RE: Regarding The Flap Over Confederate Statues
September 15, 2017 at 1:11 pm
(This post was last modified: September 15, 2017 at 1:16 pm by Rev. Rye.)
(September 15, 2017 at 12:15 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote:Rev. Rye Wrote:My problem is with the Manichean outlook endemic to both sides of the controversy: I mean, the whitewashed view of history by many of those who support the monuments s pretty clear. The thing I've spent all this time arguing against is that a lot of us seem to have decided to react to that ideology not by looking at the nuances that might make their legacies complex, but by taking the old paradigm and simply inverting the places of the heroes and villains.
Personally, I'd like to think that they can be reclaimed by history buffs, BUT, and this has proven to be a much bigger but than I previously assumed, we evidently haven't reached the point where we can do that yet, and both sides of the argument are demonstrating this.
In Russia there is a park filled with statues moved from their original places. It's quite poignant. They were moved because they no longer represent what Russia is about (they're mostly communist monuments and the like). In what way is nuance lost if a monument to a confederate general, usually erected with the political motivation to support white supremacy, is moved from the public square to a confederate graveyard or museum? I believe a great deal of much-needed and long overdue nuance would be gained from such a project.
That actually sounds like the perfect solution. Something that puts them into their proper context, certainly better than my previous "plaque" idea. A convenient graveyard for those monuments we regret, but in a context where we can remain mindful of what bigotry can lead to. This is something the history buff in me can certainly appreciate, and I suspect most people should be able to see it as a good solution, except the sort of people who used Charlottesville as an excuse to riot, but I think we can all agree they don't deserve to be made happy. Now I think this is a much better solution than just keeping them where they are.
Let's hope someone can find a plot of land big enough to put them and create a Fallen Monument Park USA and put them in the context they deserve to be put in: relics of a bygone era and case studies of a time we really need to move beyond.
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I was born with the gift of laughter and a sense the world is mad.