tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post2412489909737948141..comments2024-03-04T03:16:17.490-05:00Comments on Interpreting the Civil War: A Dictatorship of Meaning: Villainizing Multiple PerspectivesJohn Rudyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05613203957933442701noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-43846127937132762022020-10-11T12:46:08.883-04:002020-10-11T12:46:08.883-04:00John, Thank you for this educational and thoughtfu...John, Thank you for this educational and thoughtful article. It was instructive and although you wrote this quite a while back, I only saw it today. You provided some informed reflection that I lacked in the past. For the record, in 2009, I was at HF for the sesquicentennial and took some time to visit the NPS center. While I was there, I listened to a uniformed gentleman from the park service at the counter as he "explained" John Brown to a tourist from abroad. His narrative was not of the approach that you described in this piece. Rather, his description of Brown sent me away believing that tourists were getting a biased, negative reading of the Old Man. In retrospect, I apologize for generalizing my criticism. All the best in your continued work.--LDLouis A. DeCaro, Jr. . .https://www.blogger.com/profile/10895195726778019518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-54834470900796702012018-07-16T06:35:12.424-04:002018-07-16T06:35:12.424-04:00If you have to ge the information then you should ...If you have to ge the information then you should come here and check every one of the information if this was related to your work. In addition, this respects have the <a href="http://www.resumes2017.com/combination-resume-format-2017/" rel="nofollow">http://www.resumes2017.com/combination-resume-format-2017/</a> information by then may be this is valuable for our working styles.<br />Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06133163511532053769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-36414176585030535652018-07-12T12:36:33.882-04:002018-07-12T12:36:33.882-04:00thanksthanksAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07030106664531705900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-77981801744853508552011-10-12T12:42:15.234-04:002011-10-12T12:42:15.234-04:00John I seriously hope people know this is just wha...John I seriously hope people know this is just what we do, and actually play well together. Good history arguments are something to savor. Not often you get to throw around these sorts of things and stay civil, though the red does come out on my neck at times.<br /><br />Oh you would be surprised to see how I tear down some of those sacred institutions when presenting to southerners. We have our own issues to say the least. <br /><br />Now you just remember that we started "Friends of Professor John Rudy" in your honor :-)Robert Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02233458259866896836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-29577851295266326752011-10-07T20:08:01.353-04:002011-10-07T20:08:01.353-04:00Robby-
God, readers must think we hate each other...Robby-<br /><br />God, readers must think we hate each other from reading these feuds we have, eh?<br /><br />I will admit bits and pieces of hypocrisy mixed into my character (like a fine puree) but you know it's in my Yankee nature. You'll have to excuse it.<br /><br />In all seriousness, though, I do try to see the world from the viewpoint of those rebels when I play the role of audience. And the depth of argument I went to in that other post would never happen on the field when I'm playing Interpreter for the NPS, unless a visitor wanted to play devil's advocate and really dig into the topic. That type of discussion is particular to the blog and the intellectual safe-zone I hope we've set up here.<br /><br />All that having been said, I don't think I villainized the Confederacy or forced a negative opinion on your folks back in June out on the field. I do hope I helped them see the world from different viewpoints. How I argue on the blog and how I Interpret in the field differ quite a bit.<br /><br />If someone wants to view a Confederate soldier as a patriotic defender of his homeland or Brown as a devil and busy-body tampering with the sacred institutions of the South, that's fine. Their opinion is their right. I just hope (when I have my Interpreter hat on) that they try to see the world from that other viewpoint as well, and then stick to their guns if they so wish.<br /><br />OK, so that was an epistle... Sorry. I'm a good ol' Yankee blowhard full of wind. ;-)John Rudyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05613203957933442701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-67737714682433711722011-10-07T15:20:36.011-04:002011-10-07T15:20:36.011-04:00Robert,
I'll jump in and give your question a ...Robert,<br />I'll jump in and give your question a whirl. In no way am I speaking for John, rather, I'll attempt to address your question with some thoughts of my own...<br /><br />To me, Interpretation is all about facilitating the visitor in finding his/her own judgement of, and personal meaning in, the historical resource. I don't have to agree, think it's valid, or personally grant it legitimacy. All I have to do is respect the mantra that, "the visitor is sovereign." Thus, they have the right to form their own ideas and thoughts about the historical resource.Jacob Dinkelakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328134657023968445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036023315487420134.post-78406073931885667642011-10-06T13:28:45.311-04:002011-10-06T13:28:45.311-04:00Ah John I love stirring the pot with you!!
Let m...Ah John I love stirring the pot with you!! <br /><br />Let me begin with a wholehearted agreement on what you have written here. It goes along with historian Benedetto Croce who said "all good history is current history", and in public history and interpretation nothing could be truer. <br /><br />Now on to other elements of this war. A while back we had a "spat" :-) about the meaning of the southern army. While I am staunch in my opinion, you are the same in yours. BUT I sensed a deep-seated apprehension in you to see the other side (happens to be my side but what the heck). My inclination is to say that if you acknowledged the logic of my argument than it would take a portion of the morality from your own. (Now this a NOT a jab, but an observation and Lord knows there are many places for you to jab me back.)<br /><br />So, you are willing to grant legitimacy to those who see Brown as a terrorist. Ok, I can see that though I am not of that cloth. You however dont seem to grant the same legitimacy to the average soldier in gray. I find this odd.<br /><br />What say you?Robert Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02233458259866896836noreply@blogger.com