Charleston Shooter: Racist or Mentally Ill?

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beneficil, I agree. I do not actually think that Dylann Roof has what could be considered a thought disorder,at least not to the degree that that would excuse him from criminal intent.

Take a look at Jared Loughner though and you will be surprised. He seems 100% insane but his insanity was influenced by other people who passed as sane. Interesting.

When I say that Roof was mentally ill, I do not mean criminally unculpable, I simply mean he probably hated himself and so he took his anger out on blacks, while his mind convinced him all along that he was justified. I think he knew what he was doing was deemed improper by society but he still believed in his twisted way that he was furthering his cause. So criminally he is responsible IMO.

Self-hate means you have a mental illness?

No.

I'm not into definitions. I am a mentally ill person and I describe stupid people as mentally ill. I don't really care about definitions. I think it's funny to call stupid people mentally ill. But I can do it because I am one myself.

I didn't mean any offense.

But honestly I think Dylann Roof was "clinically ill" but not "legally." This means he probably would qualify for mental health services. But so could 100% of the population. I mean this guy wasn't a happy camper. Lol.

I didn't mean any offense.

I do not think he had schizophrenia. He might have been depressed, not really sure. Who knows. But he probably could have used some mental health services.

I don't know if you look at this stuff, people who are insane express their racism in very idiosycnratic ways. Roof expressed his racism in a very obvious manner. It fit exactly with White Nationalist Ideology. If you want to call susceptibility to brainwashing mental illness go ahead. If you want to call it racism,, go ahead. It doesn't make a huge difference. But paranoia does actually present as idiosyncratic racism in some specific cases from what I have read. Its just not common.

And this guy Roof was probably just a loser. I mean we can say he was suffering and s**t, but he's criminally responsible and thats the bottom line. Most likely ANTISOCIAL. ANTISOCIAL NOT EQUAL TO MENTAL ILLNESS in my opinion.

I personally don't like the word stupid, so I prefer words like ignorant, inane, asinine, and bigoted where people are stubborn with their ignorance. For someone that willfully engages in murderous behavior, I prefer words like evil and twisted. I think that associating ignorance and evil with mental illness is harmful to those of us who have mental illness.

As for the Roof case, I don't know if he was insane or not. A sane person could just as easily have done what he did, but he could be insane, so I prefer to hold off. I think it is always bad to speculate in criminal cases, particularly by allowing one's politics to influence such speculation. It does a real disservice to all the parties involved when one does that and may make harder determining the truth of the matter.

I also think the insanity defense is an important protection in cases where severe mental illness leads to violence that ensures someone is not punished when they didn't even grasp what they were doing. I find it concerning that there seems to be an inclination to nullify the insanity defense and I think that this whole business of saying things like only someone mentally ill could commit murder makes such nullification more likely, as jurors won't really grasp that there are cases where the person really was out of it and would believe that insanity is always just an invalid excuse. Of course, one can be mentally ill (even severely so) and sane.

Most people, if not all, are mentally ill.

"Show me a sane man, and I will cure him." Carl Jung

Of all racists, not many make it to mass shooter. Mostly white guys killing other whites.

We need some Class beyond Criminal or Insane to explain this.

I read he put the gun to his own head and it clicked, out of ammo, dud?

The Model 1911, when out of ammo, the slide stays back. The hammer is held back, it won't click.

Act of God? We have a live one to ask.

It is not just a local problem, we have people leaving the West to go join the Islamic State and cut off heads.

At least in America it has not become a group activity.

We do turn out some dumb criminals.

My guess, an elaborate suicide that failed.

