
To see the news clip of this occasion, please click HERE.
Commentary, observations, and random musing from South Carolina.
Society is an open-ended partnership between generations. The dead and the unborn are as much members of society as the living. To dishonor the dead is to reject the relation on which society is built - a relation of obligation between generations. Those who have lost respect for the dead have ceased to be trustees of their inheritance. Inevitably, therefore, they lose the sense of obligation to future generations. The web of obligations shrinks to the present tense. ~ Edmund Burke
I found the article linked above quite troubling, but not for the reasons you might expect.
Although I think Mr. Sims' "art" display is vulgar and disrespectful, I fully support his right to express his views in whatever manner he deems appropriate and would not for any reason wish to see him censored.
The commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter, Robert Hurst, called the display "offensive, objectionable and tasteless” and has petitioned the museum to remove the display along with other pieces of Sims’ work which is currently on display. There has also been talk of taking legal action to have this display forcibly removed.
I agree that the display is all of the things that Commander Hurst says that it is, but it is wrong to demand that something offensive be forcibly removed from the public domain.
We must not be guilty of hypocrisy!
If the Battle Flag of the Confederacy offends others, it is our duty to try to educate them on its true meaning. It is not our duty, however, to force others— as misguided as they may be— to be hindered in theirs first amendment right of free speech.
Yes, we should object to the mean-spirited and disrespectful treatment of that flag and be vocal about it, but it must be done with the view that we expect the same treatment when it comes to the display of our symbols.
Being offended is never a reason to demand that something be censored. He cannot ask people be tolerant of southern symbols when we deny the same rights to our enemies.
If truth is on our side, then men like Sims can only further our cause as we use the opportunity to educate the public about why it is that we object to displays of this nature.
We could have used this event as an opportunity to take the high moral ground because, until we kicked up a fuss and began to try and deny this “artist” his constitutional rights, he was the aggressor.
Be mad, be angry, and be offended, but do not stray from the principles for which our ancestors fought and which we claim also to love, viz., freedom and our God-given right to govern ourselves.
If the museum, of their own free will and accord, removes the display because of public sentiment, then we can claim a moral victory. If it is forced down by any legal maneuvering or threats against this man’s right to express his misguided views, it will be a moral loss.
We must maintain our honour AT ALL COSTS if we are to defeat the enemies of our cultural heritage.
The effigy of the president was hanged without the benefit of clergy on President’s Day, after a short program that began at
• That he suspended the writ of habeas corpus – treason, and an act of war against the American people.
• That he imprisoned tens of thousands of Union political opponents – treason, and an act of war against the American people.
• That he shut down hundreds of Union opposition newspapers – treason, and a violation of his oath to preserve and protect the Constitution, specifically the first amendment.
• That he waged total warfare on the South, burning her cities, permitting rape of Southern women, and destroying the agriculture and means of food production, intentionally targeting civilians – treason, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
• That he pledged to support a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting the federal government from ever interfering with slavery – crimes against humanity, particularly African Americans.
• That he was a lifelong white supremacist who advocated deporting slaves to
• That he waged the bloodiest war in American history to prevent them instituting “new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” – treason.
• That he deported opposition leader, Ohio Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham in 1863 – treason, and a violation of his oath to preserve and protect the Constitution, specifically the separation of powers.
• That he launched an invasion without the consent of Congress – treason, and a war crime.
• That he censored all telegraph communications – treason, and a violation of his oath to preserve and protect the Constitution, particularly the first amendment.
• That he imprisoned a large percentage of
• That he orchestrated the Unconstitutional secession of West Virginia from Virginia, in defiance of the Constitution’s mandate that no new state may be formed from part of another state without that state’s permission – treason, and violation of his oath to preserve and protect the Constitution.
• That he signed an arrest warrant for the 84 year old Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney, for ruling against him on the suspension of habeas corpus – treason, and a violation of his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, particularly the separation of powers.
• That he carried out a campaign of intimidation against federal judges in order to prevent them from ruling against his actions, specifically by surrounding their homes with federal marshals – treason, and a violation of his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, particularly the separation of powers.
No Southerner could have articulated the crimes of Honest Abe better themselves. These patriots of the North have got it exactly right.
It is reported that the dead president “hung around” the town square approximately 24 hours before being taken down.
While the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is coordinating three years of events surrounding the 200th anniversary of
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For further information, you might consider visiting the following sites:
http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/bfc-boc-a.html
http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/HomeFront/burningofcolumbia.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/jarvis/jarvis19.html
http://www.geocities.com/cmp_csa/BurningColumbia.html