ARE CIVIL WAR MEMORIALS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HUMAN LIFE?
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
OCTOBER 31, 2017
REVISED, NOVEMBER 1, 2017

UP TO A POINT I AGREE WITH THE GENERAL HERE ON THE SUBJECT OF CIVIL WAR MEMORIALS, BECAUSE INDEED, HISTORY IS HISTORY. THIS MAINLY SOUTHERN “MEAN OLD WHITE BACKLASH,” HOWEVER, IS A MODERN-DAY THING AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO BRING BACK THE PAST, AND THE WORST ASPECTS OF THE PAST AT THAT. BARBARISM IS NOT THE FORM OF STRENGTH THAT WE SHOULD EMULATE. THAT IS WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING, AND IT IS AMORAL AND PROFOUNDLY IRRATIONAL. IT IS JUST THE CONTINUATION OF A CULTURE THAT HAS HAD AN INTENSE STRAIN OF EVIL BUILT INTO IT, AND BRINGING THAT BACK IS GOING TO DESTROY – IS DESTROYING – OUR CIVILIZATION OF TODAY.

WE SHOULD LOOK INSTEAD TOWARD HEROES LIKE BARBARA FRITCHIE. SHE WAS NOT A FICTIONAL CHARACTER, SO HER ACTIONS ARE POSSIBLE FOR ANYONE WHO IS WILLING TO TAKE A RISK. THESE DAYS WE CAN’T FACE UP TO A LITTLE SOCIAL DISAPPROVAL, SO WE JUST FOLLOW THE CROWD, WHICH IS SO OFTEN UP TO NO GOOD. ON THAT REFERENCE, SEE: HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/BARBARA_FRITCHIE; OR BETTER STILL, READ THE GREAT OLD HISTORICAL POEM BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, A QUAKER, ABOUT THAT LADY. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU’VE EVER ATTENDED A QUAKER MEETING, BUT THEIR FORM OF PACIFISM IS LIKE THAT OF MARTIN LUTHER KING. IT ISN’T TIMIDITY.

WE SHOULD ALLOW THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY TO REST, AND MOVE ON. THE NEAR DEIFICATION OF THOSE HEROES FROM LONG PAST IS WELL UNDERWAY, WITH IMPLACABLE GROUPS DEMONSTRATING THEIR RACIST VIEWS WITH TORCHES AND CRUDE CHANTS. AT THAT PARTICULAR STATUE IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA AND OTHERS AROUND THE COUNTRY, THE RELATED LAWLESSNESS HAS BROUGHT ON THIS POLICY WITHIN STATE GOVERNMENTS TO PULL DOWN THOSE STATUES, IN AN ATTEMPT TO PREVENT A PATHOLOGICAL FOCUS ON THEM -- WHICH IS FUELING A FRIGHTENING AND DANGEROUS UPRISING OF HATE ACTIVITY. I WANT TO THINK THAT POGROMS IN NAZI GERMANY AND OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS WERE ANOMALIES, BUT IT IS BECOMING CLEAR TO ME THAT THEY ARE NOT.

I UNDERSTAND WHY THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE DOING THOSE REMOVALS, THOUGH I ALSO REGRET IT. MOST OF THEM ARE BEING MOVED TO NEWLY CONSTRUCTED HISTORICAL PARKS OR MUSEUMS, HOWEVER, WHICH IS FAIR ENOUGH, GIVEN THE SITUATION, TO A RATIONAL PERSON. FETISHIZING ABUSE OF ANY KIND, BY THUGS OF ANY RACE OR NATIONALITY, IS NOT INTELLIGENT, AND IT IS CERTAINLY NOT "CHRISTIAN." I PERSONALLY REALLY LOVE HISTORY. HOW PEOPLE USED TO LIVE IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO ME THAN WHAT IS SO POPULAR TODAY – REALITY SHOWS LIKE “SURVIVOR” OR “THE APPRENTICE,” ESPECIALLY. I DESPISE THE VERY LOWBROW CULTURAL TREND THAT HAS COME TO PASS IN AMERICA. THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," NOR ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT I WAS TAUGHT IN K-12, ESPECIALLY THAT PERNICIOUS DOCTRINE "WHITE MAN'S BURDEN."

