Am I A Neo-Confederate, Or Are You Just Full Of Shit?

This is in response to the low-information moron who decided to send me the following profanity-laced message on Thursday afternoon which reads:

Hey Fucktard, (Hey yourself dildo) I looked through your sorry blog (I notice you didn't write that you READ it, but go on.) and think your ("you're" you mean?) either a fucking racist, sexist neo-confederate pig, or just really fucking stupid. (Well which is it, cutie?) People like your (Um, spell-check much?) who worship the rebel flag (uh folks, I am really not make this message up. He - at least I think it is a he - actually used the word "worship"...for real. Lodge this moron into the double-digit IQ category.) are a bunch of racist assholes who go on and on about patriotism and waving your rebel tea party flags, (actually as I understand it the Tea Party movement uses a variety of flags but they conceal information like that in books so I don't expect you to keep up on little details.) but all you care about is showing off what an ingorant (Says the guy - I think - that can't proofread.) old throwback fuck you neo-confederate losers are. (Humm that word again.)

The message was signed: killallteabaggers4budda....(*facepalm* to quote my Jewish friends: "Oy Vey.")

Guess this individual constitutes my very first official lunatic blog poster. Not a milestone I was looking forward to. Still, Mr. (or maybe Miss, Ms. or Mrs.) budda is responsible for helping me come up with a topic. So I guess thanks should be in order and I will dedicate this week's post to this individual. 

One of the things that earned me the title: The Man The Deniers Fear Most is the fact that whenever someone is full of shit, I tell them they are full of shit. This includes not only people that I disagree with, but also those that I sometimes agree with, and those that this blogger respects as fellow travelers to one degree or another. Even friends can tell friends that they are full of shit for their own good.

Now granted when I tell people they are full of shit I tend to do so in a more diplomatic way on social media sites like facebook, where there are rules against such colorful use of the English language. But since this is my blog -- my UNCENSORED blog -- and I am not constrained by the usual rules here, I feel the need to just let it all hang out and speak my mind a bit more plainly.

This does not mean that I am going to start throwing around profanity laced statements left and right. I certainly disapprove of any use of the Lord's name in vain and won't tolerate it on my site. Nor will I add profanity laced comments every other word. No. That sort of low-class behavior is unseemly and lacks originality - as evident from the comment above. Also while I do occasionally throw around the word fuck, I do not do so every ten seconds. I'm not a huge proponent of the f-word -- indeed, I managed to go through the first 16 years of my life without uttering that word once. 

When it comes to profanity, I am reminded of little Ralphie's words in A Christmas Story (one of my top five favorite holiday movies!) where he talks about how his father and profanity: "The old man worked in profanity the way other artists worked in oils." Well, I can be a bit of an artist myself. When I use profanity, it's going to actually mean something other than just as a cheap and unoriginal dig at someone's expense.

Anyhow back to the discussion. People who generally use the term broadly to define all Southern heritage defender is basically full of shit. It's certainly true in my case. Let me explain in detail why.

So I guess before I can go on, I have to explain what is a "neo-Confederate" exactly.

The problem with explaining that term lies in how one actually defines the term "neo-Confederate" specifically since most opponents of Southern-Confederate historical heritage have broad and widely varied definitions of the term that seem to change with whomever they are addressing at any given time. 

Well, tell y'all what, how about I use a "credited source" acceptable to the PC Establishment and  offer a comparison of my personal political and social views as a guide to better establish if the term rightly applies to yours truly?

Okay here goes nothing. 

As defined officially by the Southern Poverty Law Center website:
  
"The term neo-Confederacy is used to describe twentieth and twenty-first century revivals of pro-Confederate sentiment in the United States. 
Strongly nativist and advocating measures to end immigration, neo-Confederacy claims to pursue Christianity and heritage and other supposedly fundamental values that modern Americans are seen to have abandoned. 

Neo-Confederacy also incorporates advocacy of traditional gender roles, is hostile towards democracy, strongly opposes homosexuality, and exhibits an understanding of race that favors segregation and suggests white supremacy.  

In many cases, neo-Confederates are openly secessionist.  
Neo-Confederacy has applied to groups including the United Daughters of the Confederacy of the 1920s and those resisting racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s.  

In its most recent iteration, neo-Confederacy is used by both proponents and critics to describe a belief system that has emerged since the early-1980s in publications like Southern Partisan, Chronicles, and Southern Mercury, and in organizations including the League of the South, the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  
Overall, it is a reactionary conservative ideology that has made inroads into the Republican Party from the political right, and overlaps with the views of white nationalists and other more radical extremist groups."

Well folks, now comes the fun part. I am going to go through each step of this definition and find out just how much of it actually applies to your blogger. 

The term neo-Confederacy is used to describe twentieth and twenty-first century revivals of pro-Confederate sentiment in the United States. 
(Wow, that's a fairly broad and somewhat confusing opening. How does one define "pro-Confederate" exactly? I consider myself a proud descendant of a Confederate soldier and an American citizen. Not sure if that covers the definition specifically, but still let's move on.) 

