In Response ...

... to Something I Recently Encountered Online....

Heritage is not "something you're told." It is an INHERITANCE. It can be chosen as an identity as much as anything else.

The claim that the Virginia Flaggers are "implicitly supporting ... racist ideology" is, at best, an opinion -- certainly not a judgment the claimer is qualified to make.

Erase "hate from our heritage?"  The real problem is those who are reading hate into our heritage where none exists... and ignoring it where it did -- and still does exist.

 The "dark parts" of the past have been jackhammered into America's consciousness over and over and over.  The real risk comes from ignoring the ideas and objects we value about the past.

Burnings and Burials Notwithstanding....

Met One of My Heroes -- In Person

Susan Hathaway and me in the great state of Alabama, Memorial Day weekend, 2015

Simpson's Slimy "Debate" Tactics

For some reason, Simpson has let a number of my comments through at XRoads recently. I guess they got too logical and truthful, though, because he abruptly (in so many words) told me to scram last night.

But it's interesting and instructive too look at some of what transpired. Like this snippet of a thread on "true Southerners."

E---    May 7, 2015 / 11:09 am

How about those that stuck it out down south, despite being Unionists, and were willing to endure the hostile environment because they so loved it? How can’t they be considered real southerners?

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Brooks D. Simpson    May 7, 2015 / 12:44 pm

You need to raise that question with Connie Chastain, not me. I consider Andrew Johnson a real southerner, and he hated the Confederacy.

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Connie Chastain    May 7, 2015 / 10:07 pm

Why me?

As if I'm so kind of authority on that -- as if there even IS an authority on that. What I think about it is simply my opinion, so why would E--- need to direct his question to me? Does Simpson imagine E--- would consider me an authority on it? Or that E---- would be interested in my opinion? Of course, Simpson didn't answer that with logic and reason. Look how he DOES reply:

Brooks D. Simpson    May 7, 2015 / 10:50 pm

Unable to answer the question? Were southern unionists real southerners? Is that too difficult for you to understand?

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Connie Chastain    May 7, 2015 / 11:10 pm
I’m no authority on it. Mr. E--- can believe whatever he wishes.

And then we come to a hallmark Simpson dirty trick:

Brooks D. Simpson    May 7, 2015 / 11:46 pm

In short, you are unable to answer a simple question. Thanks for the admission.

Well, I made no such admission, so he's lying, as the frequently does.

But unable to answer a simple question? (1) Not unable. Unwilling, as I don't see the point, and there's no significance to it, anyway.  Does he think I'm the authority on that? What I say, goes? If I say Unionists who "stuck it out" in the South weren't real Southerners, is E--- going to agree? Is Simpson? Of course not. So what was the point in asking?

Well, this was supposed to be a "Gotcha" moment for Simpson. He would have pounced like a hyena on anything I said, because exchanging opinions is not his thing. Put downs of people he disagrees with are his thing.

Since I didn't say yes or no, he had to satisfy himself by resorting to very lame, feeble putdowns in the form of lies.

How do people with such slimy approaches and questionable ethics get into positions of such loftiness at our institutions of higher learning? When did academic ethical standards so drastically plummet?

Pensacola Before PC

I am using a couple of images of vintage postcards as inspiration for posters to hang in my house as part of my home's Old Florida Meets Mid-Century Modern make-over.

Here are the images I'm using for inspiration. Basically the lettering -- size and shape -- will be the same. The overall image will be increased to probably 20 inches in width, max. Matted and framed, they will probably be about 26 to 28 inches in width, with height in proportion. I will composite them in my photoeditor, put them on a CD and take it to a Kinkos or some place to be printed on a high quality color printer.

I have numerous photos (some stock and some shot by me or my hubs) of Pensacola and Florida that will work for the images within the letters. I want the posters to look similar to the post cards, but I'm not trying to exactly duplicate them.

Except for the "P" in Pensacola.

What you see in that post card is the Confederate Memorial in Lee Square. In the Forties and Fifties, when post cards like this were made for tourist industry, Confederate symbols and memorials were not only NOT considered embarrassments to be hidden, explained away or removed; they were part of the area's attraction. A new photo of the memorial will go in the "P" on my poster.

