HISTORY, CIVICS, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY PENSACOLA’S FIVE-FLAGS DISPLAYS

HISTORY, CIVICS, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY PART 1

HISTORY, CIVICS, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY PART 2

HISTORY, CIVICS, AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY PART 3

WOULDN’T HURT.

“It is significant for the language struggle on the whole that its ways engulf the school, the seed bed of the coming generation.  The child is the objective of the struggle and the very first appeal is addressed to it:

“‘German boy, do not forget that you are a German.’

“‘German maid, remember that you are to be a German mother.'”

It is significant for the American struggle on the whole that its ways engulf the school, the seedbed of the coming generation.  The child is the objective of the struggle and the very first appeal is addressed to it:

‘American boy, do not forget that you are an American.’

‘American girl, remember that you are to be an American mother.’

A CATCHER IN THE RYE

“‘You know that song ‘If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye’?  I’d like—‘

“‘It’s ‘If a body meet a body coming through the rye’!’ old Phoebe said.  ‘It’s a poem.  By Robert Burns.’

“‘I know it’s a poem by Robert Burns.’

“She was right, though.  It is ‘If a body meet a body coming through the rye.’  I didn’t know it then, though.

“‘I thought it was ‘If a body catch a body,’ I said.  ‘Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me.  And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That’s all I’d do all day.  I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.  I know it’s crazy.’

“Old Phoebe didn’t say anything for a long time.  Then, when she said something, all she said was, ‘Daddy’s going to kill you.’

“‘I don’t give a damn if he does,’ I said. . . .”

J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye

1945

A REAL AND LASTING HEALING

“We are living in an age of mandatory ignorance, rigid restrictions of thought and speech, and obligatory social and political lies.  If there is to be a real and lasting healing among races and regions in America, it must be based on a common recognition and understanding of truth.”

From The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths

By Leonard M. Scruggs

2011

WE HAD BETTER GET BUSY

“The South is still being subjected to an outrageous tyranny.  When the victors occupy the territory of the defeated for a long period, they are able to reshape history so well as to glorify enormous evil and shame righteous courage.  It is a form of tyranny more evil than the initial conquest.  Ignorance and cowardice enshrine as good what in truth was enormous evil.  Truth and courageous dissent from lies and distortions are not celebrated in societies where might has come to mean right.  Truth is displaced by self-justifying propaganda.  Nobility is crushed by outrageous slander.

“There are more books written about the ‘Civil War’ than any other topic except Christianity.  Yet most of the real causes of the war have been buried under twenty feet of propaganda.  Self-justifying propaganda is now the prevailing staple of ‘Civil War’ history in public and unfortunately even in most Christian schools.  It presents as a noble struggle against slavery what was really an unconstitutional military aggression to prevent Southern Independence.  This prevailing cover of propaganda serves both to bury uncomfortable history and as a tool for modern political agendas.

“Slavery was an issue that caused many serious tensions, but the full scope and nature of these tensions are largely unknown and badly misunderstood today.  The war was about the right of the Southern people to self-determination and government by the consent of the governed versus being held involuntarily to a Union which experience was proving not to be in their best political and economic interests.

“Has our society been in a moral tail-spin for too long to value truth?  Are Americans still morally capable of dealing honestly with the causes and conduct of the ‘Civil War’?  Once you have built your worldview on a lie, it is very difficult to see the truth, much less to embrace the truth.  But truth, however uncomfortable and unpopular or however deeply buried and trampled, is still truth.  It has a tendency to resurrection, though truth is hard to face after decades of believing lies.  Truth is hard to bear when you have for many years justified yourself and an idolized State with lies.  The standard school texts and teaching on the ‘Civil War’ in both public and Christian schools perpetrate enormous dishonesty as history.

“We now have a generation of Americans including most Southerners who are shamelessly ignorant of their own history.  What history they do know is laced with political deception.  How many high school teachers in the South in both public and Christian schools know anything but propaganda on the causes and conduct of the ‘Civil War’?  How many know the full truth about the Reconstruction era?  What are the penalties for them, if they step outside the chains of political correctness in their study and teaching?

