Political Correctness Run Amok

Political correctness in its most ignorant manifestation to date, no doubt!

Eric, you ask, “Will it ever end?” I fear not until politicians and others decide not to give in to the vocal minority who push the agenda of political correctness.
Art Bergeron

John Betjeman wrote that “history must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.”

It would appear that the Franklin officials should concern themselves with how best to educate the ignorant, and not how to constrain the innocent.

At the end of the day, political correctness is the euphemistic term for the coercion of the majority through ‘thought control’. The warnings of George Orwell, in his book 1984, need to be heeded now, more than ever, in Franklin.

Best wishes,

Mark

It will never end so long as we remain a culture that embraces ‘sensitivity’ to the point of nausea. There was a lot more involved in the Civil War than the issue of slavery and even considering that issue, there were quite a few ‘Negroes’ who fought for the Confederacy. It wasn’t a ‘black and white’ issue then, and it isn’t today.

Because we have become afraid of ‘offending’ people, we are permitting our culture to be so watered down that, in effect, we are destroying our Constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, association and expression. We drive all references to ‘God’ from the Public Square even though our nation’s founding documents – as well as our Founders themselves – were either religious men or men who flatly stated that the Republic could not endure divorced from what used to be known as Judeo-Christian morality.

It is true that during our country’s history, shameful things were done in the name of patriotism but that is simply the way of humanity. There has been NO culture, society or nation in the past nor will there be one in the future that does not have some deeds of which to be ashamed. On the whole, however, the United States -given its tremendous strength and wealth – has not used either to enslave our fellow men (something that can hardly be said for other nations and empires!) but, rather, to help whenever it has been possible those who were threatened with or existed under tyranny as well as those victimized by natural disasters.

It is really sad that we have become so lacking in character that we permit ourselves to be bullied by people with ‘agendas’ into abandoning those rights, priviledges and obligations bequeathed to us by our Founders. Shame on the people of Franklin and their representatives for being such moral weaklings. It does not bode well for our future.

Re: “There was a lot more involved in the Civil War than the issue of slavery and even considering that issue, there were quite a few ‘Negroes’ who fought for the Confederacy.”

With all due respect, no, there weren’t.

RE: “We drive all references to ‘God’ from the Public Square even though our nation’s founding documents – as well as our Founders themselves – were either religious men or men who flatly stated that the Republic could not endure divorced from what used to be known as Judeo-Christian morality.”

Why do you suppose such an essential founding father as Thomas Jefferson thought it useful to edit the Bible, removing all the supernatural stuff, and references to divinity?

RE: “It is really sad that we have become so lacking in character that we permit ourselves to be bullied by people with ‘agendas’ into abandoning those rights, priviledges and obligations bequeathed to us by our Founders.”

We’ve got bigger problems than the Mayor of Franklin making a judicious decision about the battleflag. The constitution is under attack like never before, due to our present one-party rule in Washington. We can actually do something about that in November.

I couldn’t’t DISAGREE more with David and Kevin on this one. There was a time in this country when people (ALL people – of ALL color) had the right to acknowledge their heritage. And others had the decency to respect that. Take away the Confederate flag (a sign of southern heritage) as it offends some, then I say take away “hyphenated” monikers (a sign of their heritage) as they offend me. We are all Americans, and we all have the right to recognize our own history.

All of these liberal special interest groups are always screaming about fighting for their people’s rights. Yet they seem to spend all of their time trying to take certain rights away from other people. That’s called hypocrisy and it makes me sick.

I think Kevin hit the nail on the head. While we can certainly identify things in the public discourse that can be called “politically correct,” the phrase has been adopted by the right, especially (I’m not speaking of Eric’s blog entry here), to mean anything that someone is unhappy with. I don’t personally see anything politically correct about the Franklin mayor’s suggestion — it’s more like common courtesy — good manners — regarding a symbol that is inflammatory to a large percentage of one’s neighbors. I can also see why people would be angered by his suggestion, but it’s not like he passed an ordinance. It’s absurd for people to point to this “suggestion” and somehow claim their “rights” have been denied. No one has taken away anyone’s right to acknowledge their heritage.

As for Val’s lengthy treatise on black Confederates, racism in the North, Lincoln’s views on colonization, and the breakdown of the moral fiber of society, I don’t have the energy or desire to tackle this hodge-podge of familiar talking points. It’s interesting that a challenge to the notion of black Confederates prompts a reply about how Northerners were also white supremacists in that era, as if that had some bearing.

Suffice it to say that blacks fighting for the Confederacy were few to the point of being exceptional, while 10s of thousands of slaves fled at the first opportunity, and upwards of 180,000 fought in Union armies. You do the math and draw your own conclusions.

Regarding the founding fathers, today’s moral decay, the idea of moral absolutes, and God in the public square, these are complicated issues. Myself, I’m firmly in the camp of Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, and Letter to a Christian Nation. I think we’ll all be better off when we throw off archaic belief systems, and strive to live ethical lives simply because it’s the natural, rational way to live.

dw

Ah, the flag…

My biggest problem with flying ‘the flag’ to show heritage is that their take is as often “PC”ed as the other attitude. The Rebel Flag is not just about the noble Confederacy. To a very large segment of our population, it does represent fear, oppression, murder and torture. It means men coming in the night to kill them. Dismissing that aspect by pretending the flag was hijacked by a few fringe hate groups is erring way to far on the other side.

