Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Look Away, Dixieland

If you happened to find yourself in and around South Carolina last night, you might have been able to catch the "Secession Ball". This was a little shindig that was organized in order to "celebrate" the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the south's decision to secede from the union - a fateful decision to be sure. The result was the bloodiest war in American history. When the dust finally settled, an estimated one million people - soldiers and civilians - lay dead. Quite naturally this "celebration" caused many a jaw to drop around this once-great nation. The NAACP, as you can imagine, isn't particularly happy. Neither is Jesse Jackson. And poor old Al Sharpton is positively apoplectic!

Why is anyone surprised by all of this? Sure, if it were happening in any other state in the union (with the exceptions of Texas and Mississippi of course) it would be outrageous. But, folks, this is South Carolina we're talking about here - a place where your average voter in any Republican primary has the IQ of a half-eaten box of Milk Duds. Just look at the quality of representatives they have sent to Washington throughout their weird and twisted history. Once in a blue moon they'll produce a gem like Jim Clyburn, but all-in-all their record is pretty grim. Remember Strom Thurmond? His 1948 third-party presidential campaign was a revolt against Harry Truman's insistence that the Democratic Convention contain a Civil rights platform. And don't forget that George W. Bush became president ONLY because his campaign was able to convince enough of the idiots in that state that John McCain had an illegitimate black child. Hey! Racism is part of their cultural heritage. Cut these silly people some slack, alright?

Listening to some of them defending the secession ball was amusing to say the least. In their minds the war between the states had not a thing to do with human bondage. Oh, perish the thought, mein herr! It was all about "states rights". Oh, brother! A century-and-a-half later and the descendants of the Confederacy are still in serious denial. They're also trying to get us to swallow the notion that it's not necessarily a celebration of "secession" - so to speak. It's a celebration of (get this) "courage". The ideologues who took it upon themselves to dissolve the union in 1861 were brave men with the courage of their convictions. They believed in their hearts that they were doing right! Yikes!

I'm aware th
at comparing the rebels of dear ol' Dixie to the Nazis is akin to comparing worm-infested apples to rotten mangoes, but the temptation is just too irresistible to pass up:

Well, yeah, the confederates of yore had the "courage of their convictions" alright - but so did the Nazis. You see, when Hitler and his gang turned the European continent into a mass grave seventy years ago, they believed they were doing a wonderful thing for humanity. They also believed that planetary peace and love would happen only when every Jew on the face of the earth was obliterated. Can you even imagine a world without Jack Benny? Not me!

The rebels had the "courage of their convictions"? No question about it. There's only one little pr
oblem with that argument: Their "convictions" were atrocious. HELLO???

QUESTI
ON:
Who is the worst traitor in American history?

A FEW HELPFUL HINTS:
It is not Barbara Streisand; nor is it George Soros. It isn't Julian Assange (He's not even an American) and it isn't any member of the Kennedy family (Although I sometimes wonder about Bobby Junior). The answer to this question is not "Dan Rather", and it's not "Keith Olbermann" - and it definitely isn't "Benedict Arnold" (That would be too easy).

ANSWER:
The worst traitor in American history was a man by the name of Jefferson Finis Davis.

Think about it! Here was a guy who raised an army of millions in order to destroy the United States of America. It doesn't get more treasonous than that, does it? States rights? Bullshit! It was all in the name of White Supremacy. This asshole actually believed that he and his fellow owners of property had the "God-given right" to hold human beings as cattle. His were not merely sins against his country, they were sins against the human race. When it comes to pure treason, they don't get much worse than old Jeff Davis - although Barbara Streisand is a close second. That gal's an absolute rascal.

Some nameless jackass once declared, "The south shall rise again." What he should have said was, "The south needs to wake the hell up!" A little less than a year from now will mark the seventieth anniversary of the beginning of World War Two. Call it a hunch on my part, but I seriously doubt there will be much whooping it up in Munich next December the seventh. I don't imagine that there will be a heck of a lot of partying in Tokyo either for that matter.

