forgive me

[mth44sc]

but I'm pissed

I got the following email from my "boss"

Please take the confederate soldier photos off the web site; some might find it offensive.

Thanks,






They were posted on our interanal website.

A father huggin his daughter. Offensive? Me I was really proud of that one. I thought it was one of the best I'd ever taken


So I send out a email to the folks at work that said...

Folks

I was recently asked to photo the Confederate Memorial Service in Georgetown by my neighbor. I'm am damn Yankee who came south to enjoy the fruits of Victory. None the less I agreed and posted two pictures to our internal web site of that service

One was of a father (a dentist from Myrtle Beach -I'm told) hugging his young daughter. The second was of a man firing a small canon. (these guy even made sure this damn Yankee got out of the way before they fired. What a missed opportunity).

It has been brought to my attention that the very sight of someone in Confederate drag in 2009 might be offensive to some. To those I extend my apologies for posting pictures of those I refer to as posers. Fear not - these folks who cling to the desperate past like it was yesterday - have still lost.

But a picture of a father hugging his daughter is a keeper no matter what the setting.

______________________

Got a feeling I'll be lookin' for work tomorrow....

[Mira]

1. Comments, where I will not elaborate on the small - mindedness of carrying over the

outdated, never proper attitudes of South Carolina's yester-years.
I also don't want to comment too much on how I personally feel about re-enactments of these war - times because I may not have a full grip on understanding why it is elevating or enriching people's lives and sense of history.

I do though want to say that I have personal history with standing up to bullies with attitude and letting the chips fall.
When we inaugurated Obama I got an email, by accident, from one of my most important customers (BREAD and BUTTER)
where the inauguration was described as the In Nigger Al.
I not only responded to the sender, but to ALL, and really did my best in composing a rejection email and showing rage.

I was quite disturbed about possibly losing an important part of my financial security, but it did not matter because the principle mattered more.

Only today I found out, after continuing getting orders from them, that I had made a difference in a number of the people's attitudes with my having the courage to take my stand.

I hope this will prove true for you as well.

[Celebration]

3. Good job!!

I like that story.

[JeffR]

2. This fries my Southern butt.

I grew up in an era where a lot of people had cartoon front plates with a Yosemite Sam-type character in a Confederate uniform with the slogan "Hell, no, I ain't fergettin'" proudly displayed a century after the war. That was revolting. These photos are not. In fact, they're exactly the opposite. And the one of the hug is absolutely one of your best from everything I've seen to date.

I know there's a certain ambivalence about the reenactments. I think the naysayers are a little misguided on this, but I realize there are decent arguments on both sides of that question. But for the life of me, I don't see how some (splendid) photos documenting such a thing could be offensive to anyone. That's bullshit, and makes me a little happy I not only no longer live in the South, I don't even live in the country anymore. Being an expat isn't for everyone, but I'd recommend it. It's remarkable how much more rational everything is up here. Apparently all it takes is 32 miles of cold, deep, dirty water. It's called Lake Ontario, but sometimes - as much as I love my country and especially the South - I think of it as a moat, and I cherish it. The stupidity back home makes me sick sometimes.

[Celebration]

4. Oh, honestly

I don't really get the re-enactment thing either, but it isn't as if they are re-enacting the brownshirts or something. I have a ton of ancestors that were Confederate soldiers, so I maybe that colors my perception some.

Your boss sounds a little ignorant. He may be associating the re-enactors with the Confederate Flag waving pickup truck six pack gun toting racial epithet throwing people. Nothing could be further from the truth, but that is probably the unjustified leap in logic that he made. If he made that leap, it is easy to see why he sent that email. It is hard to get into the re-enactors' heads and come up for some reason why they do this, so it might be a little hard to explain to him, LOL. They aren't the typical uneducated rednecks, though, for sure.

We fight all this regionalism stuff on DU all the time. It is ridiculous.

[mth44sc]

5. Well this was a Memorial Service

and not so much a reenactment. Hey I don't get why there is a Confederate Memorial Day just so those folks don't have to celebrate Memorial Day (and pay their respects to some damn Yankee) like the rest of us do. But many of the folks in attendance had ancestors who fought (and some to their death) in the war.

I just found nothing at all offensive about the photos. Had the local paper used one of them to accompany the article they do yearly on the event - I suspect not many would have been put off.

In any case - I thank you all for your thoughts and for letting me rant. The support from co-workers today was an unexpected plus as well!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. no words, for the ignorance that still persist, instead I just offer a

:hug: and a Thanks for being you.

[Stevenmarc]

7. First of all great shots

Secondly I personally don't see why anyone would spend a weekend running around under the hot sun in a wool costume but that's me, they apparently see some appeal in it that I don't. That said, history is history and I do take issue with people that want to sweep some of it under the rug because some of it is unpleasant. I seem to remember that we have a right to free speech, however, I don't seem to recall the provision where free speech is suspended because of the probability that maybe someone will be personally offended.