Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Prattville Dragoons Commander's Column for April 2016

The White Male Role Model 150 Years Later
My wife and I have started to make a point of watching some television shows together to enjoy scheduled time together and provide another common interest to discuss. I typically watch just sports, news or movies.  Kerri likes to watch television series though and sometimes binge watches entire seasons of shows in a matter of days or weeks using streaming services.  She suggested a new (to us) series that might be mutually interesting, Fox’s “The Last Man on Earth” knowing that I kinda like the sci-fi premise and comedies so, the two together sounded promising.  We made it thru something like a half dozen episodes before I started complaining that I didn’t like any of the characters; Kerri watched a few more on her own and reported today that she is through with it.  

Our electronic billboard ads for this Confederate History and Heritage month feature General Robert E. Lee, perhaps one of the finest leaders our nation has ever produced.  Loved and respected by his soldiers and fellow citizens of Virginia, the Confederate States of America as well as the United States of America. Certainly a timeless role model of a courageous, honorable, brilliant, distinguished Christian man of character which we all should strive to emulate.  Today, Hollywood provides us Phil Miller, the Caucasian lead for “The Last Man on Earth”. Phil embodies the polar opposite of Robert E. Lee as the bumbling, lying, conniving, inept, immoral, blasphemous drunkard.  The other characters thru the first few episodes are women whose characters while flawed demonstrate much more admirable qualities of industriousness and temperament.  The final straw for which Kerri provided a spoiler to save me from the effort and consternation of watching any more episodes was the arrival of the object of desire for all the female characters, a special ops trained, talented engineer, savior of an Adonis, a black character also named Phil Miller, whose coincidental naming served to accentuate the marked contrast to our original last man on Earth.  Don’t waste your time on this television.

We are plagued with portrayals of flawed unlikeable white males as the stereotype for Hollywood shows today.  “Hamilton” is supposedly the hottest show on Broadway featuring a portrayal of our Founding Fathers as all of black ethnicity in a rap musical format.  If that doesn’t conjure up unseemly images sufficiently, Todd Starnes of Fox News reports, “The producers of “Hamilton” really did put out a casting call, “Seeking NON-WHITE men and women, ages 20s to 30s, for Broadway and upcoming Tours!” their casting notice read. The NON-WHITE part was in all caps.  (While) CBS 2 News in New York City reports that “Hamilton’s” casting notice for ‘NON-WHITE” performers may violate the city’s human rights law, NYC’s Commission on Human Rights declined to say if they were investigating and, producer Jeffrey Seller told CBS his casting call for NON-WHITE performers is on the up and up saying, “I stand by it and believe it to be legal.”” Starnes provided, “The actual casting call: “George Washington: Males & Females, 30-49, African American, Hispanic, Asian, South Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander, Ethnically Ambiguous/Mixed Race, African Descent. Non-White, tenor/baritone.” In other words, no white folks need apply.  After a bit of online outrage, the producers changed their minds and decided to open the auditions to the pigmentationally-challenged.”  The show’s producers continue unabated though their tasteless “discriminatory” and, by some online observers astute observation, racist agenda, “As the Daily News pointed out (casting) none of the lead roles by a Caucasian.” (“Hit Broadway show celebrates diversity by excluding whites”, by Todd Starnes, Published March 30, 2016, FoxNews.com)

The Sons of Confederate Veterans stands no doubt as an affront to this offensive, warped politically correct and mainstream media promoted and praised revisionist history.  The Prattville Dragoons would dare place a public proclamation on multiple billboards throughout our community espousing General Robert E. Lee as worthy of honor and remembrance in this season pronounced as Confederate History and Heritage Month.  We dare to study and teach the true history of the South and praise our Confederate ancestors, men of virtue and courage who bravely fought to continue and perpetuate the true constitutional republic envisioned by our actual Founding Fathers. We can only hope that “Hamilton” doesn’t ever come to the Prattville or Millbrook playhouses off-off-Broadway.  What version of our nation’s history, what leaders in our nation’s history would you care to teach and, what role model do you desire to uphold to your children and grandchildren?  Robert E. Lee or Phil Miller?  

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