You see, the thing is that the guys are so invested in the losing cause of their great grandfathers that they cannot admit that they held an immoral position.
And also, being on the losing side of a total war will leave a mark for generations.
What they miss is that a great deal of the reason why the Conservative party will never, ever get the black vote is for the simple reason that the blacks will never be really treated as equals by these people. Certainly not all southerners, and not all descendants of the Confederacy fall into this category.
But, there are enough folks around who can suggest that slaveholding is akin to having a pet that it makes us ALL look like bigots.
I made my stand and they failed to take the challenge. It is their blindness to their own prejudice that makes me weep for them.
What I don’t understand is why they just don’t say it, and get rid of me. The reason is obvious—saying it would be an affront against the memory of their family.
So, whenever I see them spouting out that slavery would have died on its own, that I jump in their face.
Perhaps they should be chained to their desk at work, or to a post in the garage. And perhaps their boss should have a couple little girls brought up to his house tonight—just ‘cuz it’s a little chilly. It might only be for a year. Or maybe 20. And really, working at a desk or in a garage is about all they can handle, so it’s good not to let them get very uppity.
When I read what these men type, I am ashamed for them. Again, it must be horrible to have your families so traumatized by armies marching through your towns that the blind rage lives on for 150 years.
It is time to move on. You don’t have to stand tall for them anymore. They thought they were doing the right thing. I will grant them that. But as was the case in most wars, they were just conscripts—fighting against another army of conscripts.
Yes, 150 years later these men here read and post and debate. The real men did what they were told. Do these men today really think their kinfolk cared about all of this economic and political BS? We all know that is NEVER the case in conscripted armies. I honor their loyalty to their comrades. I honor their loyalty to their kin.
I cannot honor their blind allegiance to an economic model that is based on the immoral practice of slavery. If these other men on this thread had any honor, they would join me in loving the fighters, but despising the fight.
Excellent summation.
I share your frustration, especially with the damage this moral blindness does to the conservative cause.
Take comfort in the satisfaction of knowing that their great-grandfathers, their grandfathers, and likely their fathers were all democrats. Now they’ve tried to do a 180 from that and, like donning a suit, they try to take on the trappings of conservatism. They’re so screwed up from a slavish devotion to their death-cult Lost Cause that they don’t know which way is up most of the time.
You’ve seen on these very pages how irritable they get when attempting to pass a camel through the eye of a needle when it comes to denying or ignoring the inescapable truth which is that the confederacy was founded to perpetuate the enslavement of other human beings. That stain runs so deep that one would have to stare at the sun not to see it. In order to salve their consciences they indulge in Liberal Projection™ - they accuse their opponents of their very own offenses. It would be laughable if it weren’t so pathetic.
Take heart that you don’t have to drag those chains around with your every step.