Political apathy, in spite of my well-known cynicism, is one of the things that saddens and irks me. However, this preacher of political activism actually does have a streak of nihilism in me. Circulating around Virginia’s political blogosphere are things that are receiving an alarming amount of chatter relative to their importance.
1) The Confederate Flag. Really. Stop it. Flying the flag of a deceased slave-holding confederation has ceased to offend and begun only to annoy. I don’t care if George Allen had a fetish for it or Jim Webb wrote about Confederate soldiers. The civil war is over! Get over it! Run around with a flagpole proudly dispaying South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and Rhodesia for all I care.
You all may perceive this as a case of a damned Yankee coming down to preach. I’ve been to Stone Mountain. I was about six, staring at this impressive carving of a bunch of guys on horses, and didn’t know the signifigance. Later, I came to discover that it was a monument to futility, a hunk of glorious rock depicting a futile herd headed to slaughter. Picking up the Confederate flag and somehow finding pride in it is something I can’t begin to fathom.
The civil war is over! Say it with me: the Civil War is over.
2) Will Vehrs Poking Fun at Martinsville. Fellow blogger Will Vehrs, of sharp wit and conservative persuasion, has gotten himself into some hot water downstate when he entered into a caption contest (hint: those things have jokes in them) an entry making fun of Martinsville’s hokey caption contest. Vehrs has since apologized as the hyper-sensitive Martinsville-Henry County cognoscenti threw a fit. It really shows how effective Martinsville’s politicians are if all they can do all day is flog a blogger for cracking a clever joke. Crikey.
Now Will is facing some trouble at his job, where he works for the state in economic development. “How dare you blog on state time!” Martinsville cried. Vehrs defended himself by saying that on Fridays, he’s effectively stuck on the computer all day answering folks and hasn’t sacrificed any productivity because of it, noting that he might as well have been taking an extended coffee break.
When Will Vehrs, blogging, has done more work than Martinsville officials to solve their economic woes or the General Assembly to fix our transportation crisis is attacked, things have flown out of hand.
Breathe. Get a grip. Stop worrying about things that don’t matter.
