Slade3200
Diamond Member
- Jan 13, 2016
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- #421
Who cares what color confederates were, how is that relevant? They were a group that waged war on our country and tried to succeed over the issue of slavery. What more needs to be said. Why do we need to have so many statues celebrating their generals? It is pretty obvious that they were erected during Jim Crow to remind the blacks who takes priority.Sorry, I don't understand what you are ranting about. What's your pointI disagree, that might be the short term play that they will attempt to capitalize on but in the long term it is removing a source of power and supremacy that exists. Many of those statues were constructed during the Jim Crow era as a check to the blacks that the values of the confederacy still exist. Like I said in the OP whether you take them down or minimize them with "counter" statues of civil rights leaders, I think either is a smart move to combat the hate.It's been a crazy week and i've engaged in many heated discussions about the events of Charlottesville. I have to admit that i've been greatly conflicted about my anti-racist feelings and my support of free speech. I flirted dangerously close in many discussions to promoting the shutdown of speech for white supremacist groups. I saw them as threats, conveyers of hate speech and given their history which has resulted in millions of deaths I was ok with suppressing their speech and shutting down their causes by whatever means necessary. But, I've had a change of heart.
I think we can be smarter than that and not empower these assholes to strip us of our freedoms. It is a slippery slope once you start suppressing speech. We have legal censorship in a variety of areas which i'm fine with, but shutting down groups from holding rallies, having websites and protesting is only going to lead to bad things. Note that I in no way support any provocation of violence or destruction resulting from rallies or protests. If that happens then shut them down immediately and make arrests.
I would promote fighting these douchebags by ignoring them and minimizing them in a SMART way. Don't lower yourself to fight with them and fuel their cause. Take away their statues and flags that empower them in public forums and show them that our communities outright reject their hateful views. Or construct monuments and statues of civil rights leaders next to the confederate statues and tell the story about how we prevailed and fought agains their hate, and WE WON. Ignore their rallies and don't give them the exposure or attention that they crave. Speak louder and stronger for equality.
I still think that the Presidents comments that minimized the ugliness of the Nazi's and White Supremacists were wildly inappropriate. He tried to spread the blame to the left for the anti-protests and it deluded his message of condemnation that should have been crystal clear in opposition of the hate groups. He should have spread the message in a better way to fight against it. I don't want to relitigate Trumps actions in this OP but I did want to share my change of opinion and open up a discussion about productive ways to move forward that combats the hate and preserves our right of free speech.
by taking down those statues and removing those flags you are basically playing into their persecution complex and giving them nothing but fodder for recruiting more people to their cause.
There is no reason to remove statues or monuments other than some people just feel a sense of butt hurt when they think or look at them. It's the same revulsion I feel when i walk past some nimrod with a Che shirt on. However I don't feel a need to rip the shirt off or yell at them about it. I sneer, shake my head, and KEEP WALKING.
Nazi Palousey has been walking by confederate statues in Statuary Hall every day for 30 years and just this week is suddenly concerned about removing them. Here's a couple of little known facts about slavery. The first person to have the supreme court commit him to a life time of servitude was black and his master was also black. 47% of slave owners in SC at the start of the civil war were black. Whites, indians and blacks were slaves in the us. So to portray it as a simple black/white issue is absurd. BTW who would be required to pay reparations on behalf of the black slave owners? Hummmmmmmm.
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My point, is all confederates weren't white and the commiecrat leadership is practicing dead fishes mantra, never let a crisis go to waste. It's all political theater. Our history is our history, it belongs to everyone who claims to be Americans. I heard an other interesting factoid tonight on a radio interview. Do you know 67 colleges don't even require American History studies to get a degree in history? It's not being taught K-12 and it's not taught in colleges, should Americans really have to go to museums to learn their history?
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