident -- complete with video, just like Levin, Simpson and Hall. Brace yourself, Corey for a stampede from Andy to your comment thread....
With these four Floggers jumping on the Tripp Lewis arrest bandwagon, can Rob "Tu Quoque" Bakur be far behind? Probably not. He doesn't blog much. He'll probably content himself to posting to the comment threads on these other blogs.
It might be interesting to know what prompts Andy's obsession with Tripp Lewis's arrest, and why his flurry of comments about it on other people's blogs.... Any guesses?
=UPDATE===UPDATE===UPDATE===UPDATE=
Well, Corey's obligatory Tripp post (complete with video) has been up for a couple of days now, and there's still no comments from Andy Hall. I can't imagine that he's run out of crap to complain about, re: the arrest of Flagger Tripp Lewis.
I recently found out through my good friend (smirk) on Facebook, Confederate Rebel Kashie, that there's another potential Flogger for me to monitor, though. His name is Al Mackey. His blog is titled Student of the American Civil War. Perhaps his status as a student, a learner, explains the absence of arrogance that permeates the "civil war" blogs of academics, even the ones who can't spell or do grammar....
So anyway, I noodled around on his blog for a minute, skimmed his entry about Tripp Lewis. From just that post, he appears to be an echo chamber for Brooks Devious Simpson (ripping off Simpson's silly name for the Southern Heritage Preservation Facebook Group, The Gift That Keeps On Giving.) What IS there about fake civil war blogging that renders people incapable of producing original content?
So, I'm scrolling through the blog entry and I get to the comments, and -- lo, and behold! -- guess who posted the first one! Andy Hall! What a surprise, huh?
Andy really gets around, don't he? Maybe if he keeps commenting on these Tripp Lewis blog entries, we'll eventually find out what is really behind his fascination with Tripp and the Virginia Flaggers.
Andy really gets around, don't he? Maybe if he keeps commenting on these Tripp Lewis blog entries, we'll eventually find out what is really behind his fascination with Tripp and the Virginia Flaggers.
Andy Unintentionally Gets It Halfway Right
"The modern Confederate heritage movement’s own self-identity is bound up in being an oppressed minority, under siege and victimized from all sides by political correctness, craven politicians, indoctrinated academics and supposedly South-hating bloggers. It’s a movement that gets its fire from resentment and anger against perceived slights — real or imagined — against people who died long ago, that they themselves never met." -- Andy HallWhat Andy doesn't know, or may know but wouldn't acknowledge if his life depended on it, is that most people in the Confederate heritage movement are white Southerners, and white Southerners are, indeed, an oppressed minority, under siege and victimized by the forces he identified. But the resentment and anger is not against people who died long ago. The attacks are happening right now, from people living today (some of them quite powerful or at least influential) and they're frequently more than just slights.
Michael Cushman at the Southern Nationalist Network does a good job documenting the anti-Southern bias -- and, yes, hatred -- that permeates U.S. culture. For example, in the Craven Politicians category, he recently showcased Charles Rangel, a currently living Congressman from New York, who said in a TV interview that Southern culture needs to be overcome.
It would be interesting to hear Andy's thoughts on Charlie's declaration and Michael's commentary, but I imagine hell will freeze over before Andy writes or speaks a syllable about it....
Feds Again
I've recently noticed on my visitor log visits from the feds to Backsass -- specifically, the Department of Justice.
They used to visit regularly by following a link from my author website links page. I mean, every time, the referring link was that page, and I wondered, Don't folks at the Department of Justice know how to use Bookmarks/Favorites? Internet Explorer 8 is perfectly capable of doing Favorites, iddinit?
Several weeks ago, I took down the links page. It was outdated and many of the links didn't work, so I put up a notice that it was being updated. I haven't updated it, yet, though. It will be a leisurely undertaking -- real low on my priority list.
I noticed, though, that the visits from the Department of Justice stopped abruptly after I took the links page down. It's only been recently that they've found me and started showing up in my visitor log again.
Gee, I hope they don't try to sell me some illegal firearms. I'm not Mexican. I don't sell drugs (though I do buy headache powders, generic benadryl and ibuprofen, on a fairly regular basis -- it's the allergies and the computer screen that does it, prob'ly, but it's all perfectly legal, from legitimately licensed pharmacies). And I'm skeered of guns. Yes, I am a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights. But I'm skeered of guns....