BESIDES, THESE RIGHTIST GROUPS ARE TRYING TO BRING HISTORY BACK AND RELIVE IT, AND THAT NEVER WORKS. WE DON’T LIKE TO THINK IT, BUT IN A FREE SOCIETY CHANGE IS ONGOING AND INEVITABLE, AS IT SHOULD BE. IT’S EVOLUTION. THAT’S HOW WE IMPROVE. WHEN WE GET OLD, OUR SKIN LOOKS LESS BEAUTIFUL AND OUR HAIR GRAYS, BUT WE STILL CONTINUE ON UNTIL DEATH. SO, LET’S LET THAT DARNED ISSUE OF A CONFEDERATE PAST GO, AND "LIVE IN THE NOW." ONE DAY AT A TIME IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO.

AND AS FOR ANTIFA AND SUCH GROUPS, THEY ARE TRYING TO PROTECT MODERN SOCIETY FROM WHAT AMOUNTS, IN MY VIEW, TO DEMONIC POSSESSION AMONG THE IGNORANT, RIOTOUS AND DISAFFECTED. ANTIFA IS DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN A SITUATION OF GROSS LEGAL INACTION; IT'S METHODS ARE VIOLENT, YES, BUT SO ARE THESE FASCISTS. WHEN I WAS YOUNG THERE WERE FASCISTS, BUT THEY WEREN’T AS ACTIVE AS THEY HAVE BECOME, AND THEREFORE AS DANGEROUS.

I DON’T WANT BLOODSHED, BUT FIGHTING THIS HORROR DOES NEED TO BE DONE. I WOULD MUCH RATHER SEE FASCISTS ARRESTED, OF COURSE, THAN POSSIBLY BEING KILLED IN THIS WAY. THAT’S JUST STREET WARFARE, AND IT’S DESTRUCTIVE TO EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY AS WELL AS TO THOSE WHO DIE. PASSIVISM, RATHER THAN PACIFISM, HOWEVER, IS WORSE THAN USELESS IN A SITUATION LIKE WHAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING LATELY. IT ENCOURAGES THE REALLY BAD GUYS BECAUSE THEY AREN’T BEING OPPOSED. IT’S THE “BYSTANDER EFFECT.” WHEN I SAW NAZI SALUTES TO DONALD TRUMP, WHICH IN ONE FILM, HE RETURNED, I WAS APPALLED. THIS IS NOT MY AMERICA.

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE UNWISELY SET UP ABOVE COMMON SENSE IN OUR NATION IS THE ESPOUSAL OF A BELIEF IN TOTAL FREEDOM TO FLOUT FAIRNESS AND DECENCY WHENEVER WE HAPPEN TO FEEL LIKE IT, WHICH IS A GREAT DEAL OF THE TIME. WHEN YOU BOIL IT DOWN, IT’S JUST ANOTHER FORM OF BULLYING. OUR BILL OF RIGHTS CONCEPT NEEDS TO BE MODIFIED WHEN THOSE “RIGHTS” CAUSE SUCH VILE BEHAVIOR. IT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR PET DOG AND A WILD WOLF. I WILL NOT SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP IN THE FACE OF AN ATTEMPTED NAZI TAKEOVER OF THE USA, AND NEITHER SHOULD ANY AMERICAN CITIZEN. NOW THAT’S REAL PATRIOTISM – STICKING UP FOR THE GOOD AMERICA RATHER THAN MERELY THE POWERFUL. IT IS ESPOUSING GOOD RATHER THAN EVER MORE POWER THAT MAKES US “GREAT.” WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE HOME OF THE FREE, YES, BUT OF THE TRULY BRAVE AS WELL. HAVING ENOUGH BRAVERY TO SPEAK UP FOR SOMETHING GOOD TO OUR PEERS WHEN THEY HAVE BECOME DESTRUCTIVE IS AS IMPORTANT AS JOINING THE ARMY TO GO AND FIGHT OVERSEAS.

WHAT WE HAVE AS A NATION IS CLEARLY FRAGILE, AND DESPERATELY NEEDS TO BE PRESERVED BY THE ACTIVE LEGAL PROTECTION OF GOODNESS, AGAINST THE KIND OF EVIL THAT IS HAPPENING NOW. MY HEROES ARE THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER SCHOLARS AND LAWYERS. THEIR ACTION IS NONVIOLENT, BUT PERSISTENT AND WELL-CONSIDERED. WE COULD ALSO USE ANOTHER MARTIN LUTHER KING RIGHT ABOUT NOW. SINCE THE TEA PARTY AND THE MILITIAS BEGAN TO BECOME DIRECTLY POLITICALLY ACTIVE, WE HAVE LOST CONTROL. SUCH THINGS ARE NOT, AND SHOULDN'T BE CONSIDERED TO BE "FREE SPEECH" AND "FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION." THEY ARE AIDING THE ENEMY.

