>From: "Joseph Catron" <jncatron at gmail.com>
>
>Calr, do you have any idea how ridiculous you appear to any reasonable
>person?
>
>On 5/9/07, Carl Remick <carlremick at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > No, the statuary makes all the difference.
I think I hear the rest of the list tapping its toe about the protracted nature of this thread, and I myself am tired of banging my head on the wall.
So let me just sum up my position and say sayonara to this subject.
I do indeed believe statuary makes all the difference. I think symbols matter -- that a society's ideals have immense force in shaping its current and future material reality. I think it's shocking that the South continues to maintain numerous monuments venerating the memory of individuals who fought to preserve the institution of slavery. I think it's vile that, according to Wikipedia, "In Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Louisiana vehicle owners can request a license plate from the state featuring the Sons of Confederate Veterans logo, which incorporates the square Confederate Battle Flag." I would guess Germany has few memorials honoring the bravery of the Wehrmacht and that the swastika is not an optional logo for display on German license plates.
If the North has sneaky racist practices, that very sneakiness is an admission that the practitioners recognize they have violated community standards of appropriate behavior and that they are ashamed of that transgression. Hypocrisy, famously, is the homage vice pays to virtue. OTOH, I think it's deranged and disturbing that so much of today's South seeks -- openly, cheerfully and proudly -- to honor the memory of the CSA, commemorating a government and armed forces that were centrally and wholeheartedly dedicated to the furtherance of a slavery-based society.
Over and out.
Carl
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