Why do you think the State Capitol is an appropriate place to have a statue of a racist traitor responsible for one of the bloodiest wars in US history, all over the right to own human beings as property?
Why do you think we should only stop honoring racist traitors if we can prove that doing so will be causing less deaths?
I think it would be appropriate for the voters of Kentucky to decide whose statues they want in their capitol building, not you, and not me, and not Mitch McConnell.
Is it an overreaction for one of those voters to suggest the statue be removed? If so, how is that supposed to start, then? If not, why is it an overreaction for Mitch McConnell to suggest it be removed, then?
Should we remove all memorials to anyone who owned human beings as property, on every public facility, throughout the US?
Thereās a statue of Davis at UT Austin, about which people complained at least since I started there (late '80s). In '89 or '90 it was spray-painted (which was removed), and after that someone threw bleach on it (the irony), and (AFAIK) it remains that way.
Thatās a very poor slippery slope argument. There is after all a difference between someone who owned slaves but is respected for other reasons, and someone whose fame is entirely for their enthusiastic defense of slavery and the killing of thousands in its name.
But if your extreme vision did come to pass, and all memorials of slave owners were taken down, would it be that bad? I mean, compared to an America where white supremacists who fought against the common good are celebrated by the state, it seems like a pretty soft dystopia.
Presumably the point is that youād have to remove all memorials to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etcā¦
I understood the point. Those are people celebrated for reasons other than owning slaves, and in the case of Washington he at least had the decency to give them manumission. But I think in the end, losing monuments to even him would be a small price to pay if it actually came with turning our back on white supremacy.
Iāve argued before that people have too much uncritical worship for the founding fathers, the war they fought, and the slave state they founded. I think over-emphasizing the perfection of their vision has hindered America from catching up with the rest of the first world on more than one occasion. I would really hope for a more balanced view of them.
So while I donāt want Washingtonās monuments down, holding out that grim and not-so-realistic vision is not exactly going to get me to lament the statues of a public enemy like Davis.
I wouldnāt rush. Cemeteries like that are the place for dead flags.
Does splitting usually work as a debate tactic for you? Because the world is not actually a series of extreme binary situations. Shenanigans!
No. Should we mandate by law that a retailer must sell an item that is offensive to a plurality of people?
I love history, and an uncle of mine has more confederate memorabilia than I have ever seen. Which has shit to do with ape/amazon/eBay not selling flags. (Seriously, see you at the next reenactment :D)
I consider myself lucky that the neighborhood battlefield is popular with Unionists, not confederates.
Honestly Iād love to take part in a reenactment with the submarine >:)
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