They used to visit regularly by following a link from my author website links page. I mean, every time, the referring link was that page, and I wondered, Don't folks at the Department of Justice know how to use Bookmarks/Favorites? Internet Explorer 8 is perfectly capable of doing Favorites, iddinit?
Several weeks ago, I took down the links page. It was outdated and many of the links didn't work, so I put up a notice that it was being updated. I haven't updated it, yet, though. It will be a leisurely undertaking -- real low on my priority list.
I noticed, though, that the visits from the Department of Justice stopped abruptly after I took the links page down. It's only been recently that they've found me and started showing up in my visitor log again.
Gee, I hope they don't try to sell me some illegal firearms. I'm not Mexican. I don't sell drugs (though I do buy headache powders, generic benadryl and ibuprofen, on a fairly regular basis -- it's the allergies and the computer screen that does it, prob'ly, but it's all perfectly legal, from legitimately licensed pharmacies). And I'm skeered of guns. Yes, I am a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights. But I'm skeered of guns....
The Slow Road Back
But physically, the condition did slow me down considerably. The problem wrought havoc on my ability to sleep and rest and suppressed my appetite (but, alas, didn't result in much weight loss) and also threw a damper on my writing -- novels and related writing, my blogs and other pursuits such as my author services business, Word Slinger Boutique. After posting on Facebook, I often had no energy or interest in other writing.
I managed to slog through now and then. I completed several projects for Word Slinger customers and finally got Sweet Southern Boys finished, but didn't complete the video trailer until a few days ago.
The solution provided in mid-summer by my doctor -- a medication typically prescribed for this malady -- was temporary, as he told me it would be. But I have continued learning about the condition on my own and have tried various remedies found online. As a result, the problem has gradually and intermittently improved since early winter. I've sent prayers of thanks to God for this blessing -- and prayers of supplication that the improvement continue.
I've also felt a gradual and intermittently renewed interest in, and enthusiasm for, my writing pursuits, including this blog. I'm considering several changes to Backsass and hope to implement the first one -- Blogger Pages -- soon. And there are several subjects I've started to cover and hope to get back to (the Flogger's obsession with Tripp Lewis, for example). So be sure to check back.
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Photo: Dreamstime Free from Dreamstime.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Orwell Huxley Rag
"Orwell Huxley Rag" from the CD "Politically Incorrect" by Larry Smith. This song was written during the 1990s, during the Clinton Regime, but it's even more appropos now, I think. "Pete, Tom and Dan" refers to Peter Jennings, Tom Brokow, and Dan Rather -- anchors for network news in the '90s. Other than that, nothing much has changed -- except for getting worse.
Many thanks to Brenda and Larry Smith for permission to make a video to go with Larry's marvelously, richly satirical song! I did it solely because I wanted people to hear the fantastic lyrics.
I'm afraid my video/images don't do it justice, and hopefully, one day, I can do the video over, and give the song the images and animation it deserves! But meantime, enjoy as is!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Finish Off Dixie? Hey! Try It!
Taking a short break from bashing the Tripp-bashers to mention a post Michael Cushman has put up at the Southern Nationalist Network. He discusses Rush Limbaugh's recent acknowledgment that the US Left wants to finish off the South.
The recent Lincoln movies and filth like Django Unchained are a part of that effort.Whether they know it or not, the attacks of the Floggers on Southern heritage are also a part of it. I suspect the Floggers do know, and are participating willingly and eagerly.
So anyway, I made this graphic to show that the South is the real strength of America, and the forces that want to destroy America know they have to destroy the South first....
It's probably going to piss off a lot of people.
The recent Lincoln movies and filth like Django Unchained are a part of that effort.Whether they know it or not, the attacks of the Floggers on Southern heritage are also a part of it. I suspect the Floggers do know, and are participating willingly and eagerly.
So anyway, I made this graphic to show that the South is the real strength of America, and the forces that want to destroy America know they have to destroy the South first....
It's probably going to piss off a lot of people.
