Gregory's Server@Okanogen @big_in_va @WarnerCrocker My family has always been in the south (well, since we were brought there) and to this day we have to grow up driving on roads, attending schools, and passing by statues dedicated to people who literally thought we were subhuman and deserved to be enslaved. It’s cruel and it’s wrong. These monuments are part of an active campaign to rewrite history and that can’t be forgotten. They’re not just some “historical” thing that can’t be changed.
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 @lawas @Okanogen @big_in_va it will make it easier for the next guys to take advantage of those with shorter memories.” And here we are. I hate to use the word balance in a conversation like this, but I think there is a balance to be achieved so that we remember and honor the good and remember and learn from the bad when it comes to these issues. Monument, street names, city names, heck, even memoirs aren’t handed down by any divine right, /2 @lawas @Okanogen @big_in_va but are established and written by someone for a purpose or a cause. I’m all for removing and changing things when the purpose or cause is to acknowledge bad choices in the past. That said, removing and renaming is no more or less a symbol than erecting or establishing the thing in the first place. Acknowledge and remember it all, the good and the bad. /3 @lawas @Okanogen @big_in_va There are ways to do both, but it requires setting aside passion and ego to look for better solutions. /end  @WarnerCrocker @lawas @big_in_va @Okanogen @lawas @big_in_va I absolutely agree. Like I said, I hated to use the word balance and was not attempting to both sides the issue of changing names, monuments, etc… That wasn’t my point. @WarnerCrocker @lawas @big_in_va @Okanogen @lawas @big_in_va Sure. Will do. Out of a good portion of the evening but when I’m back at the computer happy to be more specific and clear. @WarnerCrocker @lawas @Okanogen @big_in_va Being German I am glad I don't have to live with Hitler streets and statues or any other swastika devorations (there are still some, thoufh mainly hidden from the public). @WarnerCrocker @lawas @big_in_va @Okanogen @lawas @big_in_va Some In this country haven’t come to grips with the sins of our past as they have done in Germany. Plain and simple. It’s why I issue my twice weekly reminder that we’re still in a Civil War.  @big_in_va But you can change names and destroy monuments of people who led to the death of millions! And you definitely should do this! But then you must be ACTIVELY anti-fascist, educate everyone...and punch Nazis as soon as they try to creep out of their holes. Otherwise you are normalizing this shit again. Greetings from Cologne! @Okanogen @WarnerCrocker @lawas @big_in_va the readon being mainly US and USSR soldiers, to be honest. I learned recently there are still Franco streets in Spain, where fascism has not been defeated by war. @benny @WarnerCrocker @lawas @big_in_va |
@lawas @Okanogen @big_in_va Been watching this discussion with great interest. I have a few thoughts. As the USSR was being dismantled I happened to be witness to the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky being torn down. A much older and wiser Russian theatre colleague was with me and said at the time something along the lines of "getting rid of all of these statues and symbols won’t change the horrible things they did. But../1