The South's Loyal Slave Monuments Have To Go

[The Reverend Bob]

Way to miss the point.

Have you made one?

 

[Father Heathen]

Dang...if it's what you say it is, that could've been part of a
powerful display. Don't tell me that you too are a talibanizer?

I just have this totally wacky idea that perhaps we can remember the sordid, shameful parts of history without celebrating them. We've managed to remember the details of WW2 well, thoroughly studied and documented, all without requiring gestures of respect and reverence for the likes of Hitler and Stalin.

 

[Revoltingest]

Have you made one?

I advise not angering over mere disagreement.

 

[Revoltingest]

I just have this totally wacky idea that perhaps we can remember the sordid, shameful parts of history without celebrating them.

And the straw man arrives.
No, not celebration of wrongs.

We've managed to remember the details of WW2 well, thoroughly studied and documented, all without requiring gestures of respect and reverence for the likes of Hitler and Stalin.

"Respect & reverence"...again with the straw?
If people were more familiar with the horrors of war,
then voters & leaders might not lust for it so.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

So people would not venerate the past regime is one reason. I can't be succinct enough to explain it, so I leave you with this educational article:

Why There Are No Nazi Statues in Germany

And yet the are War memorials to German soldiers from the second world war in Germany

Möltenort U-Boat Memorial - Wikipedia

La Cambe German war cemetery - Wikipedia

Inspekteur - Ehrenmal des Deutschen Heeres

German War Memorials

 

[The Reverend Bob]

And yet the are War memorials to German soldiers from the second world war in Germany

Möltenort U-Boat Memorial - Wikipedia

La Cambe German war cemetery - Wikipedia

Inspekteur - Ehrenmal des Deutschen Heeres

German War Memorials

That's interesting. I'll have to look into it. But so far I see no Nazi insignia on these memorials

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I advise not angering over mere disagreement.

So you're my adviser now?

 

[Father Heathen]

And the straw man arrives.
No, not celebration of wrongs.

"Respect & reverence"...again with the straw?
If people were more familiar with the horrors of war,
then voters & leaders might not lust for it so.

How exactly is it a straw man? Did you not suggest that ceasing to commemorate that which is unworthy of commemoration is "sanitizing history"?

 

[Revoltingest]

How exactly is it a straw man? Did you not suggest that ceasing to commemorate that which is unworthy of commemoration is "sanitizing history"?

You criticized "respect, reverence, & celebration" for/of "the likes of Hitler
& Stalin" in responding to my post. But I never advocated any such thing.

 

[Revoltingest]

So you're my adviser now?

I advise as needed.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I advise as needed.

None needed here

 

[David1967]

IMO none of the statues should have been removed. You can't erase or changed history by doing so. They should have been left up and used for learning the history of a time that shouldn't have happened.

Nah. That would make sense.

 

[Shiranui117]

I'd say move the statues to Confederate history museums so people can go and learn about them. It's important to remember our past and preserve it, but also to put things in a proper context so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I'd say move the statues to Confederate history museums so people can go and learn about them. It's important to remember our past and preserve it, but also to put things in a proper context so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

And the Loyal Slaves monuments?

 

[Brickjectivity]

We should actually add some new memorials and kick start a new yearly festival. Once a year in the US we should have a government sponsored media blitz of awareness where articles are bought in newspapers, magazines, internet and TV spots which talk about what happened before and after Jim Crow as well as hosted yearly discussions about how slavery became implemented, what people thought and said and how it relates to us in modern times. I suggest this as large yearly media blitz to get people discussing our past -- like a day where you see this everywhere on buses and signs and TV and hear about it on the radio. We could make it a tax deductible event for media that do presentations on that day. Ideally we turn it into a yearly festival where everyone gets together.

American Style we commercialize it, too. We have store sales and movies about it and get the restaurants involved. Sell special candy and the whole bit.

Call it 'Freedom Day'.

 

[Father Heathen]

You criticized "respect, reverence, & celebration" for/of "the likes of Hitler
& Stalin" in responding to my post. But I never advocated any such thing.

What did you mean by "sanitizing history" in regards to removing monuments that honored the dishonorable?

 

[Shiranui117]

And the Loyal Slaves monuments?

Same thing. Rip them out of the ground and put those in the Confederate history museums too.

 

[crossfire]

What will bring healing is justice not ignoring injustice

What would your idea of justice be? How would destroying these statues serve it?

 

[Duke_Leto]

Because people won't see the offensive structures & their messages.
If they remain, it would keep the history alive in people's minds.
Demolishing them smacks too much of the Taliban's motives, ie, to
remove or destroy that which offends.
Better it would be to erect explanatory exhibits at the same site.

Revoltingest, I suppose since you’re Canadian you aren’t very familiar with monuments like these or their history. They were put up with the purpose of lionizing the Confederate cause some time after the Civil War, by people motivated by race-hatred and resentment for the abolishment of slavery. They aren’t neutral expressions of objective history; they’ve always been entirely political.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

That's interesting. I'll have to look into it. But so far I see no Nazi insignia on these memorials

I don't believe you'll find any specific NAZI iconography. The fact remains they are memorials to German soldiers who fought for the NAZI regime, although I agree that doesn't make them NAZI monuments, per se (the interchangeable use of NAZI and German when discussing the second World War is one of my pet hates)

Nevertheless, I think there are strong parallels between them and at least SOME Confederate monuments. I don't believe being on tbe losing side renders a soldier's sacrifice somethi g to forget. Consider, for example, memorials to Western soldiers who fought and died in Vietnam. We unambiguously lost that war, howevef we still memorialise our soldiers. I think at least some Confederate monuments occupy similar position.