A comment about the “outrage” expressed in some corners about a picture of RuPaul in a Confederate gown (s/he wore it well, I think) brought forth the following observation by Andy Hall:
… nothing the MoC does, short of full-out hagiography of the Confederacy and its heroes, would ever satisfy the small-but-loud group of critics who’ve been carping about the institution for years. If it weren’t RuPaul, it would be something else. They would be unhappy to discover a mention that Lee owned slaves, or that there’s a section devoted to Lincoln’s visit to Richmond a few days before his death. If the flag display out front that’s caused so much heartburn, was to feature (say) Union and Confederate national flags of April 1865 flying side-by-side, they’d be bitching about the presence of the “Yankee rag.” Outrage is what these folks do. Fish gotta swim.
Sure do. One began swimming after reading Andy’s comments here as well as his post … as if on cue.
Andy’s right. Nothing that Waite Rawls and the Museum of the Confederacy does, short of caving in to Connie Correctness or Sebesta Sensibilities (see here), will please such extremists, who insist that anyone who does not agree with them is simply unreasonable. Thus, why even try?
By now the MOC Appomattox museum is closed for the day, after what seems to have been a highly successful opening. Oh, I expect to see some YouTube videos posed by the handful of Flaggers (who swore they would not enter the place … ignorance is their bliss), just like I’ve grown used to Sebesta’s relentless (and mindless) attacks upon a place he’s not visited. Here’s the problem, folks … the museum will be open tomorrow, the next day, and the one after that … and no one’s really going to care what y’all say. I can’t wait to see James I. Robertson blasted as a Yankee abolitionist tool for speaking at the opening by certain parties, and assailed as a Confederate apologist by others. Maybe someone can nominate one of Connie’s “books” for an award by the MOC so that she can launch a campaign to make sure she doesn’t get the award, just like Ed did.
Like Waite Rawls, Kevin Levin, and others, I’ve been blasted by both Connie Chastain and Ed Sebesta. So I know I must be doing something right. You can just hear Connie now. Same with Ed.
Crossroads 