Oh, I know that there will be historical observations on the part of the German and Japanese people, but I would expect that those observations will be somber and subdued. I doubt very much that some Hitler impersonator (Do such people really exist?) will be giving a recitation of der fuhrer's speech to the Reichstag, declaring war on the United States. And I really don't think that there will be thousands lined up, dressed in period costumes, doing a reenactment of the Battle of the Bulge. As the nephew of a young man who was killed in that incident (Lt. Edward J. Degan, Jr. - photo on the left) I would probably be offended by something as weird as that. But I needn't worry. The German people figured out a long time ago that embracing a lost and evil cause is not very good form. Honestly, you just gotta love them Gerrys. God bless 'em!

And make no mistake about it. the confederate revolution of the eighteen-sixties was about as evil a cause as any army ever marched in lockstep to. I guess it's wishful thinking to hope that the sons and daughters of the confederacy will take a cue from the Germans and tone things down just a tad, but that's probably not going to happen. The fact that these celebrations offend almost all people of color (with the possible exception of Michael Steele) seems not to bother them in the least. That's the most disturbing thing about this.

I wonder how it makes African American children in South Carolina feel when they are confronted with the reality that these dopey, bloated honkies are commemorating a cause that was born of the perceived "inferiority" of their ancestors. If I were a black kid it wouldn't make me feel very good at all. Robert Plant once sang, "And it makes me wonder." It sure does.

It really doesn't matter in the long run I suppose. They're going to do what they want to do - Yankee perceptions be damned. Fine. Let them celebrate "the glorious dead" that died for a not-too-glorious cause. Let them have their stupid ball and be done with it. They will look almost as foolish in the pages of history as their forebears do. Look away, Dixieland.

Tom Degan
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

SUGGESTED READING:

With Malice Toward None
by Stephen B. Oates

A reviewer once referred to this excellent book as the finest one-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln ever written. I couldn't agree more.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

Did you have the chance to observe the moon's eclipse early this morning? Just beautiful!

For more recent postings on this disgusting, commie-loving site, please go to the link below:

"The Rant" by Tom Degan

Cheers!

39 Comments:

At 8:29 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

boltok, with all due respect, that is about the silliest thing I've heard all month. Comparing the Democratic party of 1860 to the Democratic party of 2010, is absurd. You're ignoring a century-and-a-half of political evolution. That evolution became a revolution when LBJ signed into law the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 respectively. When those two laws became a fact of American life, the southern "Dixiecrats" fled to the Republican party like frightened rats.

That argument doesn't work at all.

Sincerely,

Tom Degan

 
At 8:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well said Tom. I had a nice succinct post, but the log in ate it. Oh well

 
At 9:45 AM, Anonymous Sherry in Virginia said...

Jefferson Davis has lots of possibility as a choice. Of course, you could hear from people all over the U.S. who have their own nominees, since choosing between the Union and Confederacy was a universal decision.

Here's a fact that captures my attention: Jefferson Davis was born just a few months before and within about 100 miles of another child who was to become a very different American President. They were both born in Kentucky, but their families went in different directions to their final settlements--Davis' in Mississippi; the other boy's in Illinois. His name, of course, was Abraham Lincoln.

 
At 10:50 AM, Blogger killing Mother said...

I have the good fortune to live in the more evolved Carolina to the north. While many of my fellow residents feel kinship with our neighbors to the south and their pathetic attempts to regain some non-existent previous Confederate glory, the idiots are usually tempered by the rational folks.

Nevertheless, I am frequently assaulted by a stray southern bigot in these parts who feels the need to impart some of his irrational justifications upon me, perhaps because I appear caucasian. And I can tell you, many of these people still think they are at war. As long as white boys from the south occupied the White House, they were content to lie low, but Obama is an affront of the most heinous kind in their view. I don't know about the Tea Parties in other states, but here in the south, they are a reinvented Klu Klux Klan, proudly waving Confederate flags and arming themselves for revolution.

These people are irrational, angry and dangerous, but in the interest of First Amendment rights, they go largely ignored. Thanks for posting an illuminating account.

 
At 1:42 PM, Anonymous MarkNDenver said...

It appears that maybe the republicans have found their candidate for 2012. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi has come out swinging with current interviews stating that those Southern good ole dazes weren't that bad after all. Obviously the South will rise again in some form or another. Break out the moon pies and the Dr. Pepper...

 
At 3:45 PM, Blogger aji said...

