Should confederate monuments be destroyed?

[Disgustipated]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/politics/confederate-symbols-by-the-numbers/index.html

Think about it, isn't it strange to have monuments to Confederate generals? You don't see monuments to Rommel in Germany do you? (at least I don't think you do, I haven't actually been there). He may be a great general, but there is no reason to have a monument for him. And yes, I know it's not entirely fair to compare Confederates to Nazis, as the Confederates didn't kill 6 million innocent people, but a lot of people did die on the ships coming over from Africa.

While I do support 1 of Donald Trump's policies, he's wrong about this particular issue. I actually watched a movie recently which illustrates what I've been saying about people who hold Nazis and Confederates to high esteem. It always seem strange to me that people support the losers in history. The movie was called Blood Father, and there was a joke about a character who kept supporting the losers (Confeds and Nazis). It's time to stop worshiping these people and start living in the present. On a side note, I think most monuments are ridiculous. No person deserves such a monument, the only exception should be Cristo Redeemer. No one else deserves a monument in my opinion.

So my vote is to destroy them all, not just move them.

Moderator Action: Thread title changed and OP edited to remove content that incites illegal action. - Vincour
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Glassfan]

Yes, there are statues of Rommel in Germany.

It is PC that "perception is reality", and if segments of our society consider Confederate statues racist, then perhaps they should be removed from public lands, rather than vandalized as we saw in Charlotte.

People who believe in Southern heritage should be allowed to keep such statues on their personal property.

What I fear the most is revenge-vandalism. When MLK statues are attacked we'll really begin to upset people.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'm undecided on whether I think they should be destroyed or just moved. I think the ongoing sentimentality of the Confederacy is part of the story, and there's a great deal of misunderstanding of what the Confederacy was and what it represented. For instance, a lot of people conflate the Confederacy with the South. I suspect these standing memorials perpetuate that confusion, so they at least need to be removed.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I would expect statues of Rommel in Germany. Rommel is one of the greatest generals in history, and he is German. Your point is better illustrated by the fact that you don't see statues of Rommel in France. He is no less of a general on that side of the border, but his side lost. Lee was a good general, but so did the Confederacy.

 

[Glassfan]

We've been removing religious statues, symbols and Nativity Scenes from public lands for decades. They can inhabit private properties owned by believers.

 

[Kyriakos]

I would expect statues of Rommel in Germany. Rommel is one of the greatest generals in history, and he is German. Your point is better illustrated by the fact that you don't see statues of Rommel in France. He is no less of a general on that side of the border, but his side lost. Lee was a good general, but so did the Confederacy.

Rommel was a good general, and thus being good at that helped the nazis. Arguably the nazis were at least on par morally with the Csa.
I was a bit surprised they have statues of Rommel in Germany. Maybe next they should also have statues of "the anonymous nazi soldier, falling victim to a tiny minority of actual nazis while the rest were good people, honest".

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Afaik there is one small memorial in Rommel's hometown and a barracks named after him. That's pretty much it. No real statues.
I'll let it pass because he's been implicated in an assassination plot against Hitler.
I think if general Lee had tried to murder Jefferson Davis, more people would be fine with statues.

 

[Kyriakos]

Afaik there is one small memorial in Rommel's hometown and a barracks named after him. That's pretty much it. No real statues.
I'll let it pass because he's been implicated in an assassination plot against Hitler.
I think if general Lee had tried to murder Jefferson Davis, more people would be fine with statues.

That sounds more logical, yes.

 

[Senethro]

Yes, there are statues of Rommel in Germany.

It is PC that "perception is reality", and if segments of our society consider Confederate statues racist, then perhaps they should be removed from public lands, rather than vandalized as we saw in Charlotte.

People who believe in Southern heritage should be allowed to keep such statues on their personal property.

What I fear the most is revenge-vandalism. When MLK statues are attacked we'll really begin to upset people.

Someone smashed a holocaust memorial in Boston a few days ago, so kind of already there.

 

[Lexicus]

Yes, there are statues of Rommel in Germany.

Provide me with an example...?

I would expect statues of Rommel in Germany.

I would expect precisely the opposite since the cultural antipathy towards glorification of that era, however indirectly, is too great.

I think if general Lee had tried to murder Jefferson Davis, more people would be fine with statues.

IIRC Rommel wasn't really involved in the plot, though, no? Reading the wiki article it seems the consensus of historians is that he probably knew about it but wasn't involved and didn't think killing Hitler was a good idea.

I'm not voting in the poll because I think these monuments ought to be preserved in museums as relics of a shameful era of US history, not destroyed.

 

[rah]

I'm not voting in the poll because I think these monuments ought to be preserved in museums as relics of a shameful era of US history, not destroyed

Or just as pieces of art. If they're all destroyed, eventually people might forget. And like other evils, they shouldn't be forgotten and then repeated.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

On a side note, I think most monuments are ridiculous. No person deserves such a monument, the only exception should be Cristo Redeemer. No one else deserves a monument in my opinion.

So much for the commandment against graven images.

 

[Traitorfish]

If American's had half the decisiveness of the Irish, this would all have been settled decades ago.

 

[Glassfan]

The Canadian sang,

Southern Man, you've got the rest of the Union to give you a hand.

To which Lynyrd Skynyrd responded,

I hope Neil Young will remember; Southern Man don't need him around, any how.

 

[warpus]

Did you know that the 4 presidents on display on Mt. Rushmore were racists who had slaves and stuff?

Tear them down

 

[rah]

4?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Did you know that the 4 presidents on display on Mt. Rushmore were racists who had slaves and stuff?

Tear them down

Ummmm....Roosevelt was long after slavery, and I don't recall Lincoln owning any either.

 

[Perfection]

We shoukd destroy them and then put up confederate monument monuments to honor the fallen confederate monuments.

 

[mrt144]

I'm undecided on whether I think they should be destroyed or just moved. I think the ongoing sentimentality of the Confederacy is part of the story, and there's a great deal of misunderstanding of what the Confederacy was and what it represented. For instance, a lot of people conflate the Confederacy with the South. I suspect these standing memorials perpetuate that confusion, so they at least need to be removed.

To be fair, a lot of southerners have an identity cultivated around the confederacy. To say its conflated by ornery outsiders is false.

 

[Traitorfish]

Did you know that the 4 presidents on display on Mt. Rushmore were racists who had slaves and stuff?

Tear them down

I mean, a lot of Native Americans have demanding precisely that since it was built.