Lincoln and the "central idea of America"
From: wildbill4dixie@yahoo.com
Yankees
always must have the last word it seems. Two days after my last
retort, I get this response from His Highness Guelzo. Yes, Yankees must
always have the last word. What the idiot doesn't realize is that
while I'm not a yankee I was raised in New England and I have lived the
better part of my life in Noo Yawk. I have a Southern heart, or so
I've been told, but....I HAVE A NOO YAWK TEMPER! I suppose one could
say, "we'll see who has the last word..."
Everyone should realize two things however....
.... it is indeed fun to poke "those people" in the eye. I for one, love to get them worked up...however....
...there is no way on God's earth that anyone will ever change their minds. Presenting logical arguments to such people is useless, mostly because they are not interested in arguing historical points. They are jealous of you because you have something they don't....a heritage.... and all they want to do is destroy that heritage, and you. Keep this in mind whenever you deal with them. Don't be afraid to rip them a new one. Manners and politeness are wasted on those who embody the two worst characteristics of a human being...arrogance and stupidity. Civility did not win the last war with them and it won't win this war. Civility never does when it comes to a situation where one group is out to destroy another. Again, I repeat, this is not an academic argument we are engaged in..... "it's war, Scarlett, WAR!" Save your academic energy for influencing those people who don't have an opinion. There are still a lot of them out there ..... Don't waste it on the Guelzos of the world.
For a less vitriolic explanation of the point I'm trying to make, please read an article by one of the most brilliant minds on our side.... he's one of your own!
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson3.html
Everyone should realize two things however....
.... it is indeed fun to poke "those people" in the eye. I for one, love to get them worked up...however....
...there is no way on God's earth that anyone will ever change their minds. Presenting logical arguments to such people is useless, mostly because they are not interested in arguing historical points. They are jealous of you because you have something they don't....a heritage.... and all they want to do is destroy that heritage, and you. Keep this in mind whenever you deal with them. Don't be afraid to rip them a new one. Manners and politeness are wasted on those who embody the two worst characteristics of a human being...arrogance and stupidity. Civility did not win the last war with them and it won't win this war. Civility never does when it comes to a situation where one group is out to destroy another. Again, I repeat, this is not an academic argument we are engaged in..... "it's war, Scarlett, WAR!" Save your academic energy for influencing those people who don't have an opinion. There are still a lot of them out there ..... Don't waste it on the Guelzos of the world.
For a less vitriolic explanation of the point I'm trying to make, please read an article by one of the most brilliant minds on our side.... he's one of your own!
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson3.html
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Bill Vallante <wildbill4dixie@yahoo.com>
To: Allen Guelzo <aguelzo@gettysburg.edu>
Yes
indeed, "dictatorship" is a fascination of mine, (actually more of a
concern) - I don't like people who tell others what they should think
and do - my motto is and has always been, "live and let live, and
anyone who doesn't believe in that should be shot." And as far as the
country that I advocate for, a country whose people were invaded and
subdued by a nation populated by goons like you, many prominent and not
so prominent Confederates are on record as having made the same plea,
"all we ask is to be left alone."....the same plea that Poland made to
Czarist Russia, to Hitler, and to Stalin. In fact, history is full of
countries who asked the same thing of their neighbors.....to no avail.
Guys like you just can't leave it alone now, can you??
So you're not going to take up my challenge and go emancipate the Africans from themselves? Why am I not surprised? Pity.... I was about to call up my bookmaker to see if he'd post odds on you peeing your pants before you got half way over there. For people like you, berating those who aren't alive to defend themselves, or berating those alive who see some merit in what they tried to accomplish, is far more important....and a whole lot safer I might add.... You can keep your fat ass in your high holy "chair." I'm not jealous in the least. I'm retired after a 30 year professional career in the human services field that was eminently satisfying and rewarding. I have no regrets and I covet nothing. So please, do keep your "chair." I'd rather sit in a dumpster than occupy a chair like yours if it meant that I had to be anything like you...
"Cowering behind a federal seige"? LOL! Your allegations don't even deserve a response. You outnumbered us 4-1 in population and 10-1 in industrial capacity. If we were as inept as you allege, then all I can do is ask, "what the hell took you so long to win???" By the way, look up Bruce Catton...you remember him, don't you? A union man himself in spirit, he had some things to say about the Confederate soldier that differ markedly from your remarks. And check out what Eisenhower had to say about Lee........... a president, perhaps the last competent president to occupy the Oval Office, who saw Massa Robert in a rather different light than you do, Of course, this was in a day before the academic community lost its collective mind and before people like you found their way into power. I would give you both quotes and their sources, but we both know it wouldn't matter. And I really don't feel like digging through my files looking for the references. It would be a waste of time. I would much rather use time like that for influencing those whose minds are open and who've never heard the other side of the story, so that they will be less likely to be influenced by demagogues like you.
