Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Prattville Dragoons Commander's Column for August 2018


Commander's Column – Offended by Truth

Found an interesting Twitter account, @OffendedBand which is the official Twitter feed for the band Offended by Everything out of Dallas Texas.  I suppose they can start writing a song about the recent movement to rename their state capital to rid themselves of the offensive history of “Stephen F. Austin, who played a central part in the founding of Texas. Though he owned no slaves and died long before the Civil War, the report notes that he “fought to defend slavery in spite of Mexico’s effort to ban it” and feared that freed slaves would be “a nuisance and a menace.” Among the things named after him are a street, a high school, a recreation center and ... a city of nearly a million people. The Austin Equity Office, you see, recently published a report on Confederate monuments. It compiled a list of parks, streets and facilities named for slaveholders, Confederate veterans and other symbols of the antebellum South, and it provided cost estimates for changing names and removing statues.” (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-perspec-chapman-austin-rename-slavery-confederate-statues-20180802-story.html) The author continues, “In much of the Lone Star State, “Austin” is shorthand for “crazy liberals.””  He revealed in the article that he hails from Austin, now resides in Chicago and writes for the Tribune and apparently is describing himself as a “crazy liberal” as he goes on to predictably express his offense at Confederate flags and monuments as well as Andrew Jackson.  But, thankfully he has reached his limit with the preposterous notion of renaming his hometown. Not even recognizing his ignorant hypocrisy he proclaims,  “If re-christening is obligatory there, signmakers are going to be working overtime across the country. The nation’s capital and dozens of other Washingtons were named for a slaveholder. So were Madison, Wis., and Jefferson City, Mo. Anything called “Columbus” or “Columbia” would need a replacement, given the fate of Native Americans once the explorer arrived.  And let’s not forget the big enchilada: America. Its name came from Amerigo Vespucci, who on one of his voyages to the New World captured a couple of hundred natives to sell as slaves.  This is not to say the campaign against Confederate symbols is mistaken. On the contrary, it’s long overdue. The University of Texas has taken down statues of four Confederate leaders. The city of Austin has renamed Robert E. Lee Road and Jeff Davis Avenue. Confederate Avenue and Dixie Drive could be next. The reasoning behind such changes is unassailable. It’s an abomination to honor the Confederacy, whose chief purpose was preserving white supremacy and African-American bondage. There is no way to think of Lee or Davis without recalling the vast monstrosity they upheld.  You know why they call the Confederacy the Lost Cause? Because it lost.  Changes like this don’t “erase history” as some critics charge. On the contrary, they expand our appreciation of history to include oppressed groups that were once rendered invisible. Confederate statues can serve an educational purpose — in museums. A Jeff Davis Avenue, however, makes about as much sense as a Benedict Arnold Drive.  It’s important that Americans have begun to rid ourselves of monuments to avoid glorifying evil and folly. It’s equally useful to know where to stop.”  We are so fortunate to have the esteemed Steve Chapman, editor of the Chicago Tribune to educate us as to his unquestionable moral clarity and his truths of historical perspective.  I tweeted on this subject saying, “The insanity these insane people are propagating must stop. Who is to say these "enlightened" elites possess the eternally righteous values? Those coming 200 years after us may condemn them. Preserve history.” We are not alone in our perception of how crazy this PC pacification, this purging of history and heritage has become. “People today have been taught to be offended, people live to be offended. That’s why they need a ‘safe space’ and a ‘cry closet,’ and what they mean by that seems to be a space where they can be safe from hearing the voice of reason and truth.  If you speak the truth, you might not be safe.” Speaking basic truths today requires courage, Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino from Madison, Wisconsin, told graduates of Thomas Aquinas College graduates.  (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/29/speaker-urges-graduates-to-be-politically-incorrect-in-era-cry-closets-and-safe-spaces.html) 

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