Sometimes others say it better than I:

Eugene Robinson has a suggestion for Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's "diddly" comments about slavery:

If he has never done so, Barbour should hold in his hands some of the leg irons, manacles and other restraints that were used to subdue the Africans. He should visit some of the plantations where slave cabins still stand -- there are plenty in his state -- to get a sense of how the Africans lived. He should spend a long, hot day picking cotton. He should read the accounts of plantation life written by former slaves, and then he should explain why there is any reason to "honor" soldiers who fought to perpetuate a system that could never have functioned without constant, deliberate, unflinching cruelty.

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But I wonder how we can live in a nation that contains so many people who are intentionally ignorant - who repeatedly reject every opportunity to learn and grow - so that they can maintain their fantasies.  (And so many of them - also repeatedly - proclaim that "this is the greatest nation in the world.")