THIS POST IS MAINLY TO KRAICHGAUR. The rest of you don't have to read it, it's about this topic, not the thread topic, but I wish K would read it. I'm sorry it's so long. I edited it to add this. This won't be of any interest to anybody else here unless you have an interest in discussing the South, the flag, attitudes and Southern society without assuming things or accusing people of making things up when you don't live here and don't know s**t about it except what you see in the media. So, this is to K, and if anybody else wants to discuss it (not call me names, not argue, discuss rationally, you don't have to agree, just believe that I'm telling the truth about my experiences of 50 years down here - I'm 51 but spent a year in DC). Thanks in advance for reading this K. I bet you wish you hadn't been nice to me now, with this long post lol

Thank you very much for what you said about the flag and it's fans. Many people who aren't from here wouldn't have said that and would have labeled me some douchebag name and wrote me off. It took character to do that, and I know you said it because you think it, you aren't just shutting me up by saying it. It took character to realize that you could have been wrong about an assumption that looks so right and is echoed in 42 states and taken as truth. I know you don't understand it and I don't expect you to because it's something you have to grow up around or live around for 30 or 40 years to get, but at least you understand that you don't have to understand it for it to be true. Thank you very much, you are the only person who isn't from the South that has actually said that. I'm absolutely serious about that and that's why what you said means so much. When somebody says something similar they usually add a "but you don't know any better, so you can't be blamed but you should stop feeling that way" or something to that effect. You are a gentleman to actually listen to what I said and not just hear that I was speaking words. I thank you for that more than you know. I really do.

As for Lincoln, he was a politician and while he may have felt one way he knew that his career demanded something else. The war was if you get technical about what started it, about slavery because that is what started the whole action, but what led up to the action was ports and the South being a big ole greedy douchebag about them and not doing what the North asked or the government asked. They were being s**ts about states rights. Our states, our coastline, our ports, our rights, screw you take your boat on up the coast then. It went on and lots of things happened but freeing the slaves was a political move to cripple the South economically and that is why everything went to hell so fast.

Of course if they had any sense they would have said "OK, done is done and you are free. But listen before you start packing that carpet bag. We need you and we can pay you wages and let you continue to live in your same house and we will still feed you and clothe you and all the stuff you need if you continue to work. You'll also get a day off and not hit as much. What do you say?" and then we could have sat on our ports and everything else until kingdom come, but nobody did that then. The hitting thing was wrong, but they also beat white cracker workers too, and it was common. They just beat the blacks worse because they thought blacks were more like horses than people. Makes no sense now, but back then they actually believed it. That is no excuse at all, because it doesn't take much to understand that skin is different colors, they knew that from travels all over, it's all shades, but they thought that anybody with different skin was less human. They were human, just less so. Also, foreign languages and customs freaked them out too, they thought they were civilized and had the habits and customs they did because God gave them to them, not that they had evolved by trial and error over time and were suited to a certain climate and shelter style and came about because of the amount of free time that they had which some other less developed countries didn't have. They really thought that if these foreign folks were as human as they were, God would have made them the same way even if they did have black skin. Back then God was thought to do a lot more than even the fundies think He does now. It was the same in England too. It was Victorian times and then the English thought that poor people were made poor by God and shouldn't try to be anything else. Class to them was what color was to Southerners. I digress. Sorry.