Please don't confuse/conglomerate the behavior and (ir)rationality of a few (most?) south carolinians with the rest of us who live here. I've only been in SC for almost 8 years, and 10 years prior to that in NC (having grown up in Massachusetts, I can certainly say it is quite a bit different!), but I try to impart a "northern" wisdom when I get the chance. It's difficult, to be sure, to argue the "war of northern aggression" with some of the holdovers from a century ago, though. I'll keep on trying, and voting for the person or party that this state produces that I feel will represent the GOOD and HONEST people of this country.

 
At 6:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tom, I thought I would take the unique opportunity to say I agree with you on this issue. No caveats or qualifications. The Civil War was not about “states’ rights” as so many want to claim (to make it sound a little nicer) – it was about the Union rightly denouncing an immoral and horrific violence against humanity being perpetrated by some of the states in direct opposition to our constitution and a true Christian ethic. It should not be a celebrated part of anyone’s heritage.

 
At 6:27 PM, Blogger The Catharine Chronicles said...

Having spent many a fun-filled rainy afternoon, arguing with my father over the many, many ways that the symbolism contained in the Confederate flag was an abomination, and just why people of color seemed to object to it so fervently when it was included in their present-day state flag, I can also attest to the denial of Southerners everywhere.

"It's symbolic."

You bet it is. Too bad the last people in the world who know what the symbol means are the ones who are flying/wearing/painting it on their car hoods.

~A~

 
At 6:55 PM, Blogger charles moore said...

Catharine, you are so right. As someone who grew up in South Georgia 60 years ago, there are many of the young'uns who are completely clueless about the Confederate flag and see it as a proud symbol of their history. Unfortunately, most of them are totally ignorant about the injustices of racism that I grew up with. And I can tell you that talking with my red necked cousins who have never lived anywhere other than Georgia, most of them do not realize that times have changed. They are literally stuck in a time warp.

 
At 6:59 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Tom! :) I have read you for several years, first on AlterNet and now here. Thank you for ramblings, I greatly appreciate them and they give me a sense of calm, Again, thank you.

On to this post...

Dont you think that the South has won, or is about to? Given that the current (or soon to be current) structure of congress is going to be pretty much in line with Mr Davis' thoughts and beliefs. The manner in which both parties have dismantled the Federal Government of the decades makes me think that the South truly has won, and nothing is more frightening. I do wish that the Great Society would have continued, but then we had Nixon and the rise of the neo-con.

Anyway, thanks for letting me post, sorry it couldnt be more useful or engaging.

Respectfully Yours,
Eric
Tucson, AZ

 
At 11:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've seen Jeff Davis' mansion in Mississippi. Slavery was an evil but unfortunately back in the day, all of those major countries were doing it, England, France, Spain. But the guy who how does it go? Helped bring it into focus in England wrote "How great thou art." Well, SC elected Alan West, is that the guy's name? Black man to the House of Representatives.

Oh Yeah, North Carolina is so much more progressive if you like the movie 'Deliverance'... snicker, what are those towns near the Cherokee reservation. But I have no qualms, they are both very lovely states and that is from a bygone era.

Well, If they were so evil, the Band wrote that song, so they must not understand either.

The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down

The Band, Bob Dylan

Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Denver train
Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65 we was hungry, just barely alive
By May 10, Richmond had fell, it was a time I remember,
Oh so well

The night they drove ole Dixie down, all the bells were ringing
The night they drove ole Dixie down, all the people were singing
Na, na na na na na na, na na na na na na, na na na na na na

Back with my wife in Tennessee one day she called for me
Virgil quick come see there goes the "Robert E. Lee"
I don't mind chopping wood and I don't care
If the money's no good
Take what you need and leave the rest
They should never have taken the very best

Like my father before me, I'm a peaceful man
Like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
Just 18, proud and gray, but a Yankee laid him in his grave
Swear by the blood running through (on) my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat

 
At 11:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

KillingMother, You are full of beans, why does South Carolina have Alan West, House of Representatives and a Hindu Governor??

The only people who should talk about the Klan are democrats, since Robert Byrd, Demo Senator until not long ago was a former Klansman and never denounced it. You are a cowardly purveyor of hate.

But like I said, NC is more about Deliverance as far as progress goes.

 
At 12:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

KillingMother knows so much about the way Tea Parties are in the South, let's see, knows Tea Parties are just the Klan revamped, let's not forget too, the Dems were the party of slavery, 300 years, party of abortion, 30 years, no change, party of death and destruction, of oppression, but KillingMOther probably wants less humans on earth anyway, hopefully a Vegetarian to not be a hypocrite.

