July 15, 2011

A couple days ago, we were talking about the way no one at the anti-Justice Prosser rally "seemed to be bothered by the symbolism of a large balloon representing Justice Prosser hanging in effigy with its neck tied to a lamppost." I linked to this comments thread — featuring our own Meade — over at the Isthmus.

Let's revisit that thread, where you can see that a man named Kenneth Burns is making a big deal out the fact that the Prosser dummy is in the seated position:

Ladies and gentlemen, the world's first seated hanging.

That brought in David Blaska (who is a regular blogger at the Isthmus):

Actually, not. Mary Suratt was given a chair to sit on and an umbrella held over her head before the trap was sprung and she was sent to eternity along with the male co-conspirators in Lincoln's assassination. A touching example of chivalry in a gentler age. But then, she and her co-conspirators did have a trial and were found guilty.

(Fascinating!) Burns returned:

I stand corrected! Nevertheless, seems to me a baseline requirement for a hanging in effigy is that it ought to look like a hanging, as opposed to a guy sitting and leaning against a post.

The sight of a life-size Spider-Man doll [known as Venom] hanged by its neck from a balcony of a Langdon Street home near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is prompting a stern response from school officials.

Students who live on Langdon Street said the doll that some believe represented a black man had been hanging for two or three days last week before it was taken down. But many said it never should have been put there at all.

"I see the visualization of imagery that looks powerfully, iconically of the imagery of a lynching," [said Damon Williams, vice provost for diversity]... "It's an incredibly serious and egregious thing that we do condemn at the highest levels, and we don't trivialize it"....

So does the seated position of an effigy eliminate the lynching symbolism? Apparently not! Let's get on the same page about what we can do with our giant blow-up dolls in public.

AND: Let's remember this lovely sign from a few months ago, originally featured in this post on February 16th:

ADDED: Here's video of the Prosser effigy ("Proszilla") getting blown up and tied to the lamppost:

Also, based on discussion and links in the comments, I don't think Mary Suratt was sitting on the chair as the noose was tied around her neck and the trap door sprung. She seems to have been seated before she was called upon to rise and accept her grisly fate.

Seated? Standing? Who cares? The minute they looped the rope over the Prosser effigy neck and tied it to the monument they were simulating a lynching. All the violence and destruction that the WI Dems have engaged in means they don't get the benefit of the doubt. We know what kind of people they are, the worst of the worst.

Not sure how many women were accorded the courtesy rendered Mrs Suratt. Going from memory, I remember a couple of occasions where women went standing up, and, at least in the case of the Mexican girl at Hangtown, quite gallantly.

I'm afraid I disagree with the notion that the Seated Prosser was lynching imagery. At the very least, it doesn't appear that it was intended to be a hanging in effigy. This article about the balloon and its creator Miles Kristan shows the balloon standing totally erect. It apparently lost steam and was secured to the post with a rope.

The descriptions I have read of the Surrat hanging lead me to think that she was seated during the preparations, but was standing for the hanging.

Titus: Surely there are more than 200 Clumbers in the US. There are three at my little gun club here in the middle of the deep south. Very slothful animals, highly regarded by the heavier hunters. Am told they are hell on antique furniture, table legs especially. Noble but profoundly plodding creatures.

I believe there are actually somewhere around 270 ish clumbers in the U.S.

At least that is what is says on all the clumber spaniel websites.

I live in Boston and have never seen one.

I have been in Madison and all over Wisconsin and have never seen one.

I didn't see one in India either, although in India they are all street dogs.

Are you sure they are purebred AKC registered Clumbers?

There are only like 8-9 Clumber Spaniel Breeders in the U.S.

I purchased mine by Providence Rhode Island. She had like 20 and she has written all the Clumber Spaniel books. Her husband was a chronic farter. I had to go to their house a couple of times during my "application and interview" process and the man constantly farted and no one said a thing about it. Not even an excuse me. I was mortified but I wanted a fucking clumber.

Titus: They are Clumbers, I can assure you. It is a breed I have known of and been able to identify for forty years, starting in the UK. There is nothing close, as you know, and it would be impossible to cross breed an animal that looked like one given the slothfulness of both female and male Clumbers. They actually love the field and will occasionally retrieve a pheasant if the mood suits. I think they are great and I suppose with so few around that I am able to see these dogs in "action" at our shoots. They are rare, I just didn't realize how rare.They are noted for their unwillingness to obey, their constant desire for rest.

"The thing was falling over so it was propped up against a lamppost. It's a homemade balloon thing, made with drop cloths and duck tape. It can spring a leak and, then, will not stand up."

Continue. Harmonize your opinion with the Spiderman incident. Wasn't that doll hung just as a makeshift way to hold it up? And yet it was called "an incredibly serious and egregious thing that we do condemn at the highest levels, and we don't trivialize it."

