Kevin Levin reveals his true self

Kevin Levin wrote a blog posting titled, "The Lost Cause is not fake history," and the link to the post is: 

http://cwmemory.com/2016/12/30/the-lost-cause-is-not-fake-history/

His posting was in response to this CNN article and video. http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/28/us/lost-cause-trump/index.html

Levin is not happy over this CNN article. Levin writes:

No, the Lost Cause is not an example of fake history. Postwar accounts of loyal slaves and benevolent slaveowners were quite consistent with pre-war accounts. The Lost Cause was not a collective act of self deception or even primarily an attempt to deceive others. It was an organic process of reflection and memory that directly engaged the most pressing challenges of the immediate postwar period, including defeat, emancipation, black mobility and black political action to name just a few.

He followed up with this blog posting "to clarify" what he was trying to say.

http://cwmemory.com/2016/12/31/why-the-lost-cause-is-not-fake-history/

The blog postings really reveal who Levin is.

The Lost Cause depiction of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction was not confined to a few Confederate leaders. The Lost Cause was promoted by the United Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

These are the comments in a letter by Confederate John S. Mosby, the famous "Gray Ghost," of the Civil War. He is "disgusted" by the Lost Cause lies about the Civil War and the Confederacy. In a letter he wrote to a friend in June 4, 1907 he comments about the Lost Cause lies.

I wrote you about my disgust at reading the Reunion speeches: It has since been increased by reading Christians report. I am certainly glad I wasn’t there. According to Christian the Virginia people were the abolitionists & the Northern people were pro-slavery. He says slavery was “a patriarchal” institution – So were polygamy & circumcision. Ask Hugh if he has been circumcised. Christian quotes what the Old Virginians – said against slavery. True; but why didn’t he quote what the modern Virginians said in favor of it – Mason, Hunter, Wise &c. Why didn’t he state that a Virginia Senator (Mason) was the author of the Fugitive Slave law – & why didn’t he quote The Virginia Code (1860) that made it a crime to speak against slavery, or to teach a negro to read the Lord’s prayer. Now while I think as badly of slavery as Horace Greeley did I am not ashamed that my family were slaveholders. It was our inheritance – Neither am I ashamed that my ancestors were pirates & cattle thieves. People must be judged by the standard of their own age. If it was right to own slaves as property it was right to fight for it. The South went to war on account of Slavery. South Carolina went to war – as she said in her Secession proclamation – because slavery wd. not be secure under Lincoln. South Carolina ought to know what was the cause for her seceding. . . . I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slavery – a soldier fights for his country – right or wrong – he is not responsible for the political merits of the cause he fights in. The South was my country.

This is the link to the source.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/reconstruction/resources/former-confederate-officer-slavery-and-civil-war-1907

Of course Mosby has his own rationalizations, but he wasn't going to fill himself with stuff and nonsense that the Civil War wasn't about slavery.

Frederick Douglas denounced the Lost Cause as deception and so did W.E.B. Dubois.

http://blogs.dickinson.edu/hist-288pinsker/files/2012/01/Blight-article.pdf

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/web-dubois-reflects-purpose-history

Kevin Levin is of the Civil War Tables era of Civil War historiography. He also very well might become the new Eugene Genovese of Civil War history. As the Civil War Round Table Civil War history passes away I think we will see more postings like this from Levin.

Kevin Levin wants people to stop talking about this neo-Confederate stuff and leave the Civil War to experts like himself. Also, the banal white nationalist progressively reveals himself.

Kevin Levin represents a certain type of thinking among Civil War enthusiasts and Civil War scholars. Examining his attitudes is good to illustrate this certain type of thinking

For these types of Civil War enthusiast the Civil War is to be a nostalgic toy soldier game and all this discussion about race and neo-Confederates just isn't wanted. He, like others in the circles of the Civil War enthusiasts longs for the Civil War Round Tables of the 1960s.

Recently he has really outdone himself.