WHILE WE ARE CRACKING DOWN ON VIOLENT RADICAL MUSLIMS, WE NEED ALSO TO INCLUDE OUR OWN "WHITE CHRISTIAN" CRIMINALS. WE HAVE ALLOWED THAT SEGMENT OF SOCIETY TO THRIVE, GROW AND, SINCE WE ARE ALL OF THE SAME SKIN COLOR, TO HIDE SAFELY AMONG THE CROWD; MANY OF THEM BEGAN IN POVERTY, WORKING AT JOBS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE AN EDUCATION, AND HAVE MOVED TOWARD A PURPOSEFUL IGNORANCE IN ORDER TO GET ALONG WITH THE MAJORITY. OTHERS HAD A PRIVILEGED UPBRINGING AND BELIEVE THAT IF WHITES ONLY HAD THEIR GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS, THEY WOULD HAVE AN ALL WHITE NATION. UNFORTUNATELY, THE ABUSE AND DISRESPECT TOWARD ALL MINORITIES IS ACTUALLY FOSTERED WITHIN HOUSEHOLDS, ON JOBS, IN CHURCHES, IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE COURT SYSTEM, IN THE SCHOOLS, AND INEVITABLY AT THE POLLS. WE MUST STOP IT WITH SOCIAL ACTION.

DENIAL OF EVIL IN SUCH CASES AS WE HAVE TODAY IS A TERRIBLE THING. IT IS FROM THAT SOURCE THAT FASCISM, UGLY ABUSIVENESS AND EVEN MASS MURDERS GROW. WE HAVE NORMALIZED THE UNSPEAKABLE, AND THE RESULT IS THIS NEW FORM OF FASCISM. IF WE HAVE EYES AND A BRAIN, WE SHOULD READ AND LEARN, MODIFYING OUR BEHAVIOR IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE NEW KNOWLEDGE. IF WE ARE GOING TO TALK, WE SHOULDN’T TALK TRASH, OR MAKE UP RIDICULOUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES (AND MOST HARMFULLY, ACTUALLY BELIEVE THEM.) SUCH PEOPLE AREN’T ALL INSANE OR EVEN UNINTELLIGENT, BUT SIMPLY MENTALLY LAZY AND “BRAINWASHED.” LIES APPEAL MORE TO THEM THAN TRUTH, AND VIOLENCE IS ENTERTAINMENT. I AM RELIEVED TO SEE THAT THE TOTALLY INSENSITIVE ARE NOT THE MAJORITY; WE JUST NEED TO DEFEAT THOSE WHO ARE OF THAT TYPE BY USING OUR VOICES AND THE LAW. STREET MARCHES HAVE THEIR VALUE, BECAUSE SEEING 500, 000 PEOPLE MARCHING DOWN THE STREET IS AN ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT CAN HAPPEN. INTELLECTUAL PERSUASION IS NOT ALWAYS SUFFICIENT, BECAUSE THAT REQUIRES AN ACTIVE CONSCIENCE ON THE PART OF THE SOCIAL MASTER CLASSES.

THE RIGHTIST SUCCESSES, TO THIS POINT, ARE LARGELY DUE TO A CERTAIN COMPLACENCY AMONG OUR BEST PEOPLE; AND ESPECIALLY TO THE HILLARY CLINTON/KOCH-PAID DNC. THEY ARE NOT REALLY IN FAVOR OF NEO-NAZI PHILOSOPHY; THEY JUST DIDN'T BELIEVE IT TO BE AS PREVALENT IN THE USA AS IT HAS BECOME, OR CAPABLE OF A COUP. ALL THE WHITE PEOPLE WHOM I HAVE MENTION THIS TO ARE SHOCKED AN HORRIFIED THAT BY WHAT APPEARS TO BE PUBLIC ACCLAIM, A PROTO-DICTATOR HAS BEEN ELECTED. EVEN THE ARMED TAKEOVER OF A STATE PARK FACILITY IN THE WEST BY WEALTHY ANTI-GOVERNMENT GANG OF WHITE SUPREMACISTS DIDN'T MAKE THEM THINK THAT THEY SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT WAS GOING ON, AND SEE THE PATTERN FOR WHAT IT IS -- AN ATTEMPTED REVOLUTION.

