Suddenly these Statues offend people?

[BlankSlate]

Hey, why is everyone suddenly against tobacco. People have been using tobacco for centuries. I don’t get it.

Should we ban cars and banana peels? They kill people too. What’s going on?

[John_Mace]

@Drunky_Smurf

So only “white people” are regular? Are you saying that all the non-white people have to eat the poop-inducing yoghurt from Jaime Lee Curtis?

@Chronos

Of course not. That’s John Mace’s point.

I’m hoping the second sentence indicates a joke.

But in case anyone is wondering, Chronos is exactly correct. I was not advocating a white supremacist agenda, but just noting that sometimes we white folks have a white-centric view of things.

[El_Kabong]

@Silver_lining

Should we take down Mount Rushmore because Jefferson was a slave owner?

Maybe we should take down all FDR statues and re-name roads because he sent the Japanese Americans to camps.

Since no one actually seems to be advocating anything like that, shall we discuss your reasons for wanting to have statues of noted Confederates in public spaces? Feel free to make your case.

[bobot]

I wonder if someone did seriously suggest altering/“taking down” Mt. Rushmore, if a bunch of nazis would show up with torches and weapons in defense of it.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

I know that Alex Jones and others have been saying that all the so-called Nazi groups are left-wing actors. Shouldn’t we liberals be talking to our bosses about other things that we can send our actors to that would get everybody else in the country scrambling to eliminate them? How about polluting coal mines? I realize that might be sudden, because nobody has ever complained about coal mining pollution before, ever, not at any time, but it’s a start.

[septimus]

@Pantastic

People have been offended by imagery glorifying the Confederacy, which was a nation of people who committed treason against the United States to preserve the right of white people to rape, torture, and kill black people on a whim, since the confederacy formed. There have been protests and agitations to remove such statues since they were installed either as reminders of white power during Jim Crow or as opposition during the Civil Rights era. But those protests were mostly from black people and their allies, who are fairly easy for the Republicans to dismiss. Now the message of those statues is both harder to obscure (the “Lost Cause” myth is harder to maintain when you can casually look up the real facts on a phone) and less acceptable to the majority of people, so they’re finally coming down. Pretending that objections are something brand new and out of nowhere is just absurd though.

And, since people defending the statutes don’t like to hear it, here is a part of the dedication speech for a monument that came down yesterday:

It is true that the snows of winter which never melt, crown our temples, and we realize that we are living in the twilight zone; that it requires no unusual strain to hear the sounds of the tides as they roll and break upon the other shore, “The watch-dog’s bark his deep bay mouth welcome as we draw near home”, breaks upon our ears—makes it doubly sweet to know that we have been remembered in the erection of this beautiful memorial. The present generation, I am persuaded, scarcely takes note of what the Confederate soldier meant to the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race during the four years immediately succeeding the war, when the facts are, that their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South – When “the bottom rail was on top” all over the Southern states, and to-day, as a consequence the purest strain of the Anglo Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States – Praise God.

I trust I may be pardoned for one allusion, howbeit it is rather personal. One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers. I performed the pleasing duty in the immediate presence of the entire garrison, and for thirty nights afterwards slept with a double-barrel shot gun under my head.

Thank you, Pantastic.

I’d like to see OP have the grace to say whether he read your post.

[simster]

@E-DUB

This whole debate has reminded me of the words of Malcolm Reynolds who said: “It’s my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of 'em was one kinda sombitch or another.” We can decide as a society which kinds of sombitches we honor and which we don’t. We can even, as an evolving society, change our minds on the subject.

I’d like to make a statue of this and put it in the town square of Canton.

[E-DUB]

I’m close enough. I’d go see it.

https://www.canton-mi.org/

[k9bfriender]

@E-DUB

I’m close enough. I’d go see it.

https://www.canton-mi.org/

If you are close enough, you can smell it.

[simster]

@E-DUB

I’m close enough. I’d go see it.

https://www.canton-mi.org/

You’re the hero

[Silver_lining]

@asahi

No, you’re not getting it.

What does this have to do with elections anyway? Maybe an IMHO or Pit thread.

I’ d say its becoming an issue for the 2018 elections

[Silver_lining]

@El_Kabong

Since no one actually seems to be advocating anything like that, shall we discuss your reasons for wanting to have statues of noted Confederates in public spaces? Feel free to make your case.

You don’t get it. Both sides could argue national monuments, roads or states represent racism.

Personally, I think the confederate flag and statues that represent them are best shown in a museum, but until recently few even cared about them. Now they are being used for political points. It’s a slippery slope.

[Telemark]

@Silver_lining

Personally, I think the confederate flag and statues that represent them are best shown in a museum, but until recently few even cared about them.

As has been explained to you repeatedly in this thread, you are wrong about this.

[running_coach]

@Silver_lining

You don’t get it. Both sides could argue national monuments, roads or states represent racism.

Personally, I think the confederate flag and statues that represent them are best shown in a museum,** but until recently few even cared about them. ** Now they are being used for political points. It’s a slippery slope.

Fixed.
But until recently few whites even cared about them.

[Acsenray]

@Silver_lining

but until recently few even cared about them.

Not true.

What is true that until recently the people who cared didn’t have enough say to do anything about it.

[HeweyLogan]

@Telemark

As has been explained to you repeatedly in this thread, you are wrong about this.

Probably. Especially when talking about the confederate flag issue.

Not so much so when talking about the slippery slope argument Silver Lining (and a variety of others (MI)) bring up. You snipped that part from his quote (no accusation intended), but it seems the bigger issue than the Flag/Lee debate.

That is, where does it end? How far is too far?

**New York mayor considers Christopher Columbus statue removal **

New York mayor considers Christopher Columbus statue removal

San Jose organizers push to remove Christopher Columbus statue from City Hall

San Jose organizers push to remove Christopher Columbus statue from City Hall

Pepperdine Will Remove Christopher Columbus Statue

remove christopher columbus - Bing

Seems a fair point to make and a concern to consider. I don’t know the answer to how far is too far, but the trend seems in the air, and with no signs of it slowing down. Only going farther and faster.

[tomndebb]

Not an Elections issue.
Off to great Debates.

[Acsenray]

@HeweyLogan

That is, where does it end? How far is too far?

We as a society should always be asking us what kind of people we want to honor with public monuments and for what reasons. This isn’t a “slippery slope.” This is people giving a shit.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Columbus has been a major point of contention for the past couple of decades. He didn’t just own slaves, he enslaved free people. And also genocide. But other than that, he never set foot on any square inch of US soil.

Absolutely nothing new about tearing down his stature. Only difference now is tearing out that extra “r”.

[you_with_the_face]

@Gyrate

…life has new meaning to meeee
There’s beauty up above
And things we never take notice of
You wake up suddenly
And decide that maybe it’s past time to take down a bunch of statues erected entirely for the purpose of promoting white supremacist views…

Not to be confused with:

Tell me what is the colour of love, what do you see
Is it warm, is it tender when you think of me
I see the colour of love when I’m thinking of you
As a picture perfect statute that will finally be taken down so we can finally stop acting like Confederate “heros” weren’t, in truth, quite villainous towards all the Americans they killed in battle and all the black people they sought to keep in bondage.