I am comfortable with the flag being present in commemorations like the one at Franklin. I think it should be there – an open acknowledgement of _all_ our history, good and bad. But I am not really comfortable with the idea that the flag is a harmless expression of a benign heritage, which is how it is often portrayed by supporters.

And I agree with Kevin and David. I think that the whole debate about “Black Confederates” is as much about a version of PC trying to re-write history as any flag banning effort. Education cuts both ways…

Dave Powell

When one determines to make the ‘race’ issue the ONLY issue in any discussion on the Civil War, then the above posts are not only expected but statements of orthodoxy that do not allow any other point of view by there presenters. Therefore, I will not bother to address them. ‘Proof’, after all, can be found for just about anything is one is careful about where one looks for it.

As for ‘Biblical nation’, I would suggest that another reading – and NOT a p.c. reading – of my post clearly states that I – and the Founders -were addressing the nation’s MORAL ethics, that is, those VALUES upon which a nation is built. ANYONE can have those moral values whether they are ‘religious’ or not or whether their ‘religion’ is or is not Christian or Jewish. It would be DEEPLY appreciated if the debate did not immediately ‘default’ to the old saw about wanting to establish a Christian nation – although if one is at all familiar with the writings of most statesmen and philosophers prior to the 1960s, one will see the claim that ours IS a ‘Christian nation’.

As for the Confederate battle flag or any other symbol of the Confederacy: I refuse to allow hate groups on EITHER side (and, yes, the ‘other side’ contains people who are equally ‘racist’) to determine the value of the symbols used by honorable men (and women). Everyone else is free to defer to these groups if they wish, but I refuse to do so and were I a voter in Franklin, I would be sure to make that known the next time I went to the polls.

The real mistake in this whole Franklin commemoration issue is not what will be displayed, but where. The decision to hold this in center city is short-sighted and contrary to common sense. Preservationists just won a hell of a fight in Franklin to acquire the eastern flank of the field to use as a Civil War park. To this point, nobody has adequately explained why this isn’t being held there rather than center city. If it were held on the recently acquired land, there would have been no reason to issue a request directing the Confederate flag not be flown on the statue in the town square.
And BTW, I understand the anger towards the mayor, but those of us who have been fighting the Franklin battle for years know that Miller has done more for Civil War preservation in Franklin than all his predecessors combined.

# Johnny Whitewater Says:
October 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am

“When one determines to make the ‘race’ issue the ONLY issue in any discussion on the Civil War, then the above posts are not only expected but statements of orthodoxy that do not allow any other point of view by there presenters.”

That was a pretty creative way of dodging the previous posts. Of course, slavery and race issues were the overarching issue of the war in the first place. And in a discussion about the Confederate flag, race and slavery is the issue.

Reply:
I am not ‘dodging’ anything. I have made my points. I find the ‘fixation’ on the issue of slavery as being the ONLY cause of the war – and then having that issue translated by some into the modern understanding of the term ‘racism’ – is a position that simply cannot BE refuted because those holding same do not allow it to be debated. They’re ‘right’ and any other viewpoint is ‘wrong’, period. How does one address that mindset? I don’t think that one can although in the past – foolish me – I certainly did try. I shall not try again for every point I have made in the past – here and elsewhere – was either ignored or ‘re-interpreted’ as something I never said.

As for people ‘pledging allegiance’ to the Confederate flag: frankly, many of those espousing the ‘politically correct’ ideology don’t want us pledging allegiance to the AMERICAN flag! And since the number of people who choose to pledge allegiance to something that no longer exists is minimal, I am FAR more concerned about those whose numbers and positions of power in the establishment put them in a position to eventually expunge ANY statements of patriotism, Union OR Confederate.

The Confederacy is history; it doesn’t exist. Are there still people in the South who ‘carry a grudge’? You bet! But I would suggest that any objective examination of what happened and why including the reasons that the War was fought at all – as noted in earlier posts on other threads, I agree with Judge Andrew Napolitano that it needn’t ever have been fought – will enlighten those who ‘can’t understand’ – always providing that they approach the matter with an open mind. Yet, the truth is that the majority of Southerners are more ‘patriotic’ than most and certainly more willing to defend the United States militarily than many who are located in areas of the former ‘Union’ which now are hotbeds of political correctness.

As for understanding why Southerners have carried their ‘grudge’ for so long, I would suggest that a short study of the history of Ireland will immediately inform the student that people have VERY long memories, especially when they continue to live in the area in which the injustices and tyrannies (both real and as perceived in their own minds) took place and their kinsfolk and ancestors were victims of said injustice and tyranny. The answer that General Chamberlain received when he approached a Confederate officer in hopes of beginning a ‘reconciliation between brave men of honor’ – and was severly rebuffed for his pains – has not, I fear, changed very much in over 150 years.

Frankly, the present p.c. efforts to destroy the Confederate past is only going to fan the flames of resentment, strengthen the resolve of those who still adhere to ‘The Lost Cause’ and add new members to their ranks. But worst of all, if this battle is perceived as arising out of the issue of RACE, more damage will be done to the cause of racial relations by adherents to political correctness than was every done by the KKK.