[2ndDivisionVet]

Comments?

[GeronL]

Cosplay is in vogue - at least its educational

[Venturer]

Without the re-enactments there would only be a few tourists.

Those re-enactors spend a lot of money traveling to Gettysburg and bringing their families along. It isn’t like they are re-enacting 24/7 there are plenty of times when people can visit Gettysburg when the re-enactors aren’t there.
This professor is just another Richard Cranium.

[ottbmare]

The professor, like so many of his colleagues, is as foolish and benighted as he is intellectually snobbish. His snobbery is unearned, for he is ignorant of some of the fundamental contributions of reenacting. Reenactments not only educate the general public and the participants about the events of the past; they also permit a type of experimental anthropology research, in which the reenactors find out how our ancestors lived—how they experienced their environment. Research into the personal lives of individuals or of non-famous people is a valid, relatively new area of study, and it’s no less important than the study of which great man fought which battle. Reenactments permit this type of study.

The idiot is probably annoyed because for a few weekends a year he can’t find a parking place. He should shut up.

[MacMattico]

I saw a reenactment at Gettysburg in the 1990’s. Where I live we have Revolutionary War Reenactments. It’s one of the things that keep or get kids interested in history, in my opinion. Many of the people do know more about the events they’re reenacting then the so-called Academics. I’ve seen many kids also get interested in the military by attending reenactments, which may be why a lefty college Professor may have a problem with them. To me, a reenactment is a play put on for free by people that devote their time to preserving history. But it also shows that the soldiers were real people, and we can’t have that./s

[Standing Wolf]

Puritans, leftist extremists, and career academics are deathly afraid someone, somewhere may be having fun.

[PghBaldy]

Well for one thing, it humanizes BOTH sides, and America doesn’t stand for that anymore.

[max americana]

No. It’s a dry run before the country really splits into 2 in the near future.

[tet68]

“Peter Carmichael, a professor of history at Gettysburg College, calls re-enactments an ‘unfortunate distraction’ from a deeper understanding of the Civil War, including the motivations of those who fought and its legacy.”

Maybe Peter would have a better deeper understanding of
the Civil war if he marched 15 miles on a hand full of
partched corn then spent the night in a thin wool blanket
knowing that when the sun came up other guys just like
him would be trying to blow his head off.

It’s ok Peter we know you meant it’s a destraction from
the racism and slavery and how everything today
revolves around that point. Well, doesn’t it for you?

[Nemoque]

Using his logic, there should be no Christmas or Easter pageants or reenactments.

[nathanbedford]

The readers comments to the effect that professor Carmichael, a critic of reenactments and reenactors is a Marxist, are revealing.

Assuming the description to be true, we have the application of The Frankfurt School brought to the sacred battlegrounds of Gettysburg. The Marxists seek to control history, the way we study history, the conclusions we draw from history, and, ultimately, the way we think about the world. The Critical Theory is an attempt to so disparage what we think we know and how we know it so that we are eventually prepared psychologically for a a new worldview conveniently supplied to us courtesy of Marxism.

We conservatives have largely lost these battles in the kindergartens, grammar schools, middle schools, high schools and universities of America so it is not surprising that the struggle to indoctrinate has moved to a real battleground.

[catfish1957]

calls re-enactments an 'unfortunate distraction'

I'd bet the Gettysburg Chamber of Commerce wouldn't agree with that. A pretty nice percentage of that areas tax base comes from reenactors.

[Mad Dawgg]

I've read over 30 books about the civil war but I got more REAL knowledge about the period by attending one very good reenactment in Northern Ohio.

I got to carry a typical union soldiers kit (Sans Uniform) and march and maneuver while sporting it. Some brilliant reenactor organized classes that let tourists participate in basic maneuvers and a simulated attack (no ammo no bayonets) so people could understand the logistics involved in getting a typical civil war soldier from point a to point b.

All of the equipment used was cheap replicas but fairly accurate in weight and size. The class was popular and sold out quickly.

After being involved in the class I had a greatly increased respect for soldiers who were in attacks like the Union Soldiers at Fredericksburg and the Southern Troops in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. No book could have conveyed the info I learned in that class better.

Further seeing a full scale reenactment with artillery and all the noise and smoke is startling AND shows how hard it was for commanders to see the battle and adjust strategies once the engagement was underway.

The author of this piece knows two things about reenactments. "Jack" and "Shit"...

[Jeff Winston]

Comments?

Not just no, but HELL no.

[Cincinatus]

The fundamental assumption of Carmichael (the academic) is that "professional" historians know the "real story" and re-enactors don't. In fact, after reading the output of academic historians for the last 30 years, I find that they are usually the least likely to fully understand motives and events, especially as most current members of the academy have a variety of leftist axes to grind.

Although I think a lot of re-enactors have unrealistic views of history, I do not think they are any more ill-informed than your typical academic. Carmichael is an elitist snob.

[tanuki]

Even if the professor’s criticisms were true, a division of re-enactors couldn’t do the damage to the memory of the sacred ground of Gettysburg that was done by one of his colleagues; namely, that Goodwin woman.

[sten]

motivations?

so they’ll discuss the north’s inability to compete against the south’s slave labor? (the labor standard across the world at the time)

[kearnyirish2]

“Downes, 63, has been re-enacting for 33 years.”

Civil War re-enactments will be abandoned due to demographics anyway. I like the fact that they give people a feel for the sounds and smells of real battles, but in the future it will be hard to pitch an assorted group of turbaned, blue-bellied Arabs as troops of the North fighting against pint-sized, beardless Mexicans dressed in gray as troops of the South.

Our history has become meaningless to the increasing number of people who’ve been in this country less than 20 years, and it will mean nothing to their children.

[skr]

Just call it Civil War Performance Art. Elitists give a whole lot of leeway to those two magic words. Art philosophy trumps fact in the ivory towers.

[LS]

This is part of a broader campaign to eliminate all things military from society and history. Reenactments remind people that there are things called wars, and things called battles. Think of Howard Zinn, who covers the Civil War without discussing a single battle.

[servo1969]

“Peter Carmichael, a professor of history at Gettysburg College, calls re-enactments an ‘unfortunate distraction’ from a deeper understanding of the Civil War, including the motivations of those who fought and its legacy.”

Oh, p-— off egghead.
Talking ain’t the same as experiencing.