A Vanderbilt professor wrote an opinion piece for the local newspaper which said that the Confederacy was a bad thing, that the leaders of the CSA should have been executed for their actions and that folks who deny the Civil War was about slavery are “the new Holocaust revisionists.” His comments have been met with death threats. That’ll make him rethink his position, folks. :rolleyes:
I’ll be the first to admit that the professor is a bit flaky in some of his statements (he’s in favor of reparations for African-Americans because of slavery), but death threats only reinforce his opinions. I’m a Yankee, but I’ve spent almost half my life in Tennessee by now, and I still can’t fathom people’s need to fly the Confederate flag or “honor” the soldiers who died for a misguided dream. (Just like I don’t get folks who are obsessed with their particular ethnic background to the point of getting worked up over something that happened over two hundred years ago to relatives living in countries they’ve never even visited, muchless resided in.)
The fucking war ended 137 years ago, folks! Let it go! It was a bad thing, not just because of slavery, but any war, no matter how just is a bad thing! You don’t hear too many Germans saying, “Well, you know, except for that whole anti-semetic thing, Hitler wasn’t such a bad guy.” Why the fuck can’t folks on both sides of the Civil War issue just let it go? I’m not saying we should bury the history, or deny what happened, but just accept it, and move on. I mean, I don’t know of anyone still pissed about the War of 1812, yet there’s plenty of folks, not a stone’s throw from my door, who can work themselves into a white hot furor over the Civil War. Nutbags.
Tuckerfan, i agree with most of your sentiments regarding the Civil War and the obsession that some in the South have with the “Lost Cause.” And while i support people’s rights to fly the Confederate Flag, no one will ever convince me that it’s anything more, in the early 21st century, than a symbol of oppression. I also believe that war itself is a bad thing, to be avoided wherever possible (memo to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al).
However, i do understand the desire of some in the South to honor the soldiers who, as you put it, “died for a misguided dream.” To me, it is possible to separate one’s analysis of the causes and outcomes of a war from one’s respect for those who died fighting it. Often, the soldiers believed they were fighting for a righteous cause, or were conned into fighting with images of evil Yankees coming to steal their land/houses/women/whatever.
I make a similar distinction when i look at the Vietnam War. I belive that this conflict, and American (and Australian - i’m from Australia) involvement in it, was wrong and immoral. But i still have great respect for those who fought and often died - on either side - in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The injustice of the conflict does not diminish their courage, or the losses suffered by their families and countries. OTOH, neither does it excuse the atrocities commited by some combatants.
For some of us, those soldiers who died were our ancestors. Our family. And they did not fight for slavery, but for freedom. Please do not confuse the pissing contests of politicians with the honorable sacrifices of soldiers.
That’s the nub of the debate, LIB, because in the reasoned eyes of many people – myself included – they did NOT die “for freedom,” they died to keep others from it. But to believe their sacrifice was misguided does not necessarily lessen its import.
You may well disagree, but just because TUCKER doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean he’s “confusing” anything.
Have to agree with Jodi here. While i take Libertarian’s point that many Southerners’ ancestors fought and died in the war (i made a similar point in my earlier post), that fact does not automatically equate to fighting for freedom.
Libertarian exhorts us:
Well, in turn, please do not confuse the rationalisations of slavery apologists with the fight for “freedom.”
One can appreciate the skill and ability of the likes of Rommel without forgetting, even for a moment, that the cause he fought for was completely and utterly without merit. Robert E. Lee was a brilliant general, but that doesn’t change the fact that the cause Southerners fought for was the wrong one.
It’s always good to point out to obnoxious Tennesseans who idolize the Confederacy that Tennessee was the last state to seceed and the first state to be recaptured and occupied by the Union. They love that.
I just wish that those people would fly the proper flag. People keep flying the naval standard, and calling IT the Confederate flag. If I remember my vexillology (and if I spell it right ), it’s incredibly bad form to fly a naval flag on dry land. (I’m big on attention to detail. It’s a pet peeve of mine when a lot of people screw up a major, and easily verifiable, detail because “that’s what everyone else does.”)
I’d get back to the OP, but Rilchiam has covered the point quite well.
Perhaps the professor’s opponents could have come up with a more… intelligent response. I’d say, if they disagree with him, that’s fine and dandy, but wouldn’t it be more productive to have an educated debate on the matter, than to threaten him with a trip to the hangin’ tree? Since when is expression an unpopular opinion grounds for execution?
The war’s over, darnit. Way, waaayyyy over! Can’t we all just get along?
I do not believe for a moment that the author of such a controversial paper did not expect and/or hope for exactly the reactions he got—in my view, the guy was trolling, pure and simple. Sounds to me as if he is as much an attention whore as Jesse Jackson.
I consider that the only fitting response to such trash is to consider the source and ignore the ravings.
), it’s incredibly bad form to fly a naval flag on dry land. (I’m big on attention to detail. It’s a pet peeve of mine when a lot of people screw up a major, and easily verifiable, detail because “that’s what everyone else does.”)