Gettysburg's PC Superintendent
The July 1995 issue of The Civil War News had a special section on Gettysburg. One article in it was devoted to a speech by the superintendent of the Gettysburg park, John A. Latschar. Predictably, for a public official, he makes the following politically correct noises, reproduced here for your entertainment (my comments in brackets):
"I think it would be a mistake to assume that the battle of Gettysburg, or even the Civil War, will still be considered relevant - and thus worth preserving - 100 years from now." He continues, "The Civil War constituency, like our visitors, is currently dominated by the white, male portion of the population. If we are going to survive, we must reverse this trend." [Why? Are white males becoming extinct or something?]
Latschar states that women make 80% of the leisure decisions in the United States. "Until we learn to make the Civil War more relevant to women, we will not be able to count upon their support for the continued tax dollars required for preservation of our battlefields." Latschar says we lose women by concentrating on battles, tactics, and regimental histories. [Mustn't bother their pretty little heads with that stuff!] He also feels, "We have utterly failed to appeal to the black population of America, for very different reasons. We have bent over backwards to avoid any notion of fixing blame for the war, or to talk about its causes." [I suppose we can expect the self-flagellation "White males take blame here" cyclorama to be installed soon.] Latschar goes on, "But for blacks, there is no doubt about what caused the war, or that the primary purpose of the Confederacy was to keep their ancestors in bondage." [...and thus we ought to teach a flawed, simplistic view of history to attract "diversity," rather than perpetrating insidious, uncomfortable truth.]
As for me, I'm hoping this guy and his ilk goes the way of the dodo bird.