But since KillingMother said "Here in the South, the Tea Parties are just the Klan reinvented", hey, okay, now, which Tea Parties have you infiltrated to find this is so?? Any evidence of cross burnings or lynchings?? No, that was the Democrats who were the KKK.

Now, there is an organization, Tea Party Patriots dot org and you can search out tea parties, so which of these in NC or any nearby state do you mean??

9-12 Project - Haywood County 0 miles - Waynesville, NC (North Carolina)
9.12 Project Polk Co NC 0 miles - Columbus (North Carolina)
Alamance Conservative 0 miles - Burlington (North Carolina)

 
At 12:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Continued:

Alamance for Liberty 0 miles - Grahan, NC (North Carolina)
Anti-War Tea Party 0 miles - Morganton NC (North Carolina)
Asheville Tea Party 0 miles - Asheville, NC (North Carolina)
Beaufort Patriot Tea Party 0 miles - Washington (North Carolina)
Black Conservative Coalition 0 miles - Raleigh (North Carolina)
Bladen Guards Tea Party 0 miles - Bladen County (North Carolina)
Boone Tea Party 0 miles - 146 Goshen Dr. (North Carolina)
Burke County Tea Party 0 miles - Morganton (North Carolina)
C4gc 0 miles - Greensboro (North Carolina)
Caldwell TEA Party 0 miles - Lenoir / Caldwell County (North Carolina)
Cape Fear Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Wilmington (North Carolina)
CAUTION (Common Americans United To Inspire Our Nation) 0 miles - Charlotte, NC (North Carolina)
Charlotte for Limited Governmen 0 miles - Charlotte (North Carolina)
Charlotte Tea Party 0 miles - Charlotte (North Carolina)
Cherokee County 9-12 Group 0 miles - Murphy (North Carolina)
Citizens For Constitutional Liberties 0 miles - Goldsboro (North Carolina)
Citizens for Limited Government 0 miles - Charlotte (North Carolina)
Citizens Speak 0 miles - Weaverville (North Carolina)
Clay County Patriots 0 miles - Hayesville, NC (North Carolina)
Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association 0 miles - Craven, Carteret and Pamilco Counties, North Carolina (North Carolina)
Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA) 0 miles - Craven, Carteret and Pamilco Counties, North Carolina (North Carolina)
Conservatives 4 Guilford County, North Carolina 0 miles - Greensboro, NC (North Carolina)
Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Carteret County, NC (North Carolina)
Currituck County Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Currituck County NC (North Carolina)
Davidson County Tea Party 0 miles - Welcome (North Carolina)
District 10 Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - North Carolina (North Carolina)
District 10-Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - North Carolina (North Carolina)
Durham Tea Party 0 miles - Durham, NC (North Carolina)
Edenton Tea Party 0 miles - Edenton (North Carolina)
Elizabeth City Tea Party 0 miles - Elizabeth City, N.C. (North Carolina)
Entitlementman.com Website to Slash Federal Spending 0 miles - Greensboro (North Carolina)
Foothills 9 12 Project 0 miles - Hickory, NC (North Carolina)
Free in NC 0 miles - Matthews (North Carolina)
Germanton Tea Party 0 miles - Germanton NC (North Carolina)
Gibbsonville, NC, Tea Party 0 miles - Gibsonville, NC (North Carolina)
Greene Tea Party 0 miles - Greene County (North Carolina)
Greenville/Pitt County Tea 0 miles - Greenville (North Carolina)
Henderson Co. 9-12 Project 0 miles - Hendersonville, N.C. (North Carolina)
Henderson County TEA Party 0 miles - Etowah, (North Carolina)
Henderson Tea Party 0 miles - Henderson County, North Carolina (North Carolina)
iluvmyamerica.com 0 miles - west jefferson, nc (North Carolina)
Inner Banks Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Bath (North Carolina)
Kimmie's Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Ocean Isle Beach (North Carolina)
Lake Norman Tea Party Patriots 0 miles - Lake Norman area (North Carolina)
LibertyNow.US 0 miles - Randolph County North Carolina (North Carolina)
Montgomery county patriots 0 miles - Candor (North Carolina)
MOORE TEA CITIZENS 0 miles - Moore County, NC (North Carolina)
Mount Airy Tea Party 0 miles - Mount Airy (North Carolina)
Mountain Patriots Tea Party 0 miles - Franklin, NC (North Carolina)
National-Association-for-the-Advancement-of-ALL-People 0 miles - Charlotte (North Carolina)
NC Tea Party 0 miles - Winston-Salem, NC (North Carolina)
NC TEA Party Patriots 0 miles - Union County, NC (North Carolina)
NC Tea Party Revolution 0 miles - North Carolina-mostly triangle area (North Carolina)
NCFreedom 0 miles - North Carolina (North Carolina)
NCTeaParty 0 miles - Winston-Salem (North Carolina)
Onslow Patriots 0 miles - Jacksonville (North Carolina)