Slavery is not ok and was not ok. It was wrong and if Lincoln didn't free them then, I doubt it would have lasted much longer. By the time the Industrial Revolution hit the South they wouldn't have needed them and it would have just died out. However, he freed them and that is good because that is a national acknowledgment that what we did was wrong. The problem is, the war wasn't just about humanitarian things like slavery. It was economy, like most wars are. It kills me when I tell people who aren't from here that slavery wasnt the main reason for the war it was just what caused the argument to escalate and even that wasn't Southerners saying "I will enslave my Negroes as long as I want, they aren't important and I'll show you how I can dominate them! You can't stop me!" it was basically "Oh s**t you messed up my paycheck and all my money now, I'm about to lose all my income and everything and so is everybody else, you're in for it now here I come!" Most probably would have been ok with freeing them if it wasn't for the fact that the agricultural economy was so dependent on them. Of course they could have just hired those white trash cracker tenant farmers and their Duggar sized broods of redneck farm boys to work their farms instead of even going and making others slaves to begin with, but slaves were cheaper and slavery was common in many places then so they figured why not. Paying anybody cut into the profits and that was to be avoided. Also, as much as they thought the slaves were less than they were they didn't dislike them as much as they disliked the white trash crackers. They thought slaves couldn't help being how they were and if they were uneducated and did funny things (funny to the Americans that is) then that was how God made them and that was their place but white people had no reason to be trashy like the crackers, for God's sakes they should have some self respect and maybe learn to read a book. Really. The crackers had more rights and weren't treated like the blacks were, but they were thought of worse than the planters and upper society thought of their slaves. I'm not saying they had it worse, they didn't. But they were thought of worse. That's another holdover, to this day being called white trash is about the worst thing you can call somebody down here and it's a sure fire way to make even a nice person act trashy and kick your ass or do something over the top. Most people will do anything to keep from looking like trash. I dont know why we still say white trash today because there is black trash and white trash and all the other variations too, but it's just a word that stuck and it didn't imply that all blacks were trash and only a few were, it was to imply that they didn't know how a white person could act like that because they believed that white people were told by God how to act. So white trash not only were annoying, dirty, stinky, usually drunk, had no self respect, were loud, barefoot and redneck, they also ignored God and that couldn't be good back then.

I digressed again. Sorry. I just want to explain some things to somebody who will actually listen to me and believe me even if they don't understand it. It's important to me because I've gotten this all my life and always, ALWAYS put down as something other than what I am. Racist at worst and stupid at best, sometimes both at once plus white trash on top of it. So, most of the South didn't own slaves. The plantations did, and they had slaves working in the house too. The big houses all had slaves working in them. Some middle class and upper middle class people had one or maybe two for their houses, but it was mainly the plantations and big houses like the plantations without the farms attached. The rest of the upper class ladies hired the least trashy of the poorer girls to come in and work for them in their homes. They did not hire the crackers, just the poorer girls and ladies and the men to work outside and do other things. Again, the crackers were at the bottom of the rung, below the slaves in almost everybody's minds. That doesn't help anything, I'm just pointing it out. It's not going to make us sound better, it makes us sound worse, but I'm going to point out as well that that was them, not us. It was our ancestors, not people here today.

I think the South was so racist for so long because we were stung from losing the war and we blamed slavery and such and many who knew better saw all the destruction and all the death and fighting as being over black people. They knew better but when you lose something as important as a war and everything you own and part of your family, you aren't rational really. I think that kind of thinking is what made people down here really hate black people. Missplaced blame and such. They were easy to blame too because they didn't stand up and tell you about yourself like people do now. They had no rights or very few and had to put up with a lot and were scared cause they weren't protected from crime like everybody is today. If they had stood up for themselves it would have just made things worse for them back then. You see how bad it was for them when they did it in the 60's so imagine how much worse it could have been right after the war and even the next generation. That next generation was raised hearing how the black people caused the war which ruined the South, so those kids grew up hating. Their parents told them that and they didn't know any black people. Nobody else liked them either so there were very few to tell them differently. Some were taught differently and some people actually had a brain in their head and figured out how things are and were and taught their kids that but they also didn't go around saying it. It was a good way to get killed. Really. So thats why black people were so disliked down here. Generation after generation were told to dislike them. I was told to, but it didn't work on me. I'd like to think that's because I have a brain and maybe part of it is, but also my society was different than the previous generations society. I couldn't believe something that I could see around me being so glaringly not so. I wrote a piece about how I was raised to be a racist. It's on my FB notes. If you want to read it, PM me and I'll either friend you and tag you in it or I'll copy and paste it. I went to a whites only private school in the 60's. Yep. Sure did. But more about that later.

