Monday, July 30, 2012

Heritage Defense to Glenn Beck

Via SHNV
David alerted me that the video link of the show was bad, I couldn't find a good one, so removed it; however I did find this.

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A Response To Glenn Beck & David Barton Regarding Their Inaccuracies Concerning Nathan Bedford Forrest & Fort Pillow

By Shane E. Kastler (Author of the book, Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption)

Recently, Glenn Beck and David Barton made statements on Beck’s program about Nathan Bedford Forrest that were completely inaccurate. Beck held up a sword that belonged to Forrest, that Barton claims was used at Fort Pillow to skin black Union soldiers alive. This is nothing more than false propaganda that has ballooned to asinine levels over the course of time. Fort Pillow was a vicious battle, but the truth was clearly not presented by Beck and Barton.

Glenn Beck has done much good in making modern Americans aware of what our founding fathers believed and taught. But like most Americans, he is ignorant of many of the facts surrounding the Civil War South. This is most clearly seen in the modern day deification of Abraham Lincoln as the supposed greatest President in American history. Even a cursory look at the facts would show that Lincoln was exactly the type of Federal dictator that Beck claims to rail against today in the form of Barack Obama. But the history books are written by the victors; and because of this a completely distorted view of the Civil War has been taught to American schoolchildren for the past 150 years. Beck is a product of this brain washing; as are most Americans who never bother to question what they are taught in school.

More @ The Narrow Road

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Dear Mr. Beck:

Recently, on GBTV, with WallBuilders' Founder and President David Barton present, you displayed what you claim was the sword belonging to Nathan Bedford Forrest - an example of "tremendous American evil," in your words. You spoke of the War Between The States' engagement at Ft. Pillow and perpetuated Rev. Barton's conjecture (which I'd never before heard) that the sword "skinned people alive."

Perhaps you and Rev. Barton should actually read the Congressional inquiry into the matter -- it is inconclusive, neither exonerating nor condemning Forrest. Ft. Pillow was the typical "fog of war" circumstance that makes it impossible to sort out events as they actually occurred.

However, don't feel compelled to accept my opinion. Lt. Col. Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr. is an Assistant Professor, Department of Command and Leadership, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. His review of the events at Ft. Pillow follows:
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/nathan-bedford-forrest-and-the-battle-of-fort-pillow-1864.htm

Only two weeks after the battle, a U.S. Congressional inquiry could not conclusively determine exactly what happened. Both sides failed to control the action, and only Forrest's direct, personal intervention to stop the shooting saved many of the Union defenders left standing on the beach. Not satisfied with the Congressional inquiry, Union General William T. Sherman convened a not-so-impartial inquiry. He openly stated that he would try and convict General Forrest. However, Sherman's inquiry also ended without substantive evidence to find Forrest culpable.

Northern newspapers criticizing Forrest's effort "to explain away the Fort Pillow affair," however, seem especially disingenuous since the sensationalist accounts by the partisan Northern press bears a large share of the burden for creating and perpetuating the "massacre" claim in the first place. Forrest always disputed claims that his Fort Pillow victory was a "massacre." Any fair-minded judgment as to whether it was truly the racism-inspired, premeditated massacre claimed by the Northern press and Union leaders at the time must also take into consideration the inevitable confusion of desperate, hand-to-hand combat and the many contributing factors that created and exacerbated the disastrous Union rout.

Of course, wartime events concerning Forrest cannot be considered in a vacuum - he has become unfairly associated with the actions of the KKK. Again, a bit of digging instead of accepting "flat earth history" will give the intellectually honest person a different perspective. Consider the findings of the Anti-Defamation League:
http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/history.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk

By 1869, internal strife led Klansmen to fight against Klansmen as competing factions struggled for control. The Klan's increasing reputation for violence led the more prominent citizens to drop out and criminals and the dispossessed began to fill the ranks. Local chapters proved difficult, if not impossible, to monitor and direct. In disgust, Forrest officially disbanded the organization and the vast majority of local groups followed his lead.

If the treatment of Forrest was not bad enough, to follow it up with a reference to Herman Goering amplified the insult, effectively equating Forrest to a Nazi. From a practical standpoint, why would you alienate Southerners by doing this? The South has obviously been very accepting of your message - we value the Constitution and eschew progressivism.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus came "full of grace and truth" (v.14). While you and Rev. Barton are "Restoring Love," why not restore some grace to the Southern people and some truth for their history?

Gene Hogan
Chief of Heritage Defense
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(866) 681 - 7314
http://scv.org

SCV Telegraph

5 comments:

  1. Glenn has moved to Texas, but his brain is still up North. Until he shifts from "If you reach for your guns, the Republic is lost" to "Come and Take It" he's not really a Texan. We have some kin buried in a cemetery out in the country, where WWII vets and CW vets buried in the same ground. One of these days, I want to buy both some little US flags and some little Texas flags, then put the Texas flags on Confederate's graves at the same time I put US flags on the WWII veterans' graves.

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  2. I applaud you. I buy the grave sized Battle Flags by the gross and keep in my trunk for that purpose.

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  3. Beck has nothing but venom for the Confederacy. The way he has attacked jefferson Davis in the past is just as disgusting.

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  4. Beck has nothing but venom for the Confederacy. The way he has attacked jefferson Davis in the past is just as disgusting.

    Can't stand his guts anymore.

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  5. Links to the Beck/Barton video clip regarding Forrest.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPtKVSLwYkk

    http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu339/Hudsonator/Glenn%20Beck%20clips/?action=view&current=07-20-12GlennBeckEvilGenForrest_0001.mp4

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