Strongly nativist and advocating measures to end immigration,  
(Well, that's the first strike right there, I don't oppose legal immigration at all.)  

neo-Confederacy claims to pursue Christianity and heritage  
(Well the specific definition of Southern Heritage as I define it is pretty broad and encompasses a great deal more than just the events of the 1860s. Indeed, it covers quite a bit more than just the heritage of Anglo-Celtic settlement in the American Southland.) 

and other supposedly fundamental values that modern Americans are seen to have abandoned. 
(Never exactly been much of a fundamentalists in terms of faith. I respect the right of an individual to make choices for themselves, but I do reject using those choices as an excuse to attack and labels others. There are some values and traditions I respect because of my Christian faith, and because they are time honored, not specifically because they are in fact old.)
 

Neo-Confederacy also incorporates advocacy of traditional gender roles,  
(Well, I don't oppose female empowerment at all, though I do oppose misandry and radical feminism. I also happen to be a major proponent of strong female characters in novels and movies as role models for young women and girls.) 

is hostile towards democracy,  
(I support constitutional self-government as defined by the US Constitution, specifically the original Bill of Rights. I would not call that hostile towards the concept of democracy, but then again this is a Leftist definition of "hostile" so a suspension of common sense is required.) 

strongly opposes homosexuality, 
(Though I have little personal use for the more radical elements of the Gay Rights Movement -- some of whom I feel have negative personal agendas that are more anti-religion than actually pro-equal rights -- I do support equal treatment under the law for practicing LGBT people within certain reason....a subject I will have to delve into more thoroughly at a later date. That and I also happen to be bisexual myself.)  

and exhibits an understanding of race that favors segregation and suggests white supremacy.  
(I have no love for racial segregation imposed by law. Also both my Christian faith and scientific understanding of genetics thoroughly reject the concept of racial superiority -- be it white supremacy, or the supremacy of any other so-called "race" as defined by skin color, or ethnic origins.)  

In many cases, neo-Confederates are openly secessionist.  
(Though I am facebook friends with several people who identify as Southern Nationalists I myself do not support secession from the United States of America and have spoken out against it on numerous occasions. Rather I am a Reagan Conservative who supports a restoration of American Constitutional self-government in its original form as defined by the original Bill of Rights. 

Regardless, I try to keep my support for Southern heritage and my political views separate except on occasions where the politics of the Opposition come into play.)

Neo-Confederacy has applied to groups including the United Daughters of the Confederacy of the 1920s and those resisting racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s.  
(Humm, that was a bit before my time and the UDC as an organization hasn't lived in a vacuum since the 1920s. Its modern-day members live in the 21st century, same as everyone else. Also I am fairly certain that few -- if anyone -- in the South was a proponent of secession from the United States in the 1920s.) 

In its most recent iteration, neo-Confederacy is used by both proponents and critics to describe a belief system that has emerged since the early-1980s in publications like Southern Partisan, Chronicles, and Southern Mercury, and in organizations including the League of the South, the Council of Conservative Citizens and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  
(I've been a proud SCV member since September 2001, and in all that time I have never witnessed any huge support for a vast neo-Confederate conspiracy. Just people who honor their ancestry, who clean graves, who raise money to preserve monuments and historic banners, and who jealously defend the memories of their ancestors from being bad-mouthed by modern politics and "historians" with a modern political and social agenda.)

Overall, it is a reactionary conservative ideology  
(Um, aren't all socially conservative ideals technically considered "reactionary" by the political Left in America? So does that make all conservatives in America and throughout the world "neo-Confederates?" Just asking.)  

that has made inroads into the Republican Party from the political right,  
(Pfft. Not the Republican Establishment Moderates I know. Those rich, blueblood, country club folks don't even like to remember that their constituents want less government and more personal freedom.)  

and overlaps with the views of white nationalists and other more radical extremist groups. 
(Well, every political or social philosophy has a tendency to be co-opted by radical extremist and racial identity groups in America. I've unfortunately seen far too many cases of that in America in recent years on both sides of the isle. That does not however equate to guilt by association. I don't believe that (for example) opposing legalized abortion means you approve of some lunatic who goes out and shoot abortion providers and bomb Planned Parenthood clinics. Good people are fairly qualified to judge for themselves who's a bad influence and who isn't -- at least those who practice a good bit of common sense can.) 

Well, there you have it. Going by the specific "official" definition of the term "neo-Confederate" as defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and comparing my own personal views, I am satisfied in saying that I am not a Neo-Confederate, and that people who casually throw the term around to label Southern heritage proponents are officially full of shit.

Still, I suspect that some anti-Southern heritage drone will come along in the future with a nice little cut-and-paste talking point expansion of how a so-called "neo-Confederate" is defined and again try to throw the label at yours truly like a good little mind-numbed little anti-Southern heritage reactionary. 

Bring it on. I have nothing to hide and look forward to throwing your presumptions back in your faces.

As I said before, I am just a simple country writer from South Carolina, a proud descendant of a Confederate soldier who died in defense of his home and family in an ugly war that I feel should never have happened, and a proud defender of that aspect of my Southern identity....and I am also unashamed to say that for the record.

Have a lovely weekend y'all.