So, when civil rights came about the South went nuts over it. They already didn't like black people but had learned to not kill them as often and while some people, more than just a few, felt that the blacks were getting a raw deal and that this segregation and Jim Crow s**t was lame, again they didn't talk about it. A white person who supported blacks would be killed quicker than a black person who stepped out of line. It made no logical sense, although none of it did, and nothing does thats like racism and based on something stupid like color, but even if you decide to pretend that racism and Jim Crow made sense, hating whites who didn't agree about blacks more than the blacks themselves makes no sense. But that's how it was. Well, you know what happened. Everybody does. I grew up during that time. I remember much of it well and many of the things I was taught and saw. My very first published piece was about the subtle racism I saw at home as a young child. I'll tell you that story if you want, and i'll keep it short.

But oddly enough the South was much more open to women's rights than the rest of the country. It was easier for a woman to get a job and get promoted here than elsewehre. Not that much easier but it was easier. I can give you my thoughts on taht if you want. I think that the Southern men didn't see women's lib as so much of a threat, after going through all that civil rights stuff and all. Women's lib hit here for real in the 70's unlike the rest of the country. Thats when it started going on good. I also think that many Southern men hired women because they thought it was cute to see them try and they had no idea a woman could do the job. I think many others did it to shut them up because they remembered the big hooha of the civil rights movement and while that didn't effect them directly they also didn't have black people at home but they had a wife at home who they didn't want to upset about this women's lib thing so they played along to keep the wife from being mad and having to hear her. Then they were surprised when women did the job and did it well and they grudgingly respected her, like they would a skinny kid who stood up for himself and actually beat up the big boys. They would use her as the rabbit on a dog track. They would tell the men "If she can do it, what the hell is wrong with you?" and eventually everybody got used to it and it became normal. Too bad civil rights couldn't have gone that easy. It wasn't easy easy, but it wasn't like elsewhere. I guess it was a trade off, huh? then again, Southern women didn't usually demand to be called Ms, or not wear bras and not shave, and most of them still enjoyed men having manners and didn't mind things like hon and sweetie because they did that to everybody too, so we didn't have as many demands or changes that way. Of course a bunch of the sexual harassment had to stop, and a lot of it did but thats always something that has to be fought about and it's not about feminism it's about somebody being an a**hole, I think.

So, I just wanted to get that out. Thank you for listening. Anybody else who might want to comment and call me a name, I'm not reading you this morning, my attention is given to Kraichgauer. If you want to be mean to me, save it until I will read it and I'll give you a run for your money but typing it now is just wasting it. I'm ignoring haters and people who won't listen. You can talk about it with me, but I won't argue. Now, back to you Kraich. I really hate the way people do me about this one thing. They make assumptions about us based on what they hear, things they read and see, and the news. Well, you don't see very much in the way of how it is down here on tv. You see the newsworthy things, but that tells you nothing about how it is, how most people are, what they believe, how they talk, how they act, etc. It tells you what a handful of people in Alabama did, and that is all you have to judge us by. I don't blame you for assuming. I've never blamed anybody for assuming. You make judgments based on the information you have, and you don't get a whole hell of a lot, especially about a culture so complex and so different from the rest of the country, so you assume what people naturally would. What I get mad about is when i talk to people and try to tell them differently, they refuse to believe me. I have been called so many things and even told I'm making this up or willingly spreading hate speech by explaining this. It's insane!