ONE

There is this blog posting where he is upset with Brian Buetler advocating for a national holiday celebrating the preservation of the United States and the end of slavery.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/04/07/why-confederate-defeat-does-need-to-be-a-national-holiday/

New Republic Brian Buetler's proposal advocates that the American victory and Confederate defeat is a good thing and should be recognized as such and his proposal directly confronts the Confederate memorialization that saturates the former Confederate states and even slave states that didn't secede.

The links to the two articles are:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121406/civil-war-150th-anniversary-confederacy-defeat-should-be-holiday

And:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121477/civil-war-150th-anniversary-southerners-should-celebrate-union

The discussion of such a proposal would help people confront the civil religion of the former Confederate states and the idea that the Confederacy maybe isn't something to be celebrated. It would be a very salutary debate.

Levin response doesn't really get to specifics, the Lost Cause is supposedly a very complicated topic, and the subject of historical memory usually is, and because of this, Buetler's proposal is supposed a bad thing, but it isn't clear why the complexity of the phenomenon precludes Buetler's proposal. Levin emphasizes in his blog posting that Buetler isn't knowledgeable about Lost Cause historical memory unlike experts such as himself.

TWO

Then there is this posting.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/04/15/will-the-real-appomattox-commemoration-please-stand-up/

The blog posting criticizes Jamelle Bouie's column about an Appomattox observance in Slate.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/04/appomattox_150th_anniversary_neglects_emancipation_our_commemoration_of.html

Bouie finds that the, "The emancipation of black Americans has been written out of our celebration of the Civil War’s end."

Anyone who has had a subscription to Civil War News, the newspaper of Civil War "re-enactors" and enthusiasts would realize that it is often true. Bouie's comments may not be true of every Civil War event, but they are true about a great many Civil War events, if not the majority of those not run by the National Park Service (NPS).

Levine refers to the NPS's three day Appomattox observance and gives this web page: http://www.nps.gov/apco/150th-anniversary-of-appomattox-court-house.htm

The NPS is realizing that non-white people aren't going out to the National Parks and with changing demographics the NPS is looking at a decline in support for the NPS in the future. So they are making an effort. They are bringing in the issue of slavery to the Civil War Battlefield parks, much to the consternation of the readers of Civil War News.

If an event isn't an NPS event it very well might be like the event Bouie encountered.

THREE

Then there is this blog posting criticizing Euan Hague's and my article in www.politico.com.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/04/16/the-death-knell-of-confederate-heritage/

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/civil-war-american-south-still-loves-confederacy-116771_full.html#.VTBVhPnF8Y1

Levin asserts that support for the Lost Cause is in full retreat. He writes about a bill in Texas to get ride of the Texas state holiday Confederate Heroes Day. However, it is very unclear whether this bill will pass.

There is a growing opposition to the Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War and the Confederacy and I have seen progress in some areas, however I don't see necessarily the Lost Cause necessarily retreating and much less than in full retreat.

Levin is just picking a few examples to support his point and of course since he doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of neo-Confederacy, because of that, he only looks at certain aspects of the public and historical memory and not others, and only some issues and not others.

In 2011 the Pew Research Center did a poll on attitudes towards the Civil War. This is the link:

http://www.people-press.org/2011/04/08/civil-war-at-150-still-relevant-still-divisive/

One poll result was very disturbing. Quoting from the report:

Young people are more likely than older Americans to say that the war’s main cause was states’ rights – 60% of those younger than 30 express this view, the highest percentage of any age group. Those 65 and older are the only age group in which more say that slavery, rather than states’ rights, was the main cause of the Civil War (by 50% to 34%). While 48% of whites view states’ rights was the war’s main cause, so too do 39% of African Americans.

It seems that with time a Lost Cause view of the Civil War may become dominate.  