“Yet there are reasons for optimism.  With the internet and many advances in computer technology in publishing, the Eastern liberal establishment is no longer as dominant in the publishing industry as it once was.  The truth about the war is seeping out into the public in newly published works and the republication of many older works.  I am optimistic that despite near fanatical opposition to the true history of that war, courage will eventually rescue truth.”

 

“Truth and courage are sorely needed in today’s morally disintegrating society.  It is especially important in recovering these virtues to know our true history.  Much of what is published and taught in public schools and colleges today is either a sanitized whitewash or perverted political propaganda.  But I have confidence that even in today’s politically correct climate, truth will not be blotted out.  We cannot, as R. L. Dabney said, ‘bury true history whose years are those of the God of Truth.’  William Cullen Bryant put it a little differently, ‘Truth crushed to the ground shall rise again; the eternal years of God are hers.’  We should also remember the words of Samuel Johnson: ‘Where courage is not, no other virtue can survive except by accident.’  No republic can long survive whose people and leaders are not both devoted to truth and resolute in their courage to maintain it.  Ultimately all courage, including political courage and courage in battle, is moral courage.  Moral courage, more often than not, is tested principally by time, often a long period of time.  I believe we can recover both truth and courage, but we had better get busy, for we are well on the way to destruction.”

 

From The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths

By Leonard M. Scruggs

2011  

THIRD WILL AND TESTAMENT

Strange how I can write, but cannot read.

How I can speak, but cannot listen.

Goddamned rain–pouring again.

Of course it’s climate change.  Our planet has gone through these on a regular basis since its birth.  Global warming, global cooling, global warming, global cooling.  It’s the natural cycle of our planet.  We just don’t notice the regularity of these climate changes, because our lives are so brief.

The last climate change like this one, with a tendency toward global warming, occurred twelve hundred years ago.  It affected everyone of course–all over the planet.  Yet its effect on the Norse is what we remember most.

That last global-warming climate change caused severe drought in Scandinavia. And the Norse–traders before the ninth century–became the raiders for which we remember them today.  Hunger can make one mean–and the Norse, the Vikings, were very hungry.

Andy Warhol said that in this time everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. There was just one catch–contained in that forecast itself–one word.  Everyone. All seven billion of us.  We are the anonymous ninety-nine percent.  Just as only one percent has all the money, only one percent has all the fame–or infamy.  And Americans, at least, have never been as shallow as they are now–in this goddamned Digital Age.  They used to listen to experts.  Now they only listen to celebrities.  Famous celebrities like Nikki Haley–and infamous celebrities like Dylann Roof.  And what’s the difference between Dylann Roof, the piece of White trash who murdered nine people in a church, and Nikki Haley, the piece of White trash who exploited Dylann Roof’s mass murder for her political career?  The difference is that Dylann Roof rots in a federal prison–he will never get out alive–while Nikki Haley lives it up on the 42nd Floor of the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan.  Yet ultimately, Dylann Roof and Nikki Haley are guilty of the same crime.

Am I right in my assessment of these two partners in violent crime–one in a very low place, and one in a very high place?

What does it matter?

Nothing I say is of any consequence–because I’m neither famous nor infamous. I’m not a celebrity.  I’m not a star like our goddamned President.  As aforementioned, no one in this Digital Age listens to experts–everyone only listens to mindless, worthless celebrities.

I could channel the voice of God, and it would make no difference, would it?

If you don’t think White people can be poor, I can prove you wrong.

There are as many poor Whites in the United States as poor Blacks–possibly more.

Americans need to understand that what are believed to be racial and ethnic conflicts in the United States are actually class conflicts.

These are ancient conflicts that span all the earth and all humanity.

In Europe, these conflicts are blatant–none pretend they don’t exist.

But in the United States, they’ve never been blatant–none but the poor have ever even admitted they’ve existed.

And no one listens to the poor.

I think this is because our government was founded on ideals of equality. Ideally, we’ve always been equal in the United States–but realistically, we’ve never been.

This is just one reason why this posthumous extermination of the Confederate States of America is so devastating to the United States of America–the epidemic ignorance of American history is spread more widely and deeply by politicians who censor American historical flags and monuments, without the consent of their constituents.

