2431 Tails You Lose

Sometimes when I'm in a philosophical mood, I ponder the disconnect between legend and fact.  And how that makes its way into popular culture.

Like how we drive a car for family trips named Odyssey.  As I recall, the original Odyssey, what with Cyclops, whirlpools, and Sirens singing sailors onto the rocks, wasn't a very safe trip for all and sundry.  Wonder if Odysseus thought about installing airbags.

Likewise the coin I saw advertised in National Geographic Magazine.  It's from GovMint.com.  GovMint, despite it's name, is not associated with the US Government and often strikes commemorative coins just for the heck of it.

The coin they recently offered for your collecting pleasure is hyped thusly: "Before they were carved in stone, they were struck in silver."  It purports to be a release of actual 1925 silver half dollars depicting the civil war heroes on the Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia.  You know, in what was once the South. 

These particular heroes actually were, um, in the southern military force that rebelled against the actual US Government at the time.  The one led by President Lincoln. 

Now I know the Civil War never really ended in some people's minds, but from a purely objective analysis one would have to conclude that the Southerners were actually traitors that rose up in arms and waged military destruction on the duly constituted Unites States. 

So it seems odd we'd have a half dollar commemorating what were actually Benedict Arnold type folks.  Noble as they were in waging that war, lots of ordinary people died. 

Interestingly, on the tail side of the coin are the classic words "E Pluribus Unum."  Which still means "Out of Many One."

The coin is supposed to be 90% silver. 

Maybe the other 10% is irony.  

America, ya gotta love it.