The race to eliminate all vestiges of the Confederacy are now in hyper mode, almost panic mode. Politicians and companies are running for the door so fast that all rational thought has ceased. From NASCAR, to state capitals, to even trying to change street names in Brooklyn, the desire to eliminate American history is now in irrational mode. First the civil war was not all about slavery. That was simply a manifestation of the real issues which were economics, culture, and states rights. It would be good if everyone would take a deep breath and go back and read objective history books, instead of the new politically correct versions of history being taught in schools today. In the 1800's there was a large migration of Europeans to America, and most came to the north, and some onward to the west. Many fewer went south. The north became heavily industrial, and was culturally becoming more and more European centric as various ethnic groups settled in the various cities and carved out enclaves. The south clung to its culture and that was based around cotton. The economy of the south was based on producing cotton as inexpensively as possible and shipping it to the looms of England and Europe. Using slave labor was critical to this economic basis for the south. Without cheap cotton the entire way of life would disappear. Traditions had built up in the south and were ingrained and pride in that culture was strong. The north was culturally very different.

When Lincoln got elected he did not even run in 10 southern states yet he was elected president. He was imposed on the south. Laws passed in Washington were being imposed on the south and were impacting the cotton business. States rights became a battle cry in the south. (States rights is still a raging issue today under Obama and now The Supreme Court). The south felt its entire livelihood, culture and liberty were being threatened when Washington tried to impose anti slavery laws. Slavery was the economic underpinning of life in the south so that cotton could be produced inexpensively. It was this combination of feeling that everything that had been created over the past 150 years was about to be taken away from them. The civil war was never about southerners wanting to enslave people. It was far more about economics, culture and states rights. The Civil War is a major integral part of American history, and no effort to banish the Confederate flag is going to change that, no matter what the Obama, the media and the left wing wants.

So now we have some deranged nut who was no different than Columbine, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Va Tech, and the gabby Gifford nut, except in this case he had a confederate flag on his license plate. Otherwise it was just another case of some mentally ill kid who needed to be noticed and who was angry at the world. He did not kill for the Confederate flag.

So now the media and Obama are whipping up another false narrative to political ends, not because of any rational thought process. Next will be demands that JP Morgan and The Rockefeller Institute change their names because they “trigger” bad thoughts about the robber barons whose names they carry. All things pioneer will have to be removed from existence because the pioneers killed a lot of Indians and took their land. Once we have obliterated our pioneer heritage, we will then move on the remove anything German or Japanese. After all look at the horrors they inflicted on us and the world. Don't forget the Russians, No more Russian caviar or anything. They are all really bad guys –Stalin, Lenin, they killed millions. Oh and that guy Guevara- he killed hundreds of Cubans as part of the revolution. Eliminate anything Cuban. We should also remove the statue of Columbus from Columbus Circle. After all if he had not sailed here the Indians would still own the place. Besides, the mafia was Italian and so all things Italian need to be eliminated from sight so thoughts of mob killers is not allowed to “trigger” fear and upset among us. And Chinese- anything Chinese has to go. They hack our computers and create threats to us. Close all those Chinese restaurants immediately- they are probably dens of cyber spies. In fact we need to eliminate almost anything other than pure oxygen since everything “triggers” some bad thought in someone, and we are no longer allowed to let anyone feel bad. That is what they require in all universities today. No bad feelings allowed. Just happy smiley robots.

So to all of you developers who named buildings, or put up any sort of picture or any flag that is Confederate, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese, or any check you send out with the name JP Morgan on it must be immediately destroyed so nobody gets upset with you by 'triggered' bad thoughts. Now we can all feel better. After all they have pretty much eliminated free speech on American university campuses-and they censor great films such as American Sniper- great American heroes are no longer celebrated because a few Muslim kids were allowed to claim they were “triggered” to feel bad. The new AP high school curiculum eliminated most things good about America such that a large group of historians rose up and said the course material eliminated and distorted major parts of American history. It will not be long before America is so politically correct that we no longer know who we are nor what was our heritage that made America great. If you think it is nuts to think there might be protests about the name of your building, or some symbol of whatever you proudly display on that building, then you are not aware of what is going on around you.

A rant by Rick Santelli one morning on CNBC started the Tea Party without his even trying or intending. I am hoping my comments get people to push back hard about the Confederate flag banishment. Not because I care about the flag. I was born in Brooklyn. It is because I have had it with politically correct. I have had it with Washington, the media and universities telling me what I can and should think or say. We used to pride ourselves on the US Constitution being the best document ever created, and the basis for the great country we became. I want my right of free speech back. If you don't like what I say, don't listen, or politely tell me why you object, but don't try to tell me I can't say it. Don't tell me I can't display a flag of my choice. If you don't like it go away. I want the America I grew up in restored where I celebrated being free and not having to live with the government and others dictating what I think. George Orwell has risen up and is in charge.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Joel Ross

Joel Ross began his career in Wall St as an investment banker in 1965, handling corporate advisory matters for a variety of clients. During the seventies he was CEO of North American operations for a UK based conglomerate, and sat on the parent company board. In 1981, he began his own firm handling leveraged buyouts, investment banking and real estate financing. In 1984 Ross began providing investment banking services and arranging financing for real estate transactions with his own firm, Ross Properties, Inc. In 1993 Ross and a partner, Lexington Mortgage, created the first Wall St hotel CMBS program in conjunction with Nomura. They went on to develop a similar CMBS program for another major Wall St investment bank and for five leading hotel companies. Lexington, in partnership with Mr. Ross established a hotel mortgage bank table funded by an investment bank, and making all CMBS hotel loans on their behalf. In 1999 he formed Citadel Realty Advisors as a successor to Ross Properties Corp., focusing on real estate investment banking in the US, UK and Paris. He has closed over $3.0 billion of financings for office, hotel, retail, land and multifamily projects. Ross is also a founder of Market Street Investors, a brownfield land development company, and has been involved in the acquisition of notes on defaulted loans and various REO assets in conjunction with several major investors. Ross was an adjunct professor in the graduate program at the NYU Hotel School. He is a member of Urban Land Institute and was a member of the leadership of his ULI council. In 1999, he conceived and co-authored with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Hotel Mortgage Performance Report, a major study of hotel mortgage default rates.