« More hits on the CT "study" | Main | John Lott goes to town on mass killing claim »
Thoughts on the Confederate flag controversy
It's a good time to call upon Maryland to ditch its State song. In fact, that was my reaction when I first heard of the song, decades ago.
"The despot's heel is on thy shore,
[The despot being Abraham Lincoln, not George III]
Maryland!*
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
[Said gore being that of Baltimore street mobs that attacked Union troops moving through the city]
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!
. . . . . . .
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
[A reference to one A. Lincoln again]
Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
"Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
[Not a quote from John Wilkes Booth when the song was written, but certainly one when it became the State song in 1939]
That baffles minions back amain,
Maryland! My Maryland!"
The tune is rather weak, the cadence too slow, and, given its present attitude toward freedom (esp. of the 2A variety), the State government has little standing to expect its citizens to sing about their freedom.
Inspired by Instapundit's note about a reactionary president's questionable playlist -- that is, Lincoln's 1865 request that a band play "Dixie" from him. But what can you expect from a fellow who was given his first oath of office by Jefferson Davis?
5 Comments | Leave a comment
IMO: Getting all hot and bothered merely gives the flag waver more ammunition and recognition. Too many folks are bothered by symbols and fail to recognize that the person using the symbol is often just trying to get a rise out of others.
Sebastian - jean cloth, a fustian cloth with cotton on the warp and wool on the weft, dates from the pre-1700s. It was very commonly made into working people's garments.
Denim probably derives from 'serge de Nimes'. Modern denim is als a fustian weave, but with indigo dyed cotton interwoven with bleached cotton instead of wool and cotton.
Jean 'suits' were common in the 1830s. Such a suit might be described as "a suit of blue jeans" - which wouldn't be made of modern denim like Levi's blue jeans.
Blue jeans=butternut clothing. It may have been indigo, but I suspect more light brown.
Butternut clothing was common throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois where Lincoln lived.
Butternut is also the word he used to describe his own upbringing.
It's ironic how trying to ban the flag has just made people display it more. Since the ban in major stores like Wal-Mart & Amazon, many new online stores have popped up selling merchandise. Anyone know where I can buy a flag or bumper sticker? My favorite store southernconfederateflag.com is already sold out.
I have doubts about the veracity of the account of Davis administering his first oath to Lincoln:
"Then a tall, gawky, slab-sided, homely young man, dressed in a suit of blue jeans, presented himself as captain of a company of recruits, and was sworn in by Jefferson Davis."
Blue Jeans didn't exist in the 1830s, during the Blackhawk War, which is the only place such a thing could have even remotely happened. I'm skeptical of the account.