LET’S FACE IT, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, WHICH FOR YEARS NURTURED US, HAS ABANDONED THE POOR AND THE MIDDLE CLASS, BECAUSE, IN THEIR VIEW, THE PROBLEMS THAT ARE OCCURRING TODAY ARE HAPPENING TO "SOMEONE ELSE." AN INTELLECTUAL SCORN FOR THOSE “DEPLORABLES” WILL NOT STOP THEM. OUR WELL-HEELED MIDDLE CLASS SITS BACK IN A SELF-IMPORTANT WAY AND SHOWS “SUPERIORITY” BY LAUGHING AT THEM. GREAT LOT OF GOOD THAT DID.

UNFORTUNATELY, THAT JUST WON’T STOP THEM. THE MOTTO OF THE PRIVILEGED WHITES IS “WHAT, ME WORRY?” WE ARE LIVING IN A NEW GILDED AGE, AND IF WE DON’T BREAK AWAY FROM THAT, WE WILL BE THROWN OUT FROM OUR COMFORTABLE PLACE IN LIFE. SELF-SATISFIED AS WE ARE, AND EVEN BECAUSE OF THAT, THERE WILL BE A RECKONING, I’M AFRAID, SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.

A FASCIST MOB WILL KILL ALL WHO ARE NOT OF THEIR GROUP WITH NO COMPUNCTION WHATSOEVER, SO REFUSING TO FIGHT THEM NOW WHEN THEY ARE RELATIVELY WEAK, IS TOTAL FOOLISHNESS, UNLESS YOU PLAN TO JOIN THEM, OF COURSE. OUR LEGISLATORS ARE WISING UP TO THIS, THANK GOODNESS, AND BECOMING ACTIVE. I ONLY HOPE THAT OUR POPULATION IN GENERAL WILL FOLLOW SUIT. THAT’S WHY WHEN I SEE BLM AND SUCH GROUPS MARCHING IN LARGE NUMBERS I AM RELIEVED, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT COMPLACENT. THEY’RE ON THE SIDE OF GOODNESS, COME TO SAVE THE DAY.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-kelly-says-lack-of-compromise-caused-civil-war-wont-apologize-to-frederica-wilson/
By EMILY TILLETT CBS NEWS October 31, 2017, 9:20 AM
John Kelly says "lack of compromise" caused Civil War; won't apologize to Rep. Frederica Wilson

Photograph -- John Kelly at a press conference in Washington, January 31, 2017. DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES

President Trump's chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, reignited the debate over pulling down monuments immortalizing the Confederacy on Monday, telling Fox News Channel's Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" that there's a "lack of appreciation of history and what history is." He also suggested that it was the inability to "compromise" that led to the Civil War.

Kelly, asked about the removal of historical markers across the country, said that "history's history."

"There are certain things in history that were not so good and other things that were very, very good. I think, I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society and certainly as, as individuals, when we take what is today accepted as right and wrong and go back 100, 200, 300 years or more and say what those, you know, what Christopher Columbus did was wrong."

He said the idea of applying current concepts of right and wrong so many years later is "very, very dangerous." As for Confederate general Robert E. Lee, Kelly called him an "honorable man."

"He was a man that gave up, gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it's different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand," Kelly said.

Both Kelly and Ingraham later joked about the threat of pulling down the Washington Monument and renaming the statue in the nation's capitol. Kelly sarcastically proposed renaming it after a "cult hero" like pop artist Andy Warhol.

Meanwhile, Kelly said he's not offering an apology to Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson any time soon in the fallout over President Trump's conversations with Gold Star families.

"I'll apologize if I need to. But for something like that, absolutely not. I stand by my comments," said Kelly when asked if he would ever extend a mea culpa to Wilson.

He added, "But I'd just as soon let that go."

Kelly had told reporters at the White House he was "stunned" to find out that a member of Congress had listened to the phone call Mr. Trump made to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, Myeshia Johnson, as she made her way to the airport to greet the remains of her late husband, timing that was reported by CBS Miami.

Wilson told CBS Miami that during the call, the president told Johnson, "'Well, I guess he knew what he was getting into'" — a comment that Johnson later said left her feeling "upset and hurt." The president blasted Wilson's account as "totally fabricated."

Kelly said it was "absolutely depressing" to see the calling of a war widow be turned into a political event, reiterating that Wilson's comments about the president were "stunning."

"I just don't know how anyone could possibly criticize another human being for doing the best he or she could do to express sorrow from the bottom of their hearts," said Kelly.

He added, "But to hear him [Trump] talk to four next of kin that day and essentially the message was the same and he did the best he could to make it personal and the best he could to make them understand how sorry he was as the president and as a father himself. And then to see what came of that, just was stunning to me."

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