Confederate monuments being torn down.

[LanghamP]

Yea, nah, or in-between?

Personally, I'd like to keep all monuments up because I like to take pictures of them, read a bit about their history, delve a bit about why they went up. To me, after visiting Gettysburg, Antietam, Verdun, Nijmagen and Arnhem, etc... these monuments strike me much more as...grief-stricken than they do honoring the cause of the losing side.

I find war doesn't have a moral compass; you might have the best cause ever but if you don't have the arms and the men, too bad you just lost and the victors write the history books.

Over just the past few years we've seen most Confederate monuments torn down throughout the nation. My own town is going to tear a rather charming monument, where the statues are simply out of uniform Confederate soldier saying goodbye to his wife and children. It was purposefully made as non-contraversal as possible. To tear it down is going to cost something like $120,000. Still, it gets constantly vandalized by Black Lives Matter and the cost of constantly guarding and cleaning the monument is getting steep.

I have heard good arguments for tearing down all Confederate statues. Symbols of white oppression, racism, Lost Cause, Robert E. Lee was an ass (he was), so on and so on. If I was a black person then I might be kinda sensitive to that even if the war took place 150 years ago and the end result was technically free blacks (though we know about Jim Crow but then again if you're not the age of Morgan Freeman then can you also really complain about that?).

Also, the post-war Confederacy was essentially an occupied nation within a nation; I'd bet the Federals let the ex-Confederates put up their monuments as a sort of salve. Now, however, everyone seems to be trying to get rid of diverse thinking as fast as possible...which kinda makes sense since diverse people come to blows pretty often. They disagree a lot.

I'd probably be in favor of

--No monuments of any kind.

--A counter-monument to the one already in place.

I would not be in favor of tearing down disagreeable monuments.

[LanghamP]

Doh, the city today already started tearing down the monument in Forrest Park.

I guess that makes this discussion immaterial. Them's monuments, all, are going down. Monuments are so 19th century anyway; strange and ghastly backgrounds on your Facebook profile are the modern progressive way of honoring whatever cause strikes your fancy.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Monuments are nice ways to remember a significant event or person from history, but usually by the next generation that real significance is not as fresh in the memory.  They end up being nice art pieces to take photos of or visit.  It's getting close to the point where all the veterans directly involved in WWII are passing away.  I think we'll still see and honor their sacrifices and struggles by maintaining the commemorative statues and monuments remembering that period in time.  Whether in another generation or two people still will is difficult to say.  As art pieces and a way to remember I think they still have value.  There are still many World War I monuments around the world.  A War of 1812 monument was installed in 2014 on Parliament Hill here in Canada.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/war-of-1812-monument-unveiled-on-parliament-hill

I don't know if a lot of people really remember or understand the significance of it other than appreciating it as a grand art piece.  I'd be curious if they asked 1000 visitors to the site if they could explain the war of 1812 whether many would be able to.

Does anyone remember the First Barbary war between the US, Sweden, and the Barbary Coast States?  There is a monument for it which is the oldest military one in the country called the Tripoli Monument.  Whether it holds much significance to anyone living today is anyone's guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripoli_Monument_(sculpture)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War

[steve454]

29 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Monuments are nice ways to remember a significant event or person from history, but usually by the next generation that real significance is not as fresh in the memory.  They end up being nice art pieces to take photos of or visit.  It's getting close to the point where all the veterans directly involved in WWII are passing away.  I think we'll still see and honor their sacrifices and struggles by maintaining the commemorative statues and monuments remembering that period in time.  Whether in another generation or two people still will is difficult to say.  As art pieces and a way to remember I think they still have value.  There are still many World War I monuments around the world.  A War of 1812 monument was installed in 2014 on Parliament Hill here in Canada.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/war-of-1812-monument-unveiled-on-parliament-hill

I don't know if a lot of people really remember or understand the significance of it other than appreciating it as a grand art piece.  I'd be curious if they asked 1000 visitors to the site if they could explain the war of 1812 whether many would be able to.

Does anyone remember the First Barbary war between the US, Sweden, and the Barbary Coast States?  There is a monument for it which is the oldest military one in the country called the Tripoli Monument.  Whether it holds much significance to anyone living today is anyone's guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripoli_Monument_(sculpture)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War

I didn't read all of it but was amazed that the United States fought with Sweden.  Never knew that.  But then again, I saw a history book showing that Sweden had slaves.  That blew my mind.  And that the US paid tribute to the Barbary pirates and paid ransom for kidnapped sailors.  A major reason for the US Navy to be built up.  Reminds me of the Somalian pirates still doing the same thing today.  Like WTF?  How is that even possible?  Just stay 100 miles off the coast and do a sharp turn in to the port.  The only way the pirates could get on board is if they were let on board.  Water cannons keep the sides of the ship clean.

[Rehab1]

2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I don't know if a lot of people really remember or understand the significance of it other than appreciating it as a grand art piece.  I'd be curious if they asked 1000 visitors to the site if they could explain the war of 1812 whether many would be able to.

Did you ever watch Watters World when he interviews college students on the streets out mudane historic events?  Shameful the lack of knowledge they possess!