So Digital-Age Americans, already dangerously ignorant of American history, are made more dangerously ignorant by politicians who trample all over their First-Amendment right to freedom of speech.

And lies told by the victors over the vanquished are no longer questioned.

Lies like those told of the War between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America.

The United States won that war–so the United States has written the history of it. And of course that history is full of lies–as any history, which is always written by the victors, always is.

This is how the politicians of today become the dictators of tomorrow.

This is how America ends–then the world.

The Digital-Age United States is quickly becoming a dystopia–a nightmarish blend of the dystopian novels, 1984 and Brave New World, and the 1984 dystopian film, The Terminator.

And this is happening because Digital-Age Americans are allowing it to happen.

The Thought Police are the media magnates, the soma is the smartphone.  Yet instead of fusing machine and man physically (re the cyborg (cybernetic organism)), this unrestrained Digital-Age technology is fusing machine and man emotionally, mentally, and spiritually–the heartless, mindless, and godless smartphones are making their users heartless, mindless, and godless.

The more agonizing this Digital-Age hell becomes, the less influential and consequential my words and actions become.

It truly is strange how much more easily I can write than read.

How much more easily I can speak than listen.

I’ve always been this way.

This house is a cage with an open door.

Not only do I have neither the means nor expertise to execute the Dishonorable Nikki R. Haley–I have neither the means nor expertise to escape this cage.  Or this time.

Yet no one has ever had the means or expertise to escape a time.

I had a .30-06 a long time ago–with an excellent scope.

It was the only gun I’ve ever owned.

Sometime in my twenties, I sold it.

As I recall, I didn’t really need the money–I was just angry at my father, who had given it to me as a Christmas gift in 1983.

A thug stole it from me in 1984–along with fifty dollars I was going to use for Christmas gifts.

I agreed to a plea deal with the thug–he’d show the police where he’d ditched my rifle, and he’d pay back my fifty dollars that he’d gambled away.

In return, I’d allow the felony charge to be dropped to a misdemeanor charge–and he’d only spend thirty days in jail.

I really hope he turned his life around, after that–giving to his community, rather than just taking from it.

Before President-elect Trump nominated Nikki Haley for a cabinet position–and Democratic and Republican politicians confirmed her for it–I only regretted selling my .30-06, with the excellent scope, because I’d hurt my father’s feelings so much.

Now I regret selling it because I no longer have it.

A .30-06–with an excellent scope–can take down a large deer easily.

And it can take down a diabolical politician even more easily.

A diabolical politician like the Dishonorable Nikki R. Haley.

Who exploited a mass murder for her political career–and is living it up in Manhattan for that exploitation.

Who blamed that mass murder on a flag–just to dodge any discussion of gun regulation.

Who began a posthumous extermination of the Confederate States of America–carried out almost exclusively by Republican politicians like her–which is destructive as hell to the United States of America.

Who places the demands of the Israeli government above the needs of the American people.

Who exploits her position as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations–the American people having had no say, whatsoever, in her attainment of this position.

The only good thing about Nikki Haley is her looks.

And she knows how to use her looks to get anything she wants–she always has, and she always will.  She’ll just keep getting more and more and more.

Unless someone stops her–someone with the means and expertise to stop her.

And a .30-06.  With an excellent scope.

What’s that you’re thinking?

That violence is never the answer?

That I’m such a terrible person for calling for the execution of Nikki Haley?

That killing her cannot be justified, no matter what she has done, is still doing–and will do when she becomes the next president of the United States?

That all lives matter–even those of diabolically evil politicians, like the Dishonorable Nikki R. Haley?

Then stop mindlessly talking, texting, and tweeting on your mindless smartphones–over mindless matters, with your mindless Digital-Age playmates.

And contact President Trump.

And tell him to remove that goddamned Nikki Haley from his cabinet.

And just in case he ignores you–which he will almost certainly do–remind him that you can get him out of office more quickly than you put him in office.

Oh, you don’t think you put Donald Trump in office?

If you voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries last year, you most definitely put Donald Trump in office.

Why, you’re more responsible for Donald Trump’s presidency than those who voted for him in the Republican primaries last year.