Even if Texas acts to get rid of Confederate Heroes Day which is not likely to happen, the state of Texas has acted to ensure that the teaching of Civil War and Reconstruction in Texas public schools will teach a Lost Cause view. Even if the Confederate Heroes Day is dropped, with public schools teaching a Lost Cause understanding of history it won't be too long before it is readopted.

This was an assessment of the Texas Teaching standards in the Washington Post.

"Elements of the Texas curriculum standards give undue legitimacy to neo-Confederate arguments about “states’ rights” and the legacy of slavery in the South. While most publishers avoid problems with these issues, passages in a few U.S. history and government textbooks give a nod to these misleading arguments."

From: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/12/proposed-texas-textbooks-are-inaccurate-biased-and-politicized-new-report-finds/

Since Levin refuses to acknowledge neo-Confederacy he ignores how neo-Confederate ideology is percolating into the conservative movement in the country.

As an example, many of the "Politically Incorrect" series of conservative books have made the New York Times best seller list. A great many of them, including ones which made the NYT bestseller list, are written by persons who are active in the neo-Confederate movement.  This is only one example where neo-Confederates are mainstreaming their ideas.

The Politico article may well upset Levin because it shows that the SCV isn't just a nostalgic group involved in "southern heritage," as he likes to label these type of groups, but a nasty reactionary group.

People are rejecting the Lost Cause and becoming aware of the existence of the neo-Confederate movement and really not liking it. They are willing to call it a bunch of toxic rubbish and strongly express their opinions that it is a bunch of toxic rubbish and that it needs to be thrown out with the trash.

This alarms Levin. 

NOTE: I define banal white nationalism in this essay:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/breaking-the-white-nation.html

"The Civil War's Dirty Secret: It Was Always About Slavery," by Christopher Dickey at the "Daily Beast"

The Lost Cause view of the Confederacy and the Civil War is rejected emphatically in this article by Christopher Dickey at the Daily Beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/10/the-civil-war-s-dirty-secret-it-was-always-about-slavery.html

The article concludes:

But there are times, and maybe today is one of those times, when one looks at the great questions of race and rights in the United States and realizes the spirit of the fire-eaters—their rationalization of racism, their contempt for the federal government, their penchant for violence, their self-deluding vision of their place in the world, and their desire to impose their values on the majority—all that, I am afraid, lives on.

New Republic article asks to celebrate Appomattox and reject the Lost Cause UPDATE: Brian Beutler has follow up article

The New Republic article by Brian Beutler is online and available at this link:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121406/civil-war-150th-anniversary-confederacy-defeat-should-be-holiday

It is a total rejection of the Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War and the Confederacy and rejects totally accommodation with the Lost Cause.

Some quotes:

People of good faith can argue over whether these kinds of symbolic concessions (as opposed to the concrete ones, which consigned emancipated slaves to a century of sanctioned depredations) were wise or necessary means to the end of preserving the Union. Some of them weren't concessions at all, so much as insufficient commitment on the part of Northerners to the livelihood of blacks in the South. "[A]s Northern Republican Party became more conservative," historian Eric Foner wrote recently, "Reconstruction came to be seen as a misguided attempt to uplift the lower classes of society." But 150 years on, we know that subjugation is a moral obscenity, and that there's no valid modern argument for spitshining the Confederacy.

And:

By contrast, the Union’s victory, and the abolition of slavery, both merit celebration as exemplars of American improvement and renewal, even if many Unionists weren’t moral heroes. These twin accomplishments are as worthy of a federal holiday as any holiday we already celebrate. So let's name April 9 New Birth of Freedom Day. And if that creates too much paid leave for government workers, we could swap out Columbus Day. We don't yet live in the America Obama described, but we should strive to.

In a better America, we’d all have Thursday off. And there would be fireworks.

Brian Beutler  is a Senior Editor of New Republic, it seems that the New Republic is taking a hardline against the Lost Cause.

