Trump is not the first person who says that getting rid of confederate monuments is changing history. That is a frequent argument used by those who defend the monuments. It is a nonsensical argument. History is written in books and stored in the minds of people. Those monuments, by honoring confederate leaders, is in fact giving a false narrative of history. These are not American heroes but are traitors of America. Besides, a lot of these monuments were put up in the 20th century to intimidate those who want civil rights in the south. So do not say they have any historical value unless you put up plaques on them that say they are traitors.
I do not , however, condone those who vandalize or destroy monuments on their own. Public monuments should be taken down after a government entity have decided that they should come down or transfer to museums or private areas. We are a nation of laws, not a nation of mob rules.
Another absurdity I read about is that some people are calling for the removal of University of Southern California horse mascot name Traveler because Robert E. Lee's horse was named Traveller. The two names are not even spelled the same. There is no solid evidence that the first Traveler was named after Lee's horse. I am sure USC had no intention of honoring Lee's horse. Besides, I am quite sure that no horse has ever supported slavery nor fought against America on its own!
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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Though there is no good time to remove the statues, it's a curious time to do so. I don't know if things would have been different had they removed them during the Bush II or Obama years. I wonder if I had grown up in the south if my thinking was any different, but I've always wondered why these statues were erected. The men in the statues were Americans and are a part of this country's past, so we should never wipe them from our history. Some of them, like Robert E. Lee, were instrumental with helping the nation (Lee was known previously for making a name of himself with the Mexican-American War).
ReplyDeleteIf China ever becomes a democratic society, do you think that all statues of communist leaders should be taken down? I would imagine that the giant portrait of Mao at the Tienamen gate will be taken down. But I wonder if his body will be removed. They never did this in Russia with Lenin's body, though I'm not sure what they did with statues of him.
I agree that these mobs should not be taking these statues down. Though I'm concerned how easy it was for them to take the statues down!
I had not heard of the USC horse story. That's pretty crazy stuff.
-LBOAYM
It is hard to think of any instance where a side that lost get to put up statues honoring their heroes in the country that defeated them. Do you think there is any statue of Chiang Kai-Shek in China right now? If they had erected a statue of Lee for his performance prior to the Civil War with a plaque that say that, then maybe I can understand it. But to put up these statues in the 20th century to intimidate people, I don't think that would fly in any place in the world.
ReplyDeleteTrump gave a speech on Afghanistan today. There is nothing in it that would make me think that he would be successful. A few thousand troops is not going to do it. He says we can't accept defeat but refuses to say what constitute victory. And the idea that both India and Pakistan is going to help is ludicrous. Doesn't he know they are enemies? I think the whole speech was to side track people from the race problems he has. The thinking is that people tend to support a president who is going to war, even one that is already going on for 17 years and not winnable.
Well, they're apparently removing some of the Chiang Kai-Shek statues in Taiwan, so history isn't looking very fondly of him. Closer to home, apparently Lee didn't even want a statue in his honor after the civil war. So, like a lot of the other confederate statues, they were erected as a defiance by southerners. Maybe they should have never been erected in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think the speech by Trump yesterday was a rally the troops speech. I think he felt he had to do it, since more troops were headed to Afghanistan. I wonder if an escalation of a few thousand will cause more hatred to the USA. This is looking like a war that we can't finish. I personally didn't like setting deadlines to pull troops out and think we should maintain some kind of presence there. That being said, I agree that a few thousand isn't going to do anything and that thinking India and Pakistan would help. Now, if he can get those two to work together, that would be a miracle.
-LBOAYM