You’ll be more responsible for Nikki Haley’s presidency too.

Keep calm, and tell President Trump to remove that goddamned Nikki Haley from his cabinet–now.

On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof murdered nine people at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

I am so tired of being punished for his crime.

You should be tired of it too.

A LETTER TO EVERY EDITOR

What’s strange about the blind system by which submissions are approved or rejected is that it often does exactly the opposite of what it’s intended to do.

In the last edition of the Emerald Coast Review I had the smallest amount of my submitted work published–since before I joined the West Florida Literary Federation in 2007–because I hadn’t been attending the monthly open mics in the two years before its publication.  I hadn’t been keeping in touch with the regular attendees of the open mics–and I especially hadn’t been reading my work.

Attendees of the open mics remember what’s read at the open mics–and who reads it.  So when they’re appointed to read submissions to the Emerald Coast Review, they know who wrote the submissions–they remember who read them at open mics.

Also, every writer–as you know–has a unique style.  So even if what one submits hasn’t been shared at an open mic, those who are familiar with his or her style still recognize it.

Then there’s prejudice by readers toward any submission.  Because we’re all prejudiced–and we always will be.

Your readers–who approve or disapprove every submission for the Emerald Coast Review–are extremely prejudiced.  Because they’re human beings–and all human beings are extremely prejudiced, and always have been.

This validly criticized politically-correct culture–which is a direct consequence of unrestrained Digital-Age technology–is arguably the best display of human prejudice in human history.

In the third part of a video presentation I gave on Pensacola’s Five-Flags Displays, I compare the censorship by religious conservatives in the past to the censorship by secular liberals in the present.

I cite the censorship of the two funniest novels I’ve ever read–The Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn.

As I explain, The Catcher in the Rye was censored by religious conservatives, in the past, because it is laced with profanity–particularly the word, goddam.

And Huckleberry Finn is censored by secular liberals, in the present, because it is laced with the word, nigger.

But I also explain how–just as the religious conservatives who censored The Catcher in the Rye had never read The Catcher in the Rye–the secular liberals who censor Huckleberry Finn have never read Huckleberry Finn.

And censorship is born of prejudice.

Religious conservatives censored The Catcher in the Rye because they were extremely prejudiced of The Catcher in the Rye.

And secular liberals censor Huckleberry Finn because they are extremely prejudiced of Huckleberry Finn.

The majority of your readers were extremely prejudiced of my submission because it had the word, Goddamned, in its title.  And the majority of Southern Americans–of any age–have a strong aversion toward that word.

In fact, there was a study done, years ago, on what television content most offended viewers in different regions of the United States.

West Coast viewers were most offended by gratuitous violence.

Midwestern viewers were most offended by gratuitous sex.

And Southern viewers were most offended by profane language.

Then of course I strongly criticize this Digital Age in my submission.

I choose not to have a cellphone–but none of your readers likely make that choice.

I choose not to have a Facebook or Twitter account–but none of your readers likely make that choice.

So how do you think they felt, reading my submission?

Here was some high-and-mighty, old bastard who had the audacity to criticize their Digital-Age lifestyle–and unashamedly declare it, in the very title of his submission, to be damned by God!

Of course your readers rejected my submission–I would have expected that.

That’s why I would expect you to override their decision.

You’re the editor-in-chief of the Emerald Coast Review.  You have your prejudices, of course–but you’re almost certainly more intelligently discerning than your readers are.  And you’re obviously far more experienced with evaluating writing, based on its literary merit–as well as its historical, anecdotal, psychological, sociological, and philosophical merit–than your readers are.

Then there’s the anonymity of your readers.  They have an idea who we are–but we have no idea who they are, until the Emerald Coast Review is published.

So there’s no skin off their noses–they don’t have to answer to us, as to why they’ve rejected our submissions.

This is like a jury trial in which the accused never even sees or hears the anonymous jury until the judge has already sentenced the accused.

So as the judge in the trial of my submission, Parts 1 and 2 of DEALING WITH THE GODDAMNED DIGITAL AGE, I respectfully ask you to overrule the decision made by the anonymous jury.

I respectfully ask you to include it in this upcoming edition of the Emerald Coast Review.