Again, I don't expect you to understand how it is down here and how most people feel, all I expect (based on your reaction just now) and wish you would do is to read this and and consider how long I've lived here, how much I notice human nature, how often this very subject comes up down here, and it's a WHOLE LOT, and the large number of people I have talked to about it and heard talk about it, and realize and believe that I am telling you the truth. We have some a**holes. I know plenty. We have some racists, I know them too. When we first moved here I got a flyer for a Klan rally. Yep. Hadn't heard of the Klan since I was in grammar school, but there it was, on my front lawn wrapped up in plastic and thrown in early morning to every house on my street except the one that the black lady lived in. Know what I did? I went. I stopped at the store first and I bought a s**t load of cheese. Cheap cheese though. And I let our assistant chief of police know I was going. We don't get along at all but were on the same side on this. He's black. He was there or outside of the place, no cops were it was on private property so they stayed away. He did follow and listen out for me though. I went in there and talked to a few folks and got a few folks around me so I wouldn't waste my one little political gesture or my cheese and I brought out the cheese. I said here yall go and started passing it out. I had bought sliced cheese, I didn't want any unsheathed knife to be anywhere near when I said my next line. Folks were coming over and I was giving them cheese and they wanted to know why. I made sure I was near the car. When I had enough folks there I said "Well I brought ya'll some cheese to go with the crackers! I don't think I have enough though. I see more of yall than I thought. Always more crackers than cheese it seems. I'll go get some right now" and left. They yelled a few things at me but didn't do anything. A few people laughed because even though they were insulted and mad at me for being for black people's right to be on the planet, which is still worse to some than the black people themselves which they hate, it was cute, you have to admit. And clever. And brave. Then again I didn't do anything ugly to them. I didn't tell them they were going to hell or try to hurt anybody. I was polite and I gave away cheese, most of which was given to the kids there, so they couldn't do much. That was in 2002. There are still Klansmen and everybody knows who they are. They are all my age or older though. A few younger guys maybe, but not many. All my generation at the youngest, even though they bring their kids to functions most of the kids around here aren't racist and don't buy into it. It always comes back to bite them on the butt, and their kids not being racist actually hurts them. I'm glad too. For both of those things.

I'll hush now. Let me know if you want to read my piece about how they tried to make me a racist. It's shorter than this post. I've had a coffee night, so I'm rambling. Again, thank you. Really. I don't have to have understanding, I just want to be believed and listened to.

Last edited by OliveOilMom on 28 Jun 2015, 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

I see it all the time. The black kid who is my daughters best friend and lives with us has one on his wall in his bedroom here along with a Crimson Tide flag and a Bob Marley flag. Really. He brought them with him. I've seen many black people wearing stuff with it on there or having it on their trucks. Most of the rest of them who don't wear the flag or fly it just don't care. It's a frequent topic of conversation down here and one people make their thoughts known on. I've met a few black people who think it's about racism but most don't. Some like it, the majority don't care and say "It's a redneck thing. Some rednecks are racists, others aren't but they all like the flag. It doesn't hurt anybody and I don't care one way or the other about it". But yes, I've seen many with flag things on them or their vehicles or as decoration in their houses.

The Swastika was the symbol of Nazi Germany, and the huge thing for them was killing Jews for racial purity. That is not the same as slavery. Slavery was horrible, but it was done by many others besides Southern Americans. Nobody else killed millions of Jews though. Also, the South was and is a lot more than slavery. Slavery is a terrible thing, a huge mistake and an embarrassment but it's our past and it's over and the South is still here and we still like to have our flag as our symbol. Just because you think it's about racism and slavery doesn't mean it is. It's nothing at all like Nazi Germany. The only thing they had in common was hurting people and hatred. Those are bad enough by themselves, but the Nazis did terrible things in the name of hate. The South did terrible things because they were stupid when we had slavery and in the name of hate later on, but that also was not the entire South, it was part of the population. The flag represents more than just the racists.

Then again, i don't expect you to listen to me. You said Nazi. You also don't think there are any black people who like and display the flag. Then again, I doubt you are from the Deep South where you would actually see it. Don't bother to come down and take a look to see if you can notice any, we don't really want you down here with your closed minded attitude. Your idea of us, nor the flag, is accurate. It's only accurate for a small percentage of us down here and the rest of us won't have our heritage or anything else stolen by some batshit crazy haters.

Assume away. Let's here some more jewels you got in there.

