Jeff Stahler for June 24, 2020

That’s where they actually belong. We should in any case be looking forward, not backward, and assuredly not back at the worst we’ve been (except as bad examples).

Just about any “hero”, “role model”, etc. has things in their past which are embarrassing or worse. It is very important to look at what they intended and what the did. Some should never have been considered either heroes or role models. Others should be remembered for the positive things they did, sometimes in spite of the bad parts, which should also be remembered. We also need to look at the context; what were the societal norms? Going by those standards, I believe that most, if not all, Confederate statues should be removed and melted down for the metals contained in them, after pictures are taken to remember their actions and that of those the led.

Being “heroic” depends largely on circumstances—the currents of history.

The function of statues is neither to tell history nor to be art. Their function is to lionize. It is to offer public approval and encourage emulation of not just that person or generation but also their cause. Aside from the fact that I believe we should just skip statues altogether — no society needs them — any statue depicting anyone in uniform needS to be evaluated on the cause for which they fought. Every single Confederate soldier fought, according to their own articles of secession, to uphold chattel slavery based on the presumption of white superiority. That’s not opinion, that’s what they themselves wrote. That cause is not worthy of glorification or public approval. It is pointless to argue that individual people are complex, neither entirely good nor entirely bad. If you’re going to have a statue at all, especially one in uniform, what matters is what they stood for.

dump the men, keep the horses

But you can’t put them in museums because mobs are destroying statues.

Many of the statues were propaganda bought and paid for by political groups.

Let’s not lose these things to history. For example, it would be a shame if every reference to the Holocaust were removed. Don’t deify inconvenient historical figures, but don’t deny them either.

I do wonder how far we should take this. If we are to remove statutes of generals who owned slaves and rebelled against their country then George Washington must go.

Likewise, one of the leading proponents of the American “Liebestraum” (AKA “Manifest Destiny” ) was another slave-owning general: Andrew Jackson.

Written appeals, voting en bloc on persons or legislation, constant pressure on elected officials to hue to at least reasonably ethical behavior, and constant vigilance against insidious -isms would seem to be the method for lasting improvement. Or is that just too slow for those who seem to ignore the lessons of history, i.e., that the psychological effects of violence last much longer than actual physical damage, but rarely produce lasting good.

Will it be located anywhere near the Trump Presidential Library of Encouraging Famous Tweets ?

I wrote a long “thesis” about statues. Then I decided it wouldn’t change minds so why bother.

Check the statues at the concentration camps in Germany for a way for physical memorials to done not to glorify but to remember (memorialize)

Lookie there…Stephen Colbert wax statue.

Let’s start with the statue of Lenin that stands in Seattle…..Washington….U.S.A.!!!

The attendees seem to be practicing social distancing, and I hope, are wearing their masks.

Statues of the Confederacy were installed to communicate the people who believed in slavery and treason (to defend their version of states rights) were back in charge in the south. I believe we should remove the statues before the mob tears them down or destroys. And it should have happened a long time ago.

This is what’s needed. A place open to all who wish to enter. NOT my local park.

Would be more enlightening than a Trump library…

Well said.

John C. Calhoun statue in Marion Square is being remover today. 124 years too late.

What’s going to happen at Stone Mountain Ga. ?

I just looked at the cartoon again and realised I misread ‘statues’ for ‘states’. That puts a whole different light on it. :-}

Confederate statues don’t even belong here. Melt them down or grind them up. Better still, as I posted elsewhere this morning:

Chop them up and pile the parts in a heap at a Confederate cemetery. Two signs should be posted, one reading “These poor souls died in an attempt to preserve race slavery” and the other “These are the bastards who spurred them on.”

Confederate “heroes” don’t just need to be dis-honored, they need to be publically disgraced.

We have plenty of historical hypocrisies and ironic symbols in the US that are counter to the values of a Constitutional Republic, Democracy, freedom and equality. When the country’s own figurehead documents allowed slaves to be 3/5 property of White colonial-turned-American slaveowners and didn’t initially allow women to vote…that’s IRONY right there.

No less than THE foundational conservative asked about monuments: “After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.” — Cato the Elder