Something going around...

Regarding the hubbub around the removal of Confederate monuments, can there be a better example of history revised proving that history is mutable under scrutiny?  As an American by birth and a Southerner by geography, I am neither a fan nor hater of such monuments.  But why not contextualize them instead of hiding them?  Make an addendum.  We learn things by addition and once a thing is learned it is darn near impossible to un-learn.  Especially after being mythologized.  Johnny-Rebs rule 'round heunh!

Fans of the Confederate battle flag always opine that it’s heritage instead of bigotry.  This is the same argument about the Civil War being waged over state’s rights.  And it was.  But, the linchpin of state’s rights was precisely the maintenance of slavery.  Everything else shows up reflected in the rear view mirror and objects may appear much farther away than…

Why not add a ring of empty slave manacles to the base of every Confederate monument?  Add a placard explaining why the war was fought and why we lost and America won!  And don’t the victims of slavery deserve to be honored as well?  Wasn't it their tears, sweat and blood that consecrated the ground around every plantation in the South for over two hundred fifty years before the war that abolished the practice?  Or was their blood not red enough?

But seriously, some southern men of a certain age are like an inebriated Kentucky colonel with his pants down around his ankles chasing a young Nubian princess promising, "It's all good, everyone loves white meat." Like anyone wants to hear nor God forbid see anymore old whitey bullshit.

The South indeed has to atone but I can argue that the country has even more to answer for starting with  native Americans.  I believe the only polite thing to do is to allow them to go first.  Start at Jamestown and enumerate the treaties we broke [all of them] along the way to where we stand today with regards to the first peoples--the first Americans.  Do that, then we can talk about reparations for slavery.  That's only fair.  Hey you, back in line!

If the sins of the father are visited on his children, shouldn’t we take better care for the sake of our own?  So why not honor the sacrifices of the victims?  We owe history and the future the truth.  Warts and all.  It's a bitter pill for southerners but one that has to be taken.  Bottoms up!

The thing of it is...

In order to shoot down stupid, you have to come loaded for bear.  And not for one of those cute and fuzzy Alaskan browns or that tundra trotting Coke swilling polar version, I'm talking Ursus Maximus.  The kind a nuclear weapon would just annoy.  Okay, I might be gilding a Lilliputian but stupid is the gift that outlasts the Energizer Bunny.  We might put up our hands now and then and say, "No more, please, I'm full."  But then we surrender, "Mmm why not, maybe just one more scoop."

A coworker had a phrase that fits, "Shit's good if you like it."  The statement is repulsive but nonetheless spot-on.  Social media bears this out.  A smarter fellow than I once said, "Folks would rather be rallied than edified." That alone nails Trump and his minions.  He shows up, pounds the podium for ignorance and the facts lose every time.  Proof enough?

Facts aren't divorced from fallacy. Hell, they've never even met. Fallacy is slathered on everything like butter on hot toast. Facts are like fiber. Good for you and gluten-free. Fallacy is like gluten, stretchy and sticks to everything. Like your beliefs.

Maybe news organizations should treat the truth like cold medication. Flavor it with cherry overtones and more than a hint of Everclear. The taste would be palatable and we'd get a good night's sleep believing we'd done some good. Smartened up a bit, triangulated, delved into the deep end and came up with the truth. Figured it out. Done edified our bad selves. But that's just the dextromethorphan talking.  Nighty-night.

Come sun up it will be screw the fiber and more gluten, please.  Facts lose every time.

Trying to steal our precious bodily fluids...

One of my history professors in college claimed that he never taught history less than five hundred years old.  He said it took that long for the bullshit to settle out.  He also taught me to watch what's going on NOW and notice the context of things.  Occam's Razor works as well as any other methodology when dealing with misinformation but you also have to understand that the purveyors of bad info know their market.  In this respect, Goebbels was a rock star.

He also said that those who see the boogeyman in the shadows will ALWAYS see the boogeyman there. Somehow the use of a decent flashlight or lantern always manages to escape their consideration. But then again what else would they have to worry about if not the Deep State or the Illuminati or the Freemasons, FoxNews, MSNBC or the Feds or those mixed breed kids down the street? Heck, the space aliens are just glad the Hispanics are taking the heat for a change. You know they're all working together, right? They cover each other's vacation days.

