You think the culture on this board is flawed. Would you say that is a matter or opinion? As many times as one reads the reports on an event, their own 'cultural leaning' will play some part in their end view (opinion) of the event. It is human nature. That's why Jim allows us to have our 'Views' along with the other parts. Both sides, the Confederate and the Union, made errors, blunders and downright ugly PR messes. The way of looking at some of them comes from being raised in and living with a culture that saw things one way. A culture where 'Grandpa's' stories were retold years after he was gone and 'Grandma's' stories of the fear and poverty those war years brought to the family and their community add to the culture. The facts show there were events that happened and most were ugly. War is ugly. Many people who would be pretty nice to know in real life were soldiers who did what they were ordered to do or they were officers giving orders. It all boils down to the old saying--"There are two sides to every story" and nowhere is that more evident than the American unCivil War.
We have picked apart a lot of events on this board and we've been pretty fair in our view when some don't show 'our side' in the best of lights. We admit it when we know things were wrong but we also can see through the report on one side and understand the same but different report on the other of the same event.
There's no placing blame at this stage. It is just learning of what was and understanding things a bit more than many people would take the time to do. One thing I have learned, there is no impartial opinion on the events that took place.

Pam