"Friendly"? ROFL!!! "I don't hate you"? LMAO!!!! I detest bullshit Mr. Guelzo. I admire honesty and forthrightness. You don't like me and I don't like you. Man up and say so. I'll say it again. 150 years ago we'd be facing off with pistols in a field somewhere.
So you're not going to take up my challenge and go emancipate the Africans from themselves? Why am I not surprised? Pity.... I was about to call up my bookmaker to see if he'd post odds on you peeing your pants before you got half way over there. For people like you, berating those who aren't alive to defend themselves, or berating those alive who see some merit in what they tried to accomplish, is far more important....and a whole lot safer I might add.... You can keep your fat ass in your high holy "chair." I'm not jealous in the least. I'm retired after a 30 year professional career in the human services field that was eminently satisfying and rewarding. I have no regrets and I covet nothing. So please, do keep your "chair." I'd rather sit in a dumpster than occupy a chair like yours if it meant that I had to be anything like you...
"Cowering behind a federal seige"? LOL! Your allegations don't even deserve a response. You outnumbered us 4-1 in population and 10-1 in industrial capacity. If we were as inept as you allege, then all I can do is ask, "what the hell took you so long to win???" By the way, look up Bruce Catton...you remember him, don't you? A union man himself in spirit, he had some things to say about the Confederate soldier that differ markedly from your remarks. And check out what Eisenhower had to say about Lee........... a president, perhaps the last competent president to occupy the Oval Office, who saw Massa Robert in a rather different light than you do, Of course, this was in a day before the academic community lost its collective mind and before people like you found their way into power. I would give you both quotes and their sources, but we both know it wouldn't matter. And I really don't feel like digging through my files looking for the references. It would be a waste of time. I would much rather use time like that for influencing those whose minds are open and who've never heard the other side of the story, so that they will be less likely to be influenced by demagogues like you.
"Friendly"? ROFL!!! "I don't hate you"? LMAO!!!! I detest bullshit Mr. Guelzo. I admire honesty and forthrightness. You don't like me and I don't like you. Man up and say so. I'll say it again. 150 years ago we'd be facing off with pistols in a field somewhere.
Dictatorship
seems to be quite a fascination of yours. Pray, when do you plan to
install yourself as dictator over the rest of us? Purely for our own
good, of course. Or would you like me to wander over to the library and
read a few of your books? Oh, sorry, you've never written any.
I
do not hate you. I don't even know you, and I certainly can't be
bothered wasting the energies necessary for hatred on someone with the
mental visibility of a pea. You are, I must admit, very useful for
target practice, preparatory to writing reviews of more serious
endeavours.
I'm sorry you don't
care for witnesses who present uncomfortable evidence. But one is at
least more than you have been able to summon in favor of your
preposterous notions. I do not occupy a high and holy chair, although it
seems to be one for which you evince more than a little foul green
envy. Occupying that chair is what keeps me from gallivanting to Africa
and other parts, since I have a day job, which I gather is more than
you are able to hold down. Nor would it do much good to seek
emancipation opportunities there, since I could not trust you in my
absence not to attempt to re-enslave people here. Africa is not my
problem; you are.
In a friendly
way, let me urge you to reflect on that cause to which you have given
so much time and flatulence: you are the advocate for a pseudo-nation
of half-baked losers who couldn't beat an army when it numbered only
16,000 men (as the U.S. Army did in 1861), who built an ironclad they
couldn't float to safety, who couldn't keep a flotilla of wooden
warships from storming past the two largest fortifications in north
America (Fts. Jackson and St. Philip), who got their heads cracked by a
recovering alcoholic, who couldn't protect their own land, families
and children, and whose commanding general blamed his noble soldiers
for losing the war due to lack of will (this latter was Gen'l R.E.
Lee). You pride yourself on an association with people who couldn't
fight off a siege, who cowered and starved behind a federal blockade
over 3550 miles long, who depended on their women and children to
provide for and defend them, and who surrendered at the first
opportunity. The insurrectionists of Paraguay held out longer than you
did, and against greater odds; the secession of Queensland has more
logic to it than yours ever did.
Your
flag was trailed in the dust at Gettysburg by Gen'l Alexander Hays,
and when his defeated counterpart expressed disgust that his men had
been repulsed by so few and wished to attack again, Gen'l Hays invited
him to go and try it once more. I would with pleasure trail your
treasonous and revolutionary banner in the same dust, and give you the
same advice as Gen'l Hays. If you are so righteous, raise your flag
again and see how many follow.
(Dr) Allen C. Guelzo
Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era
Director, Civil War Era Studies Program
Gettysburg College
300 N. Washington Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era
Director, Civil War Era Studies Program
Gettysburg College
300 N. Washington Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325