 
At 7:39 AM, Anonymous boltok said...

Your right, when racist Democrats are outed, they, by default, must be Republicans. How stupid am I?

 
At 3:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Try this web site for a black Americans view of what boltok said...

http://theblacksphere.net/

 
At 7:23 PM, Anonymous RedStateFred said...

Boltok,

You are right about Sanger.

Tom Degan likes to dig up the past with a selective memory. For the small number of "Southern Dixie Redneck Racists" there are an equal number of "kill the cracker" black militants. Since their numbers are so small, who really gives a shit?

Since Sanger was a progressive Democrat who wanted to sterilize black people, Tom Degan certainly won't post anything about her on this blog.

 
At 9:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What Sanger and her progeny illustrates is not related to political parties - rather the fallacy of philosophical naturalism and the horrors it led (and still leads) to. It has led to the degeneration of our culture. I celebrate the greatness and sound-mindedness of America in the mid 19th century. We can celebrate the fact that they had the courage and moral fortitude to fight against the evil of slavery. We should mourn, however, that we have not a shred of that left as a culture in that we continue the mass bloodshed against the one segment of the population that is more innocent than the African slaves - millions of unborn babies. Boltok, your reference was spot on and apropos as a tie to the issue of slavery. I'll cede to Tom that the political connection may have been off-base. Ultimately, the political connection was beside the point anyway, though.

 
At 11:48 PM, Anonymous Hotrod said...

Well, if ignorance was music this forum would be a symphony orchestra! The sad fact about the Civil War is the fact that 1000 families controlled 95% of the wealth of the Confederacy. And these elites were able to convince poor, dumb southern farm boys to rise up and defend southern "honor" and get shot and killed defending the lifestyle of these rich bastards. Several generations later they are still buttfuck ignorant.

 
At 1:59 AM, Blogger Modusoperandi said...

(Second attempt. I posted this before, it appeared, then disappeared)

And don't forget that George W. Bush became president ONLY because his campaign was able to convince enough of the idiots in that state that John McCain had an illegitimate black child.
And don't forget that John McCain in 2008 hired the same people that Dubya used to savage him in 2000. In other words, damn the both of them.

boltok "But the civil war was chump change when you examine the liberal attack on african americans..."
Giving people help for family planning isn't a liberal attack on African Americans. That poor African Americans have more abortions than Good White Americans isn't a symptom of Sanger. It's a symptom of poverty. Note too that banning abortions doesn't reduce the number of abortions. It just makes them more dangerous, as it was pre-Roe v Wade, etc.
You want to reduce abortion? Support competent comprehensive sex-ed in schools. Support subsidized, reliable, unrestricted contraception. Support the social safety net.

"Maggie's war on blacks never had to deal with states rights becuase it was not state or federal legislation that legalized her dream but judicial fiat."
You might want to read up on the case. It wasn't "by fiat", unless you consider basing the decision on previous cases, as well as the 9th Amendment (the most ignored Amendment), as fiatical.

"Your right, when racist Democrats are outed, they, by default, must be Republicans. How stupid am I?"
*Sigh* Yes, the Democrats used to be the Southern party of angry white racists and the Republican party was the party of abolition. They are not now what they were. If they were, the Dems would be the ones using the Southern Strategy and blaming the Mortgage Crisis on Carter "forcing banks to hand out mortgages to lazy brown people".


Anonymous "Slavery was an evil but unfortunately back in the day, all of those major countries were doing it, England, France, Spain."
You might want to recheck your timeline:
England: 1833 (at home, later elsewhere)
France: 1835
Spain: 1811 (at home), 1853 (in colonies)

Anonymous "The only people who should talk about the Klan are democrats, since Robert Byrd, Demo Senator until not long ago was a former Klansman and never denounced it."
Um.

