My city's monument to the war between the states was erected in 1912 by the Daughters of the Confederacy. About that time veterans from that war would've been dying off like flies due to old age and I'm sure that had something to do with daughters literally honoring their (dying off) fathers.
That monument, after much ballyhoo, was removed last month. It found a home in the Civil War Museum here. I think that is a good place for it.
So no, here our monument wasnt making a statement about the civil rights movement.
We have a lot of work ahead of us if we are to rid this country of every trace of anything that honors the Confederacy. We've got statues to tear down, buildings to rename, parks to clear, battlefields to remove from the National Park Service, roads to rename, laws to change, people to round up who fly the confederate flag and arrests to be made for anyone spouting out secessionist propaganda. We've got to build interment camps, deprogramming work gettos and gulags. If we are to purge this terrible history from our nation so that no one will ever know what evil existed and there will be not the slightest evidence of it......we need to get to work now!
Or in other words, If the KKK shows up for a hate parade and there's nobody there to hear their hate speech......was anyone offended?
I had the very intense experience of visiting Dachau. Evils like slavery and genocide should not be forgotten, but they and their perpetrators should not be celebrated either.
Deprogramming is a word I chose because families used it to try to help family members caught up in cults and brainwashed by them. These white supremacist, neo-Nazi groups are death cults hoping to foment a race war. Should that happen they are greatly outnumbered by decent people and they would be killed.
I know the FBI watches these groups, but as with radical Islamic terrorists they can't watch and catch them all. It is up to those in their social circles to try to deradicalize them, so they aren't someday in the position of the Unabomber"s brother, who had to turn in a family member to save others' lives.
I was unplugged from Friday night until now. I had only vague knowledge of a clash of some kind in VA.
After reading about it this morning, it sounds like a right-wing terrorist attacked a group of people, killing one and injuring many others.
WS, in response to your concern re freedom of association, may I offer the following:
when my mother saw what free assembly in Germany triggered leading up to WW2, she was deeply concerned and ever after feared strong emotionalism and the mindless hate that was in control at that time. She left before WW2 after marrying my father. After her passing, I went to Germany and toured the country trying to understand her perception of the world and the consequences. In so many places, I saw huge differences in approach to life (Frankfurt wanted business and rebuilt accordingly, Munich wanted beauty and soul resulting huge tourism benefits) but every part expressed their remorse for enabling and being unable to control the hate at the appropriate time and the consequences that arose. I found that many people tried to stem the rise of hate and persecution and lost their lives in the process. This is not just a topic of conversation for me.
WS and all those who are defending the hate propagandists' freedom of assembly, where and how do you or will you draw the line? Can you draw the line? Germany could not despite the efforts of many courageous people of all persuasions. Germans were and are very smart and capable people. Many countries, including the US, bought into the hypnotic influence of that hate and denied sanctuary to those fleeing the hate.
Do not underestimate the power of hate especially with the easy communication provided by social media of today to assemble and overwhelm a society.
Princeton took a very careful thoughtful approach and is providing leadership. Free assembly is a right as is individualism but they also have obligations and responsibilities that we seem to be forgetting.
Without meaning disrespect to any, I go back to my analogy of foxes demanding free assembly in a chicken house. A chicken house has function, service, production with pecking orders and hierarchy but it works usually quite well. Foxes have an entirely different agenda, the intimidation of and destruction of the both the chickens and its peaceful activity. How should the chickens defend themselves? When? who should do this?
Germany didn't construct a defence system and was overrun by hate. That is what is happening when I read and see images of the US residents arming themselves against each other in fear. Is that what you see and want? This is not intended to be inflammatory but a serious question as I live nearby and don't want the hypnotic effect to spill here.
As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
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