Liberated Fort
Braxton Bragg had nothing to brag about. His tactics were as disagreeable as his choice of team. Consistent ignominy from someone who was less than a historical footnote shouldn’t come to mind frequently. Thanks to removing his name from a rather prominent fort, we can remember to forget someone who hated America so much that he quit it.
The biggest objection to naming one of America’s biggest military installations Fort Liberty is the lack of a new honoree. Find a deserving person instead of a concept. They couldn’t think of someone to commemorate? That’s unless it’s named for Jeff Liberty, in which case I apologize to his spirit and ancestors. I hope the Army is more inspired in strategy than they are in titling headquarters. The new name is generically unimaginative even if I’d like to go on the record as being pro-liberty.
Fans of the civilization that’s led to comforts such as air conditioning and voluntary exchange are understandably defensive. Anyone appreciative for freedoms available in the one country founded on the notion they exist is long past sick of monuments literally being torn down. At the same time, handing out participation trophies isn’t a new phenomenon. A second place finish in a war with two entrants is one of several reasons Bragg’s side failed to inspire.
You’d think open rebellion would be something the military would not want to celebrate, and you’d finally be correct. At least don’t suck at it if you’re going to reject your nation. Bragg embodied losing on behalf of the cause of owning others. Leave his name behind with his thought process.
That was just the person to not honor or emulate. Some corrections actually get it right, which feels odd in a very enlightened era where noting genders gets one banished. Internal kvetchers freak out about our beloved autonomous nation, which is merely a side benefit. Fans of the winning side remain thankful that the Confederacy relied on thick-skulled nitwits whose limited frontal lobes only allowed them to envision frontal assaults. Bragg made the case against white supremacy.
But entire decades are now being condemned, including the current one. Figuring everyone in the past is as racist as we are in the present is what leftists do instead of learning a trade. An ironically reactionary habit destroys worthwhile memories. The only thing worse than, say, condemning Teddy Roosevelt because his statue is misinterpreted by pinko lunatics is the way they’ve been granted final say.
Fretting that every name change means history’s deletion is an understandable but imprecise reflex. Contemporary struggle sessions have conditioned those suspicious of woke maneuvers to figure every new moniker is designed to appease political correctness. But the Trumpian impulse of thinking anything your foes oppose must be awesome is fraught with peril even if the guess is correct most of the time. Declining to honor Civil War silver medalists should create common ground.
Blanket statements only seem to cover everything. The technique of outright condemnation is preferred by America’s loathers. Painting with the broadest brush Home Depot stocks is yet one more tiresome tendency from those who think everything everywhere is racist. Make sure to not emulate social justice warriors. Use that absolute certainty to ironically scrutinize on case-by-case basis, which is one courtesy they never reciprocate.
Some rebrands emphasize righteousness. Renaming the USS Chancellorsville for American hero Robert Smalls celebrates a badass who escaped slavery by using signals he had learned while manning a Confederate ship to dupe his captors. Fooling CSA military members by dressing as one of their captains is as brave as it is hilarious.
Nobody deserves a ship featuring his name more than a guy who stole one from the people who fought to keep him enslaved. The only way to improve the designation is if his replaces a Union loss, which it thankfully does.
History’s more complex than the simpleminded claim. Condemning or lauding everything is suspiciously easy. It’s worth the effort required to discern the difference between acknowledging events and honoring certain players. Noting having an installation bear one’s name is a tribute and not a mere acknowledgment of previous existence does not constitute a revisionist rewrite.
The chance to mock is the reward inadvertently provided by ingrates. It’s an obligation to scoff at sanctimonious lunatics trying to recast America as a diabolical entity created to perpetuate racism. Notice they never leave the most oppressive place they could have been born despite their protestations regarding the alleged resemblance the naughtiest version of Germany.
But not every new sign on an old facility is a surrender to aspiring autocrats using 1984 as an instruction manual. We’re free to not laud twits, jerks, or jerky twits just because they happened to be born before us. Presuming previous generations got every naming correct is as foolish as wholesale rejection of great humans whose sacrifices brought us much good. Use the fort’s new namesake judiciously.
