Dr. Grover Plunkett, professor at Faulkner University in Montgomery addressed the Prattville Dragoons as part of the January camp meeting with the presentation "Why the Truth Matters". Dr. Plunkett began by offering that he is unapologetic-ally a Christian, an American and, a Southerner. He emphasized that we compatriots have the truth in our hands (including original documentation and first person accounts of the true causes of The War) but often don't use it when we are challenged by our detractors and instead question our conviction and don't challenge them. Truth is an absolute and you can't modify it eg. a little faithful or a bit honorable. An example he gave was "social justice" - justice is absolute but the qualifier "social" would infer you must take justice from one to give to another.
The truth matters to competent historians. The truth of the SCV Charge is that the Confederate soldiers were willing to die for the defense of their homes and the lie is that they were fighting for slavery. There were actually seven reasons that Southerners went to war - the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The lie of slavery as the single issue is a single half truth. Friedrich Schiller, 18th century German poet, philosopher and historian maintained history can be boiled down to single causes. Karl Marx maintained history is reducing historical events to single causes as long as it promotes the state. Our detractors have reduced the cause of the war to one issue - slavery - which ignores all the other problems between the two sections of the country. No one wants to discuss the unfair tariffs and taxation of the South to benefit Northern interests, about the imbalance in Congressional representation, about state sovereignty, about the North invading the Southern states and Southern men leaving their families to defend their homes.
Those who stand for and fight for the truth often suffer persecution, are the butt of jokes, are politically ostracized, become outcasts, eventually beaten into submission by ridicule. What is the truth of the Confederate Battle flag and the Alabama state flag? The St. Andrew's cross is a defiant symbol against tyranny. The Alabama state motto is "We Dare Defend our Rights". The SCV motto Deo Vindice translates "God Will Vindicate" (in truth). The truth will set you free but lies will enslave you. If we know the truth, are we prepared for the consequences or do we just want to be reconciled to a lie? Virtue, embodied by General Robert E. Lee is not innate. It is practiced. Virtues are not forced upon us, it is something we decide to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment