“Comparing ourselves to the pathetic bigoted cultures of past and present does us little good,” writes Edward Troy in comment # 7, “compared to the vision of an egalitarian meritocracy and content of character ideals readily embraced by thoughtful Americans, such as those on this blog stream started by Mitch. I have met Gary I believe once in Marble, if he is who I remember, I saw no evidence of the bitter pill of crap he wrote. He did however write it. There is no defense or excuse worth listening to, and I wonder how quickly he would have folded if born into another family of color — he’d understand that a level playing field was something he had to climb up to get to and get a jack boot in the teeth while trying to get there, only to find another level — and the same deal.”