Torch wielding protestors yell Nazi slogans as they defend Confederate statue

[Belsnickel]

(05-15-2017, 05:37 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: You could make the same argument with Erwin Rommel, Erich von Manstein, Ewald von Kleist, Erich Hartmann, etc.  All brilliant military minds or soldiers associated with a vile cause.  Does that cause diminish their brilliance or accomplishments?  I completely get the confederates are traitors to the US argument, because I've frequently made it.  But I don't see how memorializing the great men associated with it promotes the confederacy itself.  To me they are tragic figures but I get that some uphold them as heroes on the right side.  I just don't believe that erasing them from history, because of the beliefs of a small minority, is doing our recognition of our shared national history a service.

Hey, you're talking to a man who still wears a patch that proudly displays the face of Stonewall Jackson on his uniform as a Scout leader (even though our council has had for over a decade now, different council strips without his image). So I get the argument. I think there just has to be a conversation about where that line is and also making sure that we engage with the less than pleasant aspects of their lives. We're much more willing to when it comes to these guys, but in a sweeping way that goes too far. Lee and Jackson both had negative opinions of slavery, but didn't see a natural end to it. The same can be said of many of the founding fathers, but we are much more eager to memorialize them even though the held the same opinions. All because they won.