My Northern Aggression

Courtesy of the photo archives of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

I dedicate this blog space to my own stupid ideas. The ones that wing into my mind and stay long enough for me to care enough to spend an hour to capture. Those thoughts normally revolve around my pet interests: movies, TV, pop culture, art, history, gaming — the little frivolities that bring me joy, the fruits of living in civilization. But today I am angry. I am angry because some folks want to tear that civilization apart instead of build it up. I am angry because my world exists so far away from my idealized Star Trek fantasies and Beatles-colored glasses.

I always felt that the crack in the Liberty Bell somehow reflected our nation’s Original Sin of betraying our Founding Principles by allowing slavery into the formation of this Union. All I wanted to do today was write a silly little post about why Rick Grimes was the Best Dad Ever for Father’s Day, but now I can’t. I can’t because that inbred, three-named, mother-fing, murdering, racist asshole made everything light, lovely and fun seem null in light of the suffering he caused. It is right that we should mourn and reflect. It is good that America should stare into the darkness of that fracture in our social contract.

I don’t know how to begin to heal that wound. But I guess I need to start to figure out a way to try. Otherwise all those fruits of civilization: the art, the creativity, the beauty, the fun — all the stuff that makes life worth living and we all should be enjoying without fear — will be lost to the chaos of the barbarians within. So I’m displaying this image of a burning Confederate flag. If the “heritage” you choose to embrace includes the owning of other human beings and their continuing subjugation and degradation through terrorism, as well as the crime of treason, well I’m terribly sorry, but, as a Philadelphian I must say, “go fuck yourself.”