Hello Jay, I very much appreciate hearing back from you regarding my comments. I know of few people on the air who go to the lengths that you do to give people the opportunity to explain their point of view, even when you do not agree with them, and I have to say that this is an admiral trait and one reason why I have enjoyed listening to your podcast over the years. I am not as capable of listening to people when I am convinced that they are ill informed and or just plain wrong, and I am not always proud of my low tolerance. However, when it comes to the civil war and the huge damage that racist revisionists from the south have had from their lies and Misinformation, not to mention just plain out and right lies about why the south fought the civil war, any patience I might have had goes out the window. With the level of lying that is going on in the country today facts matter more than ever. I just felt that you had left the person with his outrageous view off too easy and perhaps allowed him to feel that it was OK with believing his nonsense. I feel strongly that we on the progressive side should listen to other views and try to understand why and where they come from but have learned after a long time – I am 68 – that many on the right do not feel the same way when they speak about people who they do not agree with. They often feel that they are correct, and if you do not agree with them you are wrong. Facts, and, in this case, historical facts, do not matter and in far too many similar cases, they are ignorant of historical facts. One can only go so far and no matter how much I want to understand people who believe that the south fought for their life style and honour, it is just not even a debatable place to start from. The war was over slavery and the right to own another humane being, although blacks were not considered people. This disgusting fact was and is a historical fact, and considering the level of racism in America today, it is hard to convince me to be more compassionate towards trying to understand this repugnance. It makes me sick.
I do not and did not think that you were giving this guy a pass but I would have asked him to explain the last few years of the debate in the senate pertaining to the war and to justify what the people who representted the south were saying, then try to justify his view which completely avoided and connection to reality. I would have pushed him, too, on his view that his family were just poor whites and to point out that that had nothing to do with the issue.
I will keep listening and try to learn and I appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you. Please keep up the good work!