Crocodile Tears For Tripp's Son
That Levin, Hall and Simpson showcase the arrest on their blogs, as if this is the biggest news in Civil War historigraphy to come down the pike in years -- as if it's news at all -- is mystifying, because it is not news the civil war community is particularly interested in. This "reportage" is the behavior of people whose obsession and motive is ... well, more on that in later posts...
The first thing I'll mention about their criticism is the pretended interest in Tripp's son. I don't believe for a New York second the moaning and wailing on the kid's behalf.
For example, we have one commenter upbraiding Lewis for "exposing" his child to such "abuse". That's from a commenter who calls himself Bummer and references himself in the third person, Bob-Dole-like, i.e., "Bummer has a hard time watching the video of the father..."
He thinks Mr. Lewis is mentally ill and prescribes horsewhipping...twice. I don't know whether that suggestion is more progressive and enlightened than recommending, say, a lobotomy -- or less. You gotta hope Mr. Bummer is not employed in the mental health field, though....
Brooks Devious Simpson informs us that the presence of the child was "no accident." Being a female, I can't actually speak for fathers, but I can make a guess that when fathers and sons do things together -- hunt or fish, toss a baseball, collect stamps, or, as in this case, attempt to honor their ancestors -- most of the time, it's not by accident. Of course, by using that sort of manipulative language, Simpson is implying that Lewis is deliberately subjecting his son to a hurtful, negative experience.
Andy Hall says that the child's crying on the video is "deeply painful to hear, for any parent. But it's also infuriating, because he clearly set out to get himself arrested, and challenged the police to a physical altercation, for no particularly good reason, in front of his own child."
Clearly set out to get himself arrested? ("Clearly" appears to be one of Andy's favorite adverbs. Levin's, too.) Andy doesn't say how he clearly knows this. Are you surprised? Hahaha. I'm not. Frankly, I don't think he does know it. He suspects it, based upon his prejudice and bigotry toward the Flaggers in general and Mr. Lewis in particular.
But that's not the same thing as knowing and it sure as heck ain't clear. It's Andy's opinion, which he clearly elevates to a higher position than knowledge or truth. So now, a man and his son sharing time and fellowship is "reprehensible behavior" to Andy. Clearly.
I'm amazed at all the mind-readers among critics of Confederate heritage. At one point, Levin tells a commenter, "The father clearly wanted a conflict and at one point even looked in his son's direction to ensure that he was getting all of it on video." See? Didn't I tell ya? There's that "clearly" again -- a clarity that exists only in the eyes of the beholder -- or is it accuser? Yes, clearly both. Beholder and accuser.
Is Levin himself a father? Is that how he knows what fathers want? He knows that's the only possible reason a father would have for looking at his son? Not to make sure he's all right, especially in the development of a negative situation -- but to make sure the camera's rollin'? In fact, that was probably the only time during the whole entire flippin' outing that Tripp looked at his son. Huh, Kevin....
More comments. Richard sez, "Having a child involved in this nonsense is f***ed up." (Andy Hall sagely offers a brilliant reply, "Yes, it is.") Somebody who calls himself "Cotton Boll Conspiracy" sez, "How the hell do you undo the damage of having your child see you arrested? Listening to that child cry for his father was one of the most upsetting things I’ve heard in a long, long time." (Again, Andy sagely observes, "It’s horrible — and the entirely predictable result of the father’s foolish actions.")
So ... if Tripp and his son had been tossing a baseball on a ball field somewhere, and cops arrested him for trespassing, or on any other phony, trumped up charge -- would these self-righteous shyster-historians and their sycophantic commenters be offering such lamentations over the experience of Tripp's son?
Monday, January 14, 2013
Transparent and Predictable
As predictably as Old Faithful -- and just as spewy -- Honcho Floggers
Levin, Hall and Simpson, have showcased on their phony "civil war" blogs
video of a Virginia flagger getting arrested at a Richmond protest.
Don't these floggers have any originality? Must they always copy each other's content?
I mean, like clockwork they was all OVER this incident -- like white on rice, like moths to a flame, like flies to honey, like stink on skunks -- complete with the video embedded from YouTube. On all three blogs! To make sure their myrmidon followers wouldn't miss it.