Also on my Pensacola poster, the red and white trainer aircraft in the top right corner will be replaced by the Blue Angels in their FA-18 Hornets (although I think the A-4F Skyhawk II, last flown in 1986, was the prettiest aircraft in Blue Angels' history) ... all six, in delta formation, with smoke trailing out behind. I believe we have images shot by my husband at one of the autumn air shows that may work.

The white building in the N and S, which I believe is the old federal courthouse on Palafox Street, will be replaced with a different building. Not sure which one yet, but there are many to choose from -- iron-lace fronted brick buildings echoing New Orleans on lower Palafox Street, the Chappie James state office building in all its boxy, modernist glory (and I have several good digital images of it that I shot), the new baseball stadium, or Fort Pickens, to name just a few. And, for other letters -- perhaps the statue of Don Tristan de Luna at the municipal pier and the Wall South at Veterans Memorial Park. Of course, the historic lighthouse has to be on there somewhere.

Other images to fit in, if they're needed -- sabal palms, magnolia blossoms, seashells and/or sand castles, sea oats, jumping mullet and alligators.

The bottom of the vintage image features a shot the Pensacola Naval Air Station as seen from the water. I'd prefer to replace that with a panorama of downtown made from Pensacola Bay, if I can find one. If not, I'll substitute a view of the beach and the Gulf of Mexico....

But regardless of what I choose to go in the other letters, or surrounding the name, the Confederate Memorial is going in the "P" -- fer shure...

Why Southern Pride Must Be Destroyed

Anybody who thinks the civil war and the Confederacy are not indelible factors in the history, the culture and very substance of the South -- including Southern pride -- is a compleat idiot.

The whole purpose of current attacks on the Confederacy and its memory and heritage (not to mention re-stocking the South with people from elsewhere) is to drill an unfillable hole in Southern pride that will, hopefully, shatter it forever -- and thus, to define the south as little more than a compass point (with a lower case "s"), regional cuisine and regional sports -- and to ultimately enfold and homogenize it into the conglomeration known as the United States.

In other words, to change it from That to This.

But, of course, changing That to This ... destroys That.

It Takes Time

  "Confederate heritage deserves better …"  Brooks D. Simpson

Like he cares about Confederate heritage and what it deserves.

Also from Simpson: 

"But what has happened at the Confederate War Memorial Chapel … and what has not happened … testifies to the ineffectiveness of Confederate heritage groups and their failure to take meaningful action to protect what they claim to prize so dearly."

Actually, what it testifies to is the existence of the war on Confederate heritage being waged by an assortment of rich, left-leaning politicians, by business and industry, public and private societal groups (like the VMFA, NAACP, ) and those who control and manipulate the populace with the enormously powerful weapon of popular culture (film, TV, books, music, etc.) 

By contrast, heritage folks are volunteers and their activism is funded by donations from people who, for the most part, are far from rich.

It's a one-sided battle right now, and heritage is taking a lot of hits. The battle is relatively recent -- begun after, and, to some extent, because of -- the civil rights movement and the rise of political correctness in the latter half of the 20th century. But fighting back is a long, arduous undertaking; the tide will not turn and results will not be seen for a long time.

Generally speaking, heritage folks are political and cultural conservatives. Demonstrations, protests, sit ins, (and, as we've recently seen, riots) are left-liberal activities. Conservatives basically did not publicly demonstrate until the rise of the Tea Party (less than a decade ago). Political conservatives and heritage folks are both having to learn how to protest, and what to augment it with behind the scenes. We're way behind the leftists in this area, and one reason left-libs are so outraged at the Tea Party AND the Flaggers is because they have dared to appropriate a method that was once the prerogative of the left.

But there's another reason why members of the left-leaning world of academia and their allies are so viscerally infuriated with the Virginia Flaggers. The Flaggers are re-awakening a trait in the South that has gone underground since the mid-20th century -- a trait liberals and leftists can't stand.

Southern pride.

A huge component of Southern pride is Confederate heritage.

That is why leftists hate, lie about, denigrate, harass and persecute the Virginia Flaggers, who are doing so much to restore that pride. The last thing leftists want to see is the reappearance and rise of Southern pride -- of Southerners proudly honoring their Confederate ancestors and the legacy they left us.

Too bad what leftists want. The resurgence of Southern pride grows bigger and stronger with each passing week, month, year...