Protesters destroy confederate monument in Durham

[Draco-Onis]

It's hilarious how many people still think the civil war was about slavery. I guess it's all they teach in northern schools.

Yeah those northern schools and their darn facts

[Independent voter]

The sheriff of the town is hoping to bring all the monument destroyers up on felony charges.

[-aiko-]

And thank them for saving them the effort and doing something that should have been done decades ago?

Hell yeah, man. It's about time we started handing out medals for vandalizing property.

[Zan15]

Because books would be next. Anything that is offensive or "hate speech / icons" would get erased.

well that is some leap from statues to books. No one is going to erase this from the history books.


people don't have to buy books, putting a statue up in a public location best you can do is avoid that public place, unless of course its your school, govt place you need to do business in....

if you want the statue put it up on your lawn, your own business....etc etc

[draynay]

Glad you agree.
People usually tear down these things right after they defeat an enemy, like after WW2 or when Saddam was beaten.
I think the US is probably the only country that erects statues for the enemy after they lost.

If you consider your fellow countrymen the enemy then the war never ends.

[Deleted]

Person who toppled statue arrested.

My god, those people around are giving me a headache. The policemen are doing their job - namely arresting someone who participated in an act of vandalism, destroyed property and thus broke the law. And they are trying to paint them as the bad guys yet again. How utterly delusional.

[Chrysia]

It's hilarious how many people still think the civil war was about slavery. I guess it's all they teach in northern schools. Wouldn't want people to know that the civil war didn't even abolish slavery and it still continued in the north well after the war... Wouldn't want people to think the war was about state rights and how the federal government was gaining too much power over all the states. Just give me my welfare while I riot over things that I don't understand!!

This is complete horseshit. The South was perfectly happy trying to ram through laws expressly forbidding refuge states. The Civil War was in no way, shape, or form about "states' rights."

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If you consider your fellow countrymen the enemy then the war never ends.

Well, they didn't consider themselves our countrymen at the time.

[Dextroden]

My god, those people around are giving me a headache. The policemen are doing their job - namely arresting someone who participated in an act of vandalism, destroyed property and thus broke the law. And they are trying to paint them as the bad guys yet again. How utterly delusional.

If you don't applaud the vandals and let them break the law, then clearly you must be a Nazi or Nazi supporter.

[-aiko-]

My god, those people around are giving me a headache. The policemen are doing their job - namely arresting someone who participated in an act of vandalism, destroyed property and thus broke the law. And they are trying to paint them as the bad guys yet again. How utterly delusional.

It's a little frightening to know that my country is so divided that criminal acts are actively cheered for.


I am not against having such statues removed and put into a museum, or otherwise just being removed from places like public parks. I would expect reasonable adults to start this process the proper way, however, by going to their local government and gathering support. Instead we have children, who throw a tantrum and destroy things they don't like. Sad.

[Chrysia]

It's a little frightening to know that my country is so divided that criminal acts are actively cheered for.


I am not against having such statues removed and put into a museum, or otherwise just being removed from places like public parks. I would expect reasonable adults to start this process the proper way, however, by going to their local government and gathering support. Instead we have children, who throw a tantrum and destroy things they don't like. Sad.

On the one hand, I don't really think the vandals are in the right here.

On the other hand, these states have had over 150 years to get over the fact they lost the war and stop celebrating treasonous figureheads of a State specifically founded to preserve slavery, so I can get why people are a bit impatient for them to get with the times.

[draynay]

Well, they didn't consider themselves our countrymen at the time.

And then the war ended, which is my point, if you fixate on the way things were during the war, how can you ever move on?

I don't see any reason to shame men who would rather fight for their state than against it. Slavery caused the divisions that led to war, but condemning the average confederate soldier as a slaver or traitor is an infantile oversimplification. I say this generally, not directed at anyone in particular, there are plenty of people here who can't see beyond the simplest generalizations.

[Dextroden]

On the one hand, I don't really think the vandals are in the right here.

On the other hand, these states have had over 150 years to get over the fact they lost the war and stop celebrating treasonous figureheads of a State specifically founded to preserve slavery, so I can get why people are a bit impatient for them to get with the times.

Conversely, these people could have tried this nonsense any other time. I wonder why they expect to be applauded for breaking the law.

[Chrysia]

And then the war ended, which is my point, if you fixate on the way things were during the war, how can you ever move on?

I don't see any reason to shame men who would rather fight for their state than against it. Slavery caused the divisions that led to war, but condemning the average confederate soldier as a slaver or traitor is an infantile oversimplification. I say this generally, not directed at anyone in particular, there are plenty of people here who can't see beyond the simplest generalizations.

These monuments, by and large, aren't depicting "the average Confederate soldier."

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Conversely, these people could have tried this nonsense any other time. I wonder why they expect