Harley A. "What Sanger and her progeny illustrates is not related to political parties - rather the fallacy of philosophical naturalism and the horrors it led (and still leads) to. It has led to the degeneration of our culture."
I used to have a quote from a Greek philosopher (from around 600BC, if memory serves) remarking how, back when he was young, kids respected their elders, the streets were clean, nobody swore, etc. A standard feature of aging is prefering the past to the present. The problem comes from the fact that it isn't the actual past, it's ones memory of the past (worse, it's a memory of a memory, making it redatcion of an already retacted page). The reason why most people remember their past as so great is that they don't remember their past (and, if it's a childhood memory, they fail to realize just how shielded children are from the nasty facts of reality).
In other words, our culture was always degenerate. All cultures are. No culture is as good as it used to be. No present can be better than the simplified past that we misremember.
Even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

 
At 2:03 AM, Blogger Modusoperandi said...

(Second attempt. I posted this before, it appeared, then disappeared)

And don't forget that George W. Bush became president ONLY because his campaign was able to convince enough of the idiots in that state that John McCain had an illegitimate black child.
And don't forget that John McCain in 2008 hired the same people that Dubya used to savage him in 2000. In other words, damn the both of them.

boltok "But the civil war was chump change when you examine the liberal attack on african americans..."
Giving people help for family planning isn't a liberal attack on African Americans. That poor African Americans have more abortions than Good White Americans isn't a symptom of Sanger. It's a symptom of poverty. Note too that banning abortions doesn't reduce the number of abortions. It just makes them more dangerous, as it was pre-Roe v Wade, etc.
You want to reduce abortion? Support competent comprehensive sex-ed in schools. Support subsidized, reliable, unrestricted contraception. Support the social safety net.

"Maggie's war on blacks never had to deal with states rights becuase it was not state or federal legislation that legalized her dream but judicial fiat."
You might want to read up on the case. It wasn't "by fiat", unless you consider basing the decision on previous cases, as well as the 9th Amendment (the most ignored Amendment), as fiatical.

"Your right, when racist Democrats are outed, they, by default, must be Republicans. How stupid am I?"
*Sigh* Yes, the Democrats used to be the Southern party of angry white racists and the Republican party was the party of abolition. They are not now what they were. If they were, the Dems would be the ones using the Southern Strategy and blaming the Mortgage Crisis on Carter "forcing banks to hand out mortgages to lazy brown people".


Anonymous "Slavery was an evil but unfortunately back in the day, all of those major countries were doing it, England, France, Spain."
You might want to recheck your timeline:
England: 1833 (at home, later elsewhere)
France: 1835
Spain: 1811 (at home), 1853 (in colonies)

Anonymous "The only people who should talk about the Klan are democrats, since Robert Byrd, Demo Senator until not long ago was a former Klansman and never denounced it."
Um.

Harley A. "What Sanger and her progeny illustrates is not related to political parties - rather the fallacy of philosophical naturalism and the horrors it led (and still leads) to. It has led to the degeneration of our culture."
I used to have a quote from a Greek philosopher (from around 600BC, if memory serves) remarking how, back when he was young, kids respected their elders, the streets were clean, nobody swore, etc. A standard feature of aging is prefering the past to the present. The problem comes from the fact that it isn't the actual past, it's ones memory of the past (worse, it's a memory of a memory, making it redatcion of an already retacted page). The reason why most people remember their past as so great is that they don't remember their past (and, if it's a childhood memory, they fail to realize just how shielded children are from the nasty facts of reality).
In other words, our culture was always degenerate. All cultures are. No culture is as good as it used to be. No present can be better than the simplified past that we misremember.
Even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

 
At 2:05 AM, Blogger Modusoperandi said...

Okay, now I'm just being ridiculous.

 
At 3:32 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

"Since Sanger was a progressive Democrat who wanted to sterilize black people, Tom Degan certainly won't post anything about her on this blog."

That's what I love about the right wing. Their ability to distort while it may be prolific, it is also clumsy. A case in point:

When Margaret Sanger died in 1966, she was eight days shy of her 88th birthday. Throughout her long life she was never associated with the Democratic party.

Your very amusing post assumes that I am a Democrat. I am not.

Do a little research. It would suit you.

 
At 10:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS to the conservatives who post on this blog.

