# What should we do with confederate monuments and statues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 15, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694 "2017-08-15T01:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2020, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/501 "2020-06-14T08:45:11Z")
500 posts in, it’s pretty obvious that there will be no meeting of the minds. There are a couple of pittings of Urbanredneck dealing with the underlying problems, but frankly even they are a waste of effort other than a place to vent. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/502 "2020-06-15T19:34:34Z")
Sorry if it’s been mentioned, but I just saw this [Change.org](http://Change.org) petition to replace the Confederate statues in Tennessee with statues of Dolly Parton. I signed the crap out of it! [Petition · REPLACE ALL CONFEDERATE STATUES IN TENNESSEE WITH DOLLY PARTON · Change.org](http://chng.it/vNZfqLXzW4) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/503 "2020-06-16T13:25:47Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Sorry if it’s been mentioned, but I just saw this [Change.org](http://Change.org) petition to replace the Confederate statues in Tennessee with statues of Dolly Parton. I signed the crap out of it! [Petition · REPLACE ALL CONFEDERATE STATUES IN TENNESSEE WITH DOLLY PARTON · Change.org](http://chng.it/vNZfqLXzW4) I’d be up for that (along with the proposal to change all the Columbus statues to Columbo). Dolly is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/504 "2020-06-18T02:32:14Z")
It’s a shame this [statue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest_Statue) is on private property – not only is offensive, but it’s [hideous](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ugly-nathan-bedford-forrest-statue) too. Dude who owns it’s pretty old, though. So it might not be up for that much longer. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/505 "2020-06-24T04:35:23Z")
Trump just can’t help show how tone-deaf he is, while most Americans are realizing that most statues should be removed, most do not agree with toppling them down, but they do understand why there are some that do. Specially when one sees the same “fine people” that support Trump making laws to prevent removal of the statues by legal ways. The guys at The Lincoln Project point at how twisted Trump’s and many Republican leaders priorities are: > “Trump is doing more to protect statues than American citizens.” ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/506 "2020-06-24T12:41:46Z")
I’m okay with them being put in museums as long as the community agrees. I’m not in favor of keeping them up with a plaque saying “This guy was a POS” or whatever. Not gonna make anybody happy. ---
**Author:** ![urbanredneck2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5f8ce5/32.png) [@urbanredneck2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urbanredneck2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/507 "2020-06-27T16:43:59Z")
Well you all had your fun cheering on people tearing down statues and wanting to poop on Stone Mountain and I warned where this would lead and now look at whats happened. People have torn down statues of Grant, Francis Scott Key, George Washington, (they tried to tear down Andrew Jackson). Now protesters have vandalized monuments to black heroes, monuments to first responders, the Sacremento monument to fallen police officers, The WW1 memorial in Birmingham,and in Cleveland the Soldiers and Sailors statue was beheaded. Oh, I’m sure your laughing now. Thanks alot for encouraging this behavior. [LINK](https://www.foxnews.com/us/statue-monument-vandalized-torn-down-protest) If you dont like that link [HERE](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/502492-list-statues-toppled-vandalized-removed-protests) is another with a list of monuments defaced. As I said before removing statues and monuments by legal means thru government is ok. But you dont give every jackass permission to tear down whatever they like (which is what has happened). I find it interesting how democrats are pushing taking them down legally and are silent when its done by rioters. BTW, [THIS GUY](https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-statues-democrats-kass-0820-20170818-column.html) has a point. why not abolish or rename the democratic party since, ok, democrats are now the good guys. But years ago they were the party of the kkk and the confederacy. Why should they keep the same name? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/508 "2020-06-27T16:47:03Z")
Silly slippery slopes aside, would it be o.k. with you if UN-American statues and monuments were torn down? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/509 "2020-06-27T17:05:23Z")
Jon Stewart was on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah the other day and he pointed out that those decrying taking down statues of Confederate leaders were apparently silent when the statues of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad came down. Should we have told the Iraqis that they were erasing their history? ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/510 "2020-06-29T14:37:50Z")
If we’re getting rid of everything associated with slavery, then certainly all of the slave states should be renamed. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/511 "2020-06-30T00:00:53Z")
Traitors do not get to have pride in their heritage. Remind me again about how many Nazi statues there are in Germany, honoring their cause. The traitors’ descendants are lucky to even be here, as their ancestors could have easily lined up against the wall or led to the gallows after the war. That would have been just; ridding the world of garbage and giving the spoils to their victims. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/512 "2020-06-30T04:50:38Z")
RE: Stone Mountain… I still like the idea of adding a carving of General Sherman chasing the Three Traitors into the sea. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/513 "2020-06-30T20:51:23Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s hard for me to believe this law is, um, _legal_ . How is this not an unconstitutional taking on the part of the Commonwealth of Virginia from the local governments? They can’t just say to those governments, “because you built X on your property, you aren’t allowed to change your mind and Serve as practice for Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/514 "2020-06-30T20:53:57Z")
It’s not a silly slippery slope when what was warned would happen if society cowardly tried to appease the radical mob has indeed happened. Slippery slope is as much of a misleading euphemism as peaceful protests nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![urbanredneck2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5f8ce5/32.png) [@urbanredneck2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urbanredneck2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/515 "2020-06-30T21:05:53Z")
I dont know. I dont live in Gemany. I’d be surprised if they dont have some kind of war cemeteries or monuments. Japan does. ---
**Author:** ![urbanredneck2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5f8ce5/32.png) [@urbanredneck2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urbanredneck2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/516 "2020-06-30T21:06:48Z")
Exactly. And now democrats stand back and tell the mob to tear down whatever they want. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/517 "2020-06-30T21:56:32Z")
Why yeah, that cop killing a black man sure started the things going down the slippery slope. /s Of course, one can also point here that you guys are ignoring the systematic injustice in place that causes those mobs. Very convenient to forget how and when that slope was made. > **[UN experts demand end to crackdown on protesters in Belarus ahead of elections](https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2020/07/un-experts-demand-end-crackdown-protesters-belarus-ahead-elections?LangID=E&NewsID=26023)** > > русский GENEVA (1 July 2020) – UN experts today demanded that Belarus refrains from violence against peaceful protesters ahead of 9 August presidential elections. They urged the Government to abandon its policy of arbitrary arrests, violence and... As for the point of democrats standing back and telling the mob to tear down whatever they want, that is an asinine thing to say. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/518 "2020-06-30T22:07:36Z")
There are cemeteries in the US also, even for the Confederate dead. But do Germany or Japan have statues of any of their leaders from WWII? I very much doubt so. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/519 "2020-06-30T22:29:58Z")
A family honoring its own loss on private property is not the issue here. Sure there are military graveyards in Germany. But there are zero statues of Nazi “heroes” in public squares where Jewish people have to see their tormentors honored. Germans don’t get to have pride in their Nazi heritage. The fact that you can’t see the difference tells us all we need to know. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694/520 "2020-06-30T23:08:33Z")
A bit off-topic, but at least two of these 1890s-era monuments – one in Raleigh, NC and one in Norfolk, VA – have been found to contain time capsules. The North Carolina one was barely documented, and looks like it got impaled by an excavator bucket; apparently the Norfolk one was removed in the 1960s and replaced in the 1970s. Maybe I’m not up to speed on time capsule protocols, but what’s the point of putting one in the base of a statue if it’s not meant to be taken down at some point? > [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > RE: Stone Mountain… I still like the idea of adding a carving of General Sherman chasing the Three Traitors into the sea. 🤣 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-we-do-with-confederate-monuments-and-statues/793694.md?page=27)