But seriously, when will Congress at least cop to fomenting this endless bitch slapping contest and making possible the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?  I mean, a Slovenian supermodel!  Aight, I get it.  It was a package deal.

This is what I'm thinking, we're bored. The endless warring in other countries has lost its savor. At least with Vietnam we had nightly body counts. Learning nothing from history, we still bandy the notion that to thwart them here is to thwart them THERE. Like Dracula we avoid all mirrors and the light of day.  Instead, we act out of fear. Fearing a twin towers scenario every other day in Murica if we don't.  Oookeedoke. 

We're living in a time where careful introspection is left to hot tubs and proctologists. Facts have become subjective and subordinate to personal truths. It's like saying the Holocaust didn't happen because it offends one's sense of self in the now and therefor remote from their experiential reality.

I'd slap a bearded man-bun wearing hipster for that shit if I thought I could do it without having it end up on Facebook. Hmmm, I'm not running for a high hat or a silk robe so I can probably get away with it. Suffice to say that just like the poor, the stupid will inherit the Earth. And most of them will be on social media doubling down on their ignorance. Can't wait.

It's imperative that each of us do our own homework. We have to triangulate in order to KNOW. We have to put some eyeballs on it. Believe no one and seek out primary sources. Take everything with a grain of salt. Heck, keep a shaker with you and make sure it's full.

Some smart guy, my professor.

Gentlmen and gentlewomen...

Men in general have always worked the odds with regards to females and other males.  It's hard coded.  Core logic. Women in-general and society at-large are the beneficiaries AND victims of these root proclivities. Yes, we denigrate women. We also open doors and carry the groceries too. Some of us can even fix the dryer, mend a torn garment, fix a booboo, prepare dinner and retrieve Mr. Mittens from under the house. Turns out Mr. was a Mrs. and we now have bunch of effin mittens! But I digress.

When thinking with the minor head, not much else makes sense.  Back in the day [prehistoric] there was the very real and present danger of becoming dinner for a more agile and physically gifted beast, every day. Lions and tigers and bears, no shit! So the drive to procreate has and always will lead to awkward moments. Some even criminal. All are life changing. That said, it's only lately that we've become so cynical.

Now, I'm not advocating a return to the paterfamilias paradigm but rather giving a nod to all the good it has wrought while trying to atone for the stupid stuff. I don't see anything fair about the #metoo movement. I know it has to run its course and that maybe some good will come of it if only to clean out the cobwebs. But I keep hearing that echo. One of indecipherable shouts and something else, something metallic, tink tink tink, a ratcheting up. The sound getting louder as we move closer.

I see a blood bath where the insouciant will become victims of a New Inquisition. In my short time on Earth, I've seen the ugly side of a relationship that soured then blossomed into envy and retribution. If it were today, I could get a restraining order. But those were the good ol' days and I took things into my own hands. I called her mama.

So this is where I have to draw a line with the Kavenaugh excoriation. I don't doubt the woman's account of the situation she found herself in thirty years ago. But what I do doubt is her motivation and why now? Delayed catharsis? If Kavenaugh is cast down, and maybe he should be, will her hippocampus heal itself? That thing that she says bears the permanent impression of that night. If I were Kavenaugh, I'd call her, apologize and try my damndest to make amends.

For certain, Kavanaugh missed an opportunity. He missed the chance to give succor to the aggrieved and call for a full investigation. To make his amends public. To set an example of what a judge on the highest court should look like. His chance to be level-headed under fire. Instead he ended up whining about it on Fox like a little bitch. A proud day for ferret faced fucks everywhere!

The question is, should all horny teenagers be publicly flogged for their youthful indiscretions thirty years hence? If criminal, then heck yes! I don't think there should ever be a statute of limitations on rape. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. Traumatic for sure, but criminal? I know women that would have knee'd Kavanaugh in the balls and broke a lamp over his head while he was still on the floor in the fetal position. Mrs. Ford was scared and obviously scarred. Not everyone has the goods to overcome in the moment.

So what have we to work with when there's no evidence other than hearsay and the possibility of false memory? When there is no clear physical damage and no corroboration nor credible witness, only the earnest recollection from a poised and educated woman. Was there a crime? If the answer is yes, then all men should be looking over their shoulders. There's a new and more agile beast in town.