Civil War Memorials
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/us/politics/right-and-left-on-removal-of-confederate-statues.html
Down the Middle:
"Why Are We Really Talking About Removing Confederate Monuments? Not For The Reason You Think."
Ben Shapiro
In this article, Ben Shapiro argues that removing statues isn't about removing white supremacy or the removal of the person at all. It's rather about removing political opposition. President Trump, on the right side, he mentions, is defending the removal of Robert E. Lee's statue moreso to defend those, right followers, who support him, not because he actually believes they should be kept. The Left side feels, he argues, that the statues should be removed because to protest white supremacists, when there are those non white supremacists who believe the statues should not be removed.
Left:
"U.S. should see Confederate leaders the way Germans see Hitler"
Gersh Kuntzman
In this article, Kuntzman argues that just because something is a part of history and culture does not mean it needs to be glorified. For example, there are no statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany even though he was a part of their history and culture. Americans should feel the same way towards leaders of the Confederacy as Hitler.
Right:
"The questions that must be asked before toppling historic statues"
Jonathan S. Tobin
"Public images of America’s past are quickly becoming the focus of revisionist history that some liberals believe requires us to tear down memorials to those associated with slavery, or, as in the case of TR, prone to say some things that would be judged politically incorrect in the 21st century"
"A generation ago, nobody would have thought Washington or Jefferson controversial. Now it appears that even Mount Rushmore isn’t safe, since among its quartet of greats, only Lincoln might be exempt from the iconoclasts."
My opinion
While I do believe that having statues should be removed from public places and should rather be placed in historical settings like museums, I question where the line would be drawn. Would everything having to do with the Confederacy now have to be take away. For example, should Washington and Lee University have its name changed to something else just because it has Confederate Robert E. Lee's name in the title. Moreso, Randolph School gets its name from Randolph Street which is named after a person with the last name Randolph who was a Confederate (this also explains why the colors of Randolph are blue and gray). Should the name of our school be changed because of this? While I disproved of glorifying and literally putting white-supremacists on a pedestal, I feel like there has to be a fine line with what we change and remove.
Down the Middle:
"Why Are We Really Talking About Removing Confederate Monuments? Not For The Reason You Think."
Ben Shapiro
In this article, Ben Shapiro argues that removing statues isn't about removing white supremacy or the removal of the person at all. It's rather about removing political opposition. President Trump, on the right side, he mentions, is defending the removal of Robert E. Lee's statue moreso to defend those, right followers, who support him, not because he actually believes they should be kept. The Left side feels, he argues, that the statues should be removed because to protest white supremacists, when there are those non white supremacists who believe the statues should not be removed.
Left:
"U.S. should see Confederate leaders the way Germans see Hitler"
Gersh Kuntzman
In this article, Kuntzman argues that just because something is a part of history and culture does not mean it needs to be glorified. For example, there are no statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany even though he was a part of their history and culture. Americans should feel the same way towards leaders of the Confederacy as Hitler.
Right:
"The questions that must be asked before toppling historic statues"
Jonathan S. Tobin
"Public images of America’s past are quickly becoming the focus of revisionist history that some liberals believe requires us to tear down memorials to those associated with slavery, or, as in the case of TR, prone to say some things that would be judged politically incorrect in the 21st century"
"A generation ago, nobody would have thought Washington or Jefferson controversial. Now it appears that even Mount Rushmore isn’t safe, since among its quartet of greats, only Lincoln might be exempt from the iconoclasts."
My opinion
While I do believe that having statues should be removed from public places and should rather be placed in historical settings like museums, I question where the line would be drawn. Would everything having to do with the Confederacy now have to be take away. For example, should Washington and Lee University have its name changed to something else just because it has Confederate Robert E. Lee's name in the title. Moreso, Randolph School gets its name from Randolph Street which is named after a person with the last name Randolph who was a Confederate (this also explains why the colors of Randolph are blue and gray). Should the name of our school be changed because of this? While I disproved of glorifying and literally putting white-supremacists on a pedestal, I feel like there has to be a fine line with what we change and remove.
Comments
Post a Comment