What has the goings on of the Virginia flaggers that got to do with civil war blogs? Right. Nuthin'.
Once again, we see demonstrated the obvious motive of these floggers -- not to educate or inform about the civil war, but to spew and badmouth those who see the war, and especially its commemoration, differently than they do. Every chance they get.
I mean, like clockwork they was all OVER this incident -- like white on rice, like moths to a flame, like flies to honey, like stink on skunks -- complete with the video embedded from YouTube. On all three blogs! To make sure their myrmidon followers wouldn't miss it.
What has the goings on of the Virginia flaggers that got to do with civil war blogs? Right. Nuthin'.
Once again, we see demonstrated the obvious motive of these floggers -- not to educate or inform about the civil war, but to spew and badmouth those who see the war, and especially its commemoration, differently than they do. Every chance they get.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Screenshots You Won't See At Crossroads....
...Or Dead Confederates, or any other of the Flogger blogs...
The Floggers and their comment-thread followers, especially Brooks Devious Simpson, love to showcase what they deem to be indicators of violent tendencies among Southern heritage and Southern independence advocates. But they turn a blind eye toward indicators of violence directed toward advocates of Southern heritage and independence.
Next month, the post below will have been on Facebook for a slap year. Now, I suppose it's barely possible that Simpson, Hall, et. al., did not see this post. Possible, but not likely. Not likely at all. Not when you consider the fine-toothed comb these men use to rake through the groups and comments of Southron folk on Facebook and elsewhere -- especially the Flaggers, and most especially Ms. Hathaway's comments..
No, it seem likely that they did see it and chose not to mention it on their blogs because, well, they just don't care whether violence is threatened against Southron folk. And if they don't care about the threats, is it that far fetched to assume they wouldn't care if violence itself was unleashed against them?
You draw your own conclusions.
The Floggers and their comment-thread followers, especially Brooks Devious Simpson, love to showcase what they deem to be indicators of violent tendencies among Southern heritage and Southern independence advocates. But they turn a blind eye toward indicators of violence directed toward advocates of Southern heritage and independence.
Next month, the post below will have been on Facebook for a slap year. Now, I suppose it's barely possible that Simpson, Hall, et. al., did not see this post. Possible, but not likely. Not likely at all. Not when you consider the fine-toothed comb these men use to rake through the groups and comments of Southron folk on Facebook and elsewhere -- especially the Flaggers, and most especially Ms. Hathaway's comments..
No, it seem likely that they did see it and chose not to mention it on their blogs because, well, they just don't care whether violence is threatened against Southron folk. And if they don't care about the threats, is it that far fetched to assume they wouldn't care if violence itself was unleashed against them?
You draw your own conclusions.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Losers ... And Winners
Brooks Devious Simpson and his comment-thread myrmidons are at it again -- attempting to mischaracterize a Facebook group of 1,800+ members by the comments of a handful of members -- in this case, three. Count 'em -- three (3) t-h-r-e-e.
I have to wonder why a professor of history at a major state university is so concerned about comments of private citizens on a social network. It's not like the SHPG people have access to rooms full of college students, year after year, awaiting indoctrination, like he does.
I also have to wonder if Simpson and his commenters are so unsure of the morality of their own beliefs and positions that they feel compelled to find people online they can feel superior to -- and say so, in comment threads. Oh, they may not say outright, "See how morally superior I and my beliefs are? See? See?" But the message comes through loud and clear.
I have to wonder why a professor of history at a major state university is so concerned about comments of private citizens on a social network. It's not like the SHPG people have access to rooms full of college students, year after year, awaiting indoctrination, like he does.
I also have to wonder if Simpson and his commenters are so unsure of the morality of their own beliefs and positions that they feel compelled to find people online they can feel superior to -- and say so, in comment threads. Oh, they may not say outright, "See how morally superior I and my beliefs are? See? See?" But the message comes through loud and clear.
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Congratulations to Nick Saban, AJ McCarron and the Alabama Crimson Tide
on their National Championship victory over the "Fighting Irish" of
Notre Dame -- the team transparently favored by the establishment sports
press. Looks like the cracker @$$holes with the grandiose name showed
once again that they are among the Winners of the World!
__________
"The Luck Stops Here" graphic from Facebook.com.
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