My issue with the knee-jerk reaction of completely removing the confederate flag deals mostly with history. I live about 35 miles east of Gettysburg. Every year around the 4 July holiday, a group a people gather in Gettysburg to reenact one of the worst battles of the War between the States. How are you supposed to have a historically informed reenactment if there is no confederate flag to be found?

Now, before some yahoo labels me as a racist SOB, I personally find that flag to be offensive and wouldn't hesitate to raise a stink when I see it in any other context other that a historical reenactment. Ditto with the Swastika, except in Susquehanna Indian lore, where the swastika, with the feet in the opposite direction, is a, IIRC from a lecture I heard as a child at the Indian Steps museum in Southern York County, PA, a religious symbol.

Hang on, is somebody trying to outlaw the flag? I heard they don't want it flown in govt places anymore. It's flown at the courthouse here under the Alabama flag and in lots of places. Then again, those who fly it see it for the symbol of the Confederacy not a racist symbol. Outlawing the flag won't work. Trust me, every redneck in the South with plaster it on trucks and cars and in front of private houses and there will be lots of visible tattoos of it. I can be ok with them saying not to fly it at govt places because it upsets some people. They did that with Christmas stuff. It doesn't really matter. But outlawing it? no way. Oh hell no. Or rather Awwwwww HAY-ullll NAW!! !! lol

I said nothing about outlawing the confederat flag, offensive as it might be. I'm objecting to the knee-jerk reaction of the federal government removing all images of the confederate flag from the gift shop at the Gettysburg Battlefield, as well as any other Civil War era battlefield that is owned by the U.S. Park Service. I still have mixed feelings about Wal-Mart doing the same thing, although, wallyworld, being a private concern, for all intents and purposes, can do whatever they want.

Where I grew up Long Island in the 1970's (thats New York bluest of blue states) it was known as the northern outpost of Southern Rock music and there were a lot of Confederate flag decals, bumper stickers. Also the "rebel" long hair bearded bandana pony tale look was popular. That part of our history has been erased in the last few decades. They play Skynard a lot now but they call it "Classic Rock"

So was it a music thing or a racist thing? When the Who came to town people displayed British Flags and Southern Rock was biggest among college students not exactly your stereotypical rednecks. But in the 1970's Long Island was way more segregated then the actual South. It's tough figuring out what is in the minds of NT's

That was about your first sentence. I haven't seen the news on tv in forever and I don't like to read it online so I don't know much of what is going on in the world. I thought maybe somebody was trying to outlaw it or remove it or something. I heard somebody say they wanted to take it out of government buildings, and I'm ok with that, I thought they were trying to ban it. I took it the wrong way, my bad. What exactly is going on with flag legislation though?

I also agree with you about this. It would be ridiculous to outlaw a rebel flag at a Civil War park or reinactment or gift shop. Where all are they talking about getting rid of it from? I thought I heard they were only going to make people stop flying it at courthouses, etc. All govt buildings where it's flown directly under the Alabama flag. I can get behind that if it's really upsetting a significant number of people. I wouldn't want it done if it was only upsetting a small portion and most wanted it. Thats what happened with the Christmas stuff. Most either wanted it or didn't care, but a small percentage didn't want it there because they were offended so it's gone. I say go with the majority on things like that because otherwise we will set a precedent of getting rid of things that just upset very few people and it can go out of control because you really won't be able to stop once it's started. After all, if you stop then you are basically telling one group that their feelings don't count as much as all the other groups before them. While it may still leave some people upset, I say vote on it and go with the majority about that stuff, even if I'm in the minority. If I am, I can suck it up and get on with my life cause that kind of stuff doesn't really effect anybody anyway. In other words, it's not the flag on govt property I'm concerned about, or Christmas stuff, it's the percentage of people who wanted it gone that it took to get rid of it. I don't know what that is, but I'm guessing it's a smaller amount.