The liberals can screw beginning with Tommy Boy.

Tommy, your whore lover Nancy Peosi wouldn't even take a vote on the Armenian Genocide yesterday. All in the name of that shit hole muslim nation of Turkey.

Harry from Mass

 
At 2:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

MO -

I can't disagree with you. I agree that all cultures - all of us in fact - are sinful and degenerate. I will still point out that the degeneracy can concentrate and manifest itself in particular ways at different times in history. Slavery was such a concentration in the 18th and 19th centuries. I see rampant abortion as the same type of manifestation over the past couple of generations in America.

 
At 7:13 PM, Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

Wow, Tom. Your blog sure attracts a lot of funny people.

Love you. Have a cheerful holiday, if you can with these clowns, and a fulfilling 2011. Peace.

 
At 8:47 PM, Anonymous SenatorBernieSanders said...

Tom,

We are kindred Communist spirits.

 
At 1:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Apparently, it also attracts people who like to drop insults without the benefit of explaining themselves...

 
At 1:03 PM, Blogger Kevin Swanwick said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 1:07 PM, Blogger Kevin Swanwick said...

Tom, thanks for calling this out telling the plain truth. The morality is clear.

 
At 3:32 PM, Blogger Avram Mirsky said...

Hey, Tom. Don't be too depressed this Xmas - you got a lotta friends who love you.

Anyway, thought you'd enjoy this.

 
At 3:38 PM, Blogger Avram Mirsky said...

Uh, Anonymous, "Alan" West (It's spelled Allen) was elected to the House from South Florida. Guess you don't know much about geography. Or anything else.

 
At 8:14 AM, Blogger W.D. Shirley said...

My mother was a Baptist, she taught me to hate bigotry. My father was an atheist, he taught me to hate ignorance. My Deity is the Great Mother, she taught me to love all life. My goal is to somehow keep all this in mind when I meet people like Boltok and Anonymous. I cannot understand, no matter how hard I try, why bigots never check their "facts", but are fond of quoting misinformation. Then they insult others for their ideas and information without, again, checking on the facts. Makes me crazy.

 
At 8:24 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

Makes me crazy, too, W.D.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Tom

 
At 5:45 PM, Blogger Ron said...

I really enjoy your blog and appreciate the substance of your passion.

Real deep. Glad to have unearthed you.

 
At 4:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Tom. You left a a post at the hill, and from that I found your site.
You said:"The NRA spokespeople love to prattle on about "freedom". Let me explain something to you: A people who live in mortal terror wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place may be many things - no argument there. "Free" they are not. Let's just stop kidding ourselves here and now, okay?" And sorry I must disagree!
Why would you want to live in mortal terror of an event so unlikely as to be less threat than drowning, car crashes, airplane deaths? Besides- I am not worried, for if an event like that began to happen near me, unless I am dropped by the first three rounds, I am firing back at the crazy freak criminal! THAT gives one confidence, mister. You should try it instead of being a milquetoast faggot.

 
At 4:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I left out an important point, Tom. See, out of three hundred million (plus several to tens of millions of illegal invaders) ONE freak went wild- he had a hate-on for gabby. Now, if say ten or thirty or all hundred million gun owners began to fire at every stinking pig democrat they can find, then you might want to do your live in mortal fear thing, justifiably. What I cannot understand is, WHY keep trying to make that happen?

 
At 6:53 PM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

Anonymous....

"Why would you want to live in mortal terror of an event so unlikely as to be less threat than drowning, car crashes, airplane deaths?"

More people die by the gun in this country than they do in airplane accidents.

More people die by the gun than do by drowning.

As far as car accidents are concerned - you got me there - but I guess it depends upon where you live. In Newburgh, NY, which is just twenty miles from where I now sit, four people died in automobile crashes last year. Over ten were killed by firearms.

Just though you'd like to know.

Cheers!

Tom Degan

 
At 6:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you, Sir.

I see that you have several instances of those completely clueless about Southern history.

As I have no doubt you know, the Democratic Party of 1860 was not monolithic about slavery; the South began that year by splitting the Democratic Party, the Northerners not being pro-slavery enough, and ensuring Lincoln's election.

Again, France abolished slavery in 1791, Great Britain in 1838, and Russia in 1861. The Confederacy was almost the last slave state in the world, tied with Brazil.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home