UPDATE: This is a follow up article that Brian Beutler did in response to some of the res

ponse to his article.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121477/civil-war-150th-anniversary-southerners-should-celebrate-union

Kevin Levin has a blog complaining about Brian Beutler also. I think when push comes to shove we find out who Levin really is.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/04/07/why-confederate-defeat-does-need-to-be-a-national-holiday/

As usual Levin doesn't address the points raised the article he doesn't like, but instead disparages the author and Levin is his usual condescending self.  Levin wants the reader to know that Beutler isn't likely to be a member of the League of Distinguished Civil War historians like himself.

I have always asserted that by pressing on this issue about celebrating the Confederacy you would be able to reveal who people really are as opposed to whom they think they are or might profess themselves to be.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/breaking-the-white-nation.html

Wonders never cease, "Washington Post" Op-Ed argues that Democrats in the South should take a public stand against the Confederate flag

I was just astounded that the Washington Post ran this Op-Ed by Drew Westen at Emory University in Georgia arguing that the Democrats should take a public stand against the Confederate flag. Mudcat Sanders must be having a fit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-georgia-democrats-should-confront-a-confederate-flag-license-plate/2014/03/21/7b8da8ac-add7-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html

Writing about the Republican campaign strategy in the Georgia gubernatorial race:

This year, the strategy has taken the form of a debate about custom license plates — in particular, a Georgia license plate sporting a broad, bold display of the Confederate battle flag. Democrats have traditionally struggled to counter such race-baiting. And Republicans are wasting no time in running Southern pride and prejudice up the flagpole against the two most promising Democrats to run for statewide office in Georgia in a decade: Jason Carter, grandson of President Jimmy Carter and a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination; and Michelle Nunn, daughter of the popular Democratic senator Sam Nunn and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Westen argues to oppose this strategy the Democrats should:

Too often, Democrats have dealt with racial issues by avoiding them. Research shows that’s the wrong strategy, particularly in the South. Speaking directly about race allows our conscious values — which tend to be intolerant of racial intolerance, even in the heart of Dixie — to override our unconscious prejudices, which control our behavior when we’re not looking, or when other people aren’t, as in the voting booth. The best way to handle this kind of dog-whistle politics is to expose it for what it is.

Westen is right, the strategy of the Democrats had been to avoid the Confederate flag issue as much as possible in the hope of shaking loose a few extra white votes. Mudcat Sanders was a political consultant who argued for this position. In one article I read that his bed had a Confederate battle flag bed spread which is a sort of obvious and idiotic way of making a statement. (If some political operatives use dog whistles then Sanders was using a fog horn.) The Washington Post as a consequence of this policy and as a consequence of being the house publication of the Democratic party has avoided really critically examining the Lost Cause or arguing against the Lost Cause. I suppose also the Graham family that had owned the paper didn't want relatives or people at the club or acquaintances with Confederate ancestors and Lost Cause attitudes complaining either.

So I am so amazed to see this article. On the other hand I think that this change in attitude is confined to the Confederate battle flag and isn't intended to challenge the Lost Cause generally, but still it is a major shift for the Democrats in the South. Also, once you decide the Confederate flag isn't really desirable you are forced to engage the Lost Cause. The Democrats will be slow learners but I think they will learn.

For the Washington Post it certainly is a surprise. This is the third major article in the Post indicating a shift regarding the Lost Cause.

Not too long ago there was this Washington Post blog asking why Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are in the Washington National Cathedral. This was known by a lot of people previously, but it wasn't commented on.I refer to the Post blog in this posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/12/washington-post-columnist-john-kelly.html#.Uy21TfldWSo

Then there is this Washington Post column by Colbert King likening the Republicans to the Confederacy.I refer to it at this posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/10/washington-post-columnist-colbert-king.html#.Uy21jfldWSo

I think some Democrats have figured out that there really isn't a reason to vote for them unless they represent a choice for the voters.

Former president Jimmy Carter is somewhat fond of the Confederacy and so it would be interesting to what extent Jason Carter will give up the Lost Cause or how he will frame the argument against the Confederate battle flag.