Of course some idiot will decide he's gonna show them and put a statue of the baby Jesus wrapped in rebel flag swaddling clothes just to make a point. But if he does it, I want him to do it in granite and I want it to weight 2 tons and I want it snuck into the capitol building in the middle of the night and put there like Roy Moore did his Ten Commandments monument. Actually, I'd kinda like to do that to be a smartass. I'd accidentally become a hero to every redneck down here lol. I'd be famous, for being a smartass. Know where I can get some granite and an artist and a dolly?

They also should not be held up as an example of your typical mentally ill individual...and actually it is not necessary to have a diagnose mental illness to commit atrocities. It is a myth that something has to be mentally wrong with someone for them to commit a terrible crime....extreme racism with no mental illness can very much cause one to behave violently. Maybe in this case the individual was mentally ill as well, but it shouldn't just be assumed...'because they did that they have to have something wrong upstairs.' that's not always the case.

It's still called Southern rock down here. Them, 38 Special, Allman Brothers, Pure Prarie League, Molly Hatchett, and a few more. More than a few but those are all I can think of right now. Then again, we are the South and anytime we can label something that way, we do. The flag is only really associated with Skynard though, even though down here it's appropriate to wear to all rock and country concerts but I wouldn't wear it to R&B or Rap or Hiphop or Motown ones whether you are white or black. It would be seen as trying to push other aspects of the culture into a place where it's not wanted right then, by that I mean redneckness and there are black rednecks but they don't usually listen to R&B or Motown, or Hiphop, usually Rap, Rock and Country. It's just a subculture thing.

I cannot imagine it being illegal or banned or whatever you want to call it, to not be able to reprint an album and have the flag on it like it did originally. What the hell? It's not about racism to most Southerners. I don't want people to be offended and think it is or get the wrong idea, but they have had the wrong idea up North all my life for one and it's ingrained and won't change now. Yes it's used by racists, but the biggest percentage of it's use is not to represent racism it's to represent Southernness, Redneckness, Skynard, for some reason NASCAR, Bocephus, and several other things besides the fact that to us it just means "We are Southern, our culture is different, our climate is different, our people are different, we love it here and are proud of being Southern. We lost the war but we are still Southerners and that is different than the North!" To some white folks it is about racism, their racism. To a few white folks from here it's about other people's racism, to less than half black folks down here it's about racism, and to the rest it's about Southernness or it's just a cultural symbol that they don't embrace but doesn't bother them. I don't see why it has to go. Why don't we get rid of the racists and leave the flag? That would be better for everybody!! !!

OliveOilMom-

Thank you for your forgiving heart. I concede I will never be at peace with the Confederate flag and the history behind it, but I will more than happily concede that not everyone displaying it are racists. As with any symbol, Americans have the right to display it, as long as it's private property.
As for Lincoln - while ending slavery definitely hurt the Confederacy, but from what I know about the man, I'm not going to dismiss any idealistic motivation, either. I think Lincoln knew ending slavery was a moral issue, but it was just a matter of the right time to do it.
Regarding women's rights - actually, the west had also been a place good for women. The western frontier had been a place where the old social order often simply didn't exist anymore, and so individuals - as long as they weren't Native Americans, or Chinese, sadly to say - had many opportunities that they wouldn't have had back home, and that included many women. There were women who had made fortunes as entrepreneurs, as politicians, and there had even been a female sheriff in Idaho. And if you were wondering if I had had a brain fart by listing women as western politicians, trust me I had not, as many western states and territories had legalized women's suffrage - in some cases decades - before the rest of the country had followed suit. In fact, the first woman in congress had been a representative from Wyoming, at a time before most of the rest of the country had allowed women to have the vote (she was one of the few brave enough to cast a no vote for entry into WWI).
I would love to read the stuff you had written, as you obviously have had an interesting life. If you're able to PM something or other, that would be great. I'm afraid I don't have a Facebook page for you to send anything to, though my wife does.