A Flag by any other name is still a flag of a traitor

 

 

I am pretty sick of the drama surrounding this traitor flag. As a southerner we have many people who argue heritage but really fail to look at the implications of the south’s actions in the 1860’s. The rebellion of the south is treason, plain and simple, and to imagine it as anything else is silly. It is one of the most important parts of America’s history so it should not, by any means, be made light of or forgotten. We should study it and continue to learn lessons from it. We also need to be desperately honest with ourselves. I also think that so many of the rebel flag waivers would really not feel so embolden if they realized that their ancestors, especially mine,  were poor dirt farmers manipulated by the “gentry/aristocratic” minority into the most deadly conflict in America history to protect a way of life that only the rich were benefiting from. The south lost so many great men because of the war and it is no way to gauge what our future would have been like had not so many great, brave people died to save a way of life foreign to almost everyone.

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Remember when James Agee told a reader to “F&^% Off?”…Yeah me neither

So
Some of you might have heard about Linda Tirado. She was the woman who wrote a moving piece about her personal experiences being poor in America. It first appeared on Gawker and because it was so poignant it became viral. I will not bore you with the details because, frankly, I am not well researched on her specific case or her background, but needless to say her words resonated throughout the “interwebs.”
You can read her story here.
Then a “journalist” from the Houston Press questioned the validity of this woman’s story and inferred, from how I understood her words, she was misrepresenting herself. To be fair the writer for the Houston Press, Angelica Leicht, was not the only writer who questioned the truth of Linda Tirado’s story. But this writer is the only one who decided to tell me to “F&^% Off.”
And that is really the substance of this blog.

Yes, an actual news reporter, or writer, or whatever title you chose to attach chose to lash out at a mere Tweet I made five days ago. And I did not even question her story. See Below:

And really this is where I fall off the boat. This is the very reason our “news” these days is manufactured, mostly, by individuals who have no business publishing words for human consumption. Journalism is truly a lost art and so few actually practice it with any sense of professionalism.
Exhibit B:

I also don’t remember a writer, from the era when journalism was considered a professional occupation, lashing out at one of their readers with ad hominem language. I am not going to question the writer’s product: her base examination of the validity of Linda Tirado’s story. They do a pretty good job of it here.
What I am going to point out is this: there is no wonder that the world is filled with misinformed people. We are being misinformed by people who have no business writing about heady subjects. These matters need to be left to professionals who know what writing is supposed to be and who are not simply hacking their way towards sensationalism. This writer seems more suited for TMZ type fodder, not real news. Examples of subjects she might approach could be: Adult Toys or the best bar to get smashed at in Houston,TX. She has already made her mark on these pressing social issues.

It is generally best for someone to stick with what they know and not get too far off the beaten path. This is the case with this writer. I do not care one whit if Linda Tirado was lying or not. Apparently she was not, from the backlash of articles I have read in the last few days defending her and presenting the timeline from Gawker which shows, clearly, she had to be pushed into publishing her original piece. It was that good.

Where I get confused and stymied is that a “journalist” would take the time to hurl an expletive at someone across the Twitter-verse who simply wondered, in a Tweet, if the writer had a twitter account. If I write something for the world to read I am going to stand by it and if someone disagrees with me so be it. They are my words, or at least the pattern of words I chose to string together. Have some confidence in what you put out there to the world or don’t write it at all. And for sure don’t hit publish or better yet, don’t tread in deep waters without your floatation device.

Much like Shakespeare’s Queen Gertrude “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”