I'm only asking for consistency within the lefty domain of Madison, Wisconsin.

"The thing was falling over so it was propped up against a lamppost. It's a homemade balloon thing, made with drop cloths and duck tape. It can spring a leak and, then, will not stand up.""

It was not just "propped up against a lamppost." It was tied around the neck to the lamppost. As the comments over at Isthmus say, it was an electrical cord (kind of like something a murderer would use in a strangling).

I am all for hangings in effigy. But I think we ought to be able to hang both lefties and righties not to mention people of all races. I don't think that is what our freedom loving lefties have in mind, however.

I don't think Mary Suratt was actually guilty! I think John Wilkes Booth ... with his broken ankle. And, trapped in a corner of a barn, was KILLED by government agents ... who didn't want to arrest him. Because he knew too much.

Ditto happened to Oswald.

As to Justice Prosser ... what can ya do? Basically lots of people think he is a MENCH.

And, I gather his case (or complaint) to the Wisconsin Judiciary has not been disposed of, as yet.

The future holds many interesting things.

As to VIOLENCE ... instead of "civility" ... It's like the way the word "fag" wemt from being a cigarette ... to being another substitute for someone "not like the other" ... who was. And, is. GAY.

Carol, contemporaneous documents show the opposite of your supposition to be true. When Boston Corbett (a weirdo in his own right) shot Booth through a gap in the barn it was in direct contravention of his orders. The belief was that there was a far larger conspiracy involved which could re-ignite the Civil War. Seward specifically and adamantly wanted Booth alive for questioning to determione if that was true.

The four were assisted to ascend the steps leading up to the gallows platform and seated in chairs. Major General Hartranft and staff, in full dress uniform, passed up onto the platform, and the General at once in a low quiet tone read the sentences. While reading, the general's hat was removed and, the sun being excessively hot, the writer of this narrative held an umbrella over him.

The ropes, fastened to a cross beam above, dangled in front of each. The noose was quickly adjusted upon each by a secret service officer and they were required to rise and step forward upon the traps, Mrs. Surratt and Payne upon one, Herold and Atzerodt upon the other. The traps were held in position by heavy braces beneath. Capt. Rath gave a signal, the two braces were knocked from under by a heavy beam swung by two soldiers, and the four simultaneously, dropped to death and eternity.

I don't think that it's probable (though I suppose it's possible) that the Prosser balloon was tied around the neck as a statement. Most likely it was tied around the neck because that's the smallest point nearest the top.

I also don't think it really matters too much. Yes, part of this is calling it by the other side's rules. And also part of it is that there is no purpose to a giant Prosser balloon apart from hostility. Arguing if the lynching symbolism is deliberate amounts to splitting hairs. At what point does someone argue that on account of the lynching symbolism being accidental, they were actually complimenting the guy? And does it have to be lynching? How about just choking? It IS interesting that no one (supposedly) noticed the "tied around the neck" and connected it to choking.

In any case, hostility was the purpose for creating the blow-up Prosser in the first place. (How that particularly works, I don't know, since I'm not on the side that is in love with displaying their enemies in effigy, hanged or otherwise.)

They *are* intellectually consistent. They just appear inconsistent to those who insist on ascribing to the Left certain viewpoints which are actually incompatible with it... such as anti-racism.

Try it. View the Left on the assumption that their goal is government power for its own sake, and everything they do and have done for over a hundred years stands starkly revealed as remarkably consistent.

If you don't hold yourself to the same standard you hold others, you are the definition of a hypocrite.

Yes, this is true for individuals, but it makes little sense to apply this standard to ill-defined groups of people linked by their supposed position on the political spectrum. The same holds true for attempts to apply standards of individual behavior to "the right". Now, if you catch a particular person in a brazen act of hypocrisy, then string 'em up (metaphorically speaking).

"I don't think that it's probable (though I suppose it's possible) that the Prosser balloon was tied around the neck as a statement. Most likely it was tied around the neck because that's the smallest point nearest the top."

Sure, but the same was true of the Spiderman/Venom thing. The point in that incident was that regardless of what the doll-displayers thought they were doing, the perception of the viewers counted, and it was "incredibly serious and egregious" for them not to realize that. The Spiderman doll-owners were powerfullly shamed *just last month.*

The anti-Prosser ralliers were even talking about *choking,* so they were neck-focused... and yet they still did not see.

General Hartranft was the Military Governor of DC just after the Civil War. As such, he was responsible for the execution. He also was a souvenir hound, and kept a foot long section of each rope used for the hangings, with the appropriate name on each, written on one of his business cards, tied with a red silk ribbon. He also kept the signed order issued for carrying out the sentences. I mounted these for an exhibit years ago, they are still held by his descendants. Plus, Garrison Keillor, a humourless punk, was my college commencement speaker.

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