 A group of indonesians rescued from slave traffickers in 2015. When the average person hears the word “Confederacy” these days, they automatically associate the word with slavery. This is due to the Yankees’ successful efforts to distract the populace from the real cause of the Confederacy – governmental reform and freedom from tyranny. But that’s a topic for another day. For now, we’re going to focus on “slavery” part. Now as most of those reading this will already know, the notion that Confederates were fighting to keep their slaves is a quisquiliary ipsedixitism. That is to say, it’s utter BS. But, the Confederacy did have slavery, and the vast majority of its citizens probably didn’t lose any sleep over that fact. So if you oppose the Confederacy because you hate slavery, I suppose I can respect that. But in order to hate slavery, you must, in fact, hate slavery. Now, slavery has been used all throughout history, and all major ancient societies utilized it. Thus to hate slavery is to hate all those ancient societies. But of course that would be absurd, and I don’t fault those who hate the Confederacy but admire, for example, the ancient Egyptians. But slavery still exists today, and it’s not some minor thing either. A lot of the world’s raw minerals, such as gold and cobalt, come from forced labor in Africa. A lot of the world’s coffee and cocoa (the main ingredient in chocolate) come from forced labor in Africa and parts of South America, and many of those laborers are children, some as young as 5. Sweatshops in east Asia are responsible for a lot of the world’s phones, clothes, and shoes. The World Cup stadium in Qatar was largely purported to have been built with slave labor, and Saudi Arabia has many Indians and Filipinos who are lured in by the promise of high wages and then have their passports confiscated and are forced to do backbreaking labor to “earn” the passports back. The list goes on and on and on for examples of modern slavery. Oh, what is that you say? You only hate slavey in the United States? Well first of all, shame on you, and second of all, we have you covered here, too. Those migrants that come pick our crops and work in our factories, do you think those are well-paying jobs? Do you think there’s any chance of a promotion? Do you think there is paid time off? OSHA regulations? Job-provided healthcare? Benefits? Retirement packages? Well let me help you out. The answer to all those questions is a firm, resounding NO. Sure, it’s not technically slavery - they could just get up and leave. And watch their families starve to death back home because there’s no more money flowing in. So there’s slavery present in basically every facet of the modern industrial world. And so, naturally, you see all these anti-Confederate, anti-slavery people constantly raising awareness for modern day slavery, donating to anti-slavery organizations, and buying products confirmed to not be made using slave lab… I’m kidding, of course they don’t do any of that. Those in the Naming Commission and the 1619 Project will happily pour their slave-harvested sugar into their slave-grown coffee, while using their slave-made iPhone (itself made from slave-mined materials) to shop for slave-produced clothes and shoes. Maybe they wanted to eat healthy today, so they’re eating an orange, one that was picked by some 15 year old migrant in California working in the 95 degree heat for 16 hours a day, and earning about as many dollars as compensation. And then their lunch break is over, so they buy their last shirt or two off of Amazon, set their iPhone down, finish their orange and their coffee, and then get back to work – advocating for every Confederate monument and flag to be taken down. After all, we wouldn’t want to have any symbols of slavery, now would we? But, to quote every TV infomercial that comes on at 3AM, we’re still not done! Oh, so you only care about chattel slavery that happened in the Civil War era United States. Well wouldn’t you just know it, the North had slaves too! And for longer than the South did – on BOTH ends of the timeline! The first slaves went to work in the late 1600s in Massachusetts, while the last slaves were freed in December 1865 from New Jersey. Do you think the slaves were treated any better up North than down South? Quite the opposite – the South, under heavy pressure from anti-slavery groups in the North, greatly reformed its slave practices in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s. The Nottoway plantation in Louisiana that recently burned down actually had running water for slaves to take daily showers – a luxury far out of reach for most Southern Whites. You want to go find something like that at a Northern plantation? I’ll wait. So in conclusion, slavery was unfortunately part of the Confederacy, and a large part at that. But if you’re going to hate the Confederacy and advocate against Confederate monuments because of slavery, while simultaneously not losing any sleep about modern slavery or even Civil War era slavery by the North, I reserve the more-than-merited right to call you a hypocrite and laugh in your face. Deo Vindice.
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 Nikki Haley, Republican Governor of South Carolina, signed a bill to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol on July 9, 2015. Which side of the political spectrum is more responsible for the modern destruction of Confederate symbolism? For most people, their obvious go-to answer to this question would be the Left. After all, if it was up to the Left, every Confederate statue and flag would be taken down and destroyed. And of this much, there is no doubt. But the Left has been hostile to the South for as long as the two have existed together — indeed, the War of Northern Aggression could just as well be called the War of Leftist Aggression, for that’s precisely what it was. And before that, you had, among other things, the Nullification Crisis of 1832, the mockeries of the South from Charles Sumner, and the massacres by John Brown. And after the War, you had Reconstruction, which continues to this day. Yet, Confederate symbolism has really only come under attack in the past 15 years or so. So I would argue that clearly, the Left is NOT responsible for this recent anti-Confederate onslaught. By the process of elimination, that would leave only one culprit: the Right. To be clear. The Left HAS been the one to actually carry out this Confederate destructionism. I don’t dispute that. You won’t see people on the Right taking down Confederate monuments. But those on the Right are letting it happen. Let’s use the analogy of a dog. Imagine one day you are walking your extremely ferocious and bloodthirsty dog. If it ends up mauling someone to death, who is to blame? There is absolutely no dispute that the dog is the murderer — it was the one to kill the person. But the dog won’t be the one to go on trial — you will. For what? Most likely, for negligence. You didn’t kill the person, granted. But, if you had knowledge of the dog’s nature, YOU are the one at fault by putting the dog in a position to kill someone. Similarly, when the Left is successful in getting a Confederate symbol removed, can you really blame THEM? That’s the Left’s nature. No, blame the Right for allowing it to happen. The Southern Flag being removed from South Carolina state capitol grounds in 2015 was the result of endless pressure from the Left, yes. But, Republican Nikki Haley was the one to sign it into law. The changing of the old Mississippi state flag, likewise, was also the result of many years of Leftist pressure. And again, REPUBLICAN Tate Reeves approved it. The onslaught of Confederate removals in 2020 was greenlighted by a Leftist bill, yes. And Trump, for his part, vetoed it. But the veto was overridden by Congress, which was only possible because several Republicans, many from the South, sided with the opposition. Even the current dumpster fire in Virginia is mostly due to the complete and utter inaction of the previous administration, that of Republican Glenn Youngkin. In each case, while Leftists are the catalyst, the Right was the one to allow it to come to be. Now, I know the Republican party isn’t really the Right. And, I know that the Republican Party is naught but poison to the South. But at least for now, we’re stuck with them. So we must unfortunately go off of the assumption that the GOP is right wing. But let me say it loud and clear: it is NOT. I DO NOT believe it is. But, while we’re for now stuck with the lousy GOP, we don’t necessarily have to be stuck with the individual so-called right-wing politicians who cause these travesties to be. The next time you see a Confederate monument being taken down, or Confederate flag being removed, or an army base or school name being changed, blame not the Left, even though they are the easy target, and even though they will no doubt be celebrating. Instead, take a few hours out of your day to jump down the rabbit hole until you inevitably find the so-called right-winger who caused it to be. And direct all your ire towards, and all your votes against, him or her. I’m not saying that the Left shouldn’t be despised. As previously stated, they have been enemies of the South ever since there was both a Left and a South. They deserve naught but the utmost hostility and reproach from us Southerners. But don’t blame the gun for the murder, or the dog for the mauling, or the spoon for making you fat, or the Left for destroying Confederate symbolism. Blame the MURDERER for the murder, the dog’s OWNER for the mauling, and YOURSELF for making you fat. And blame the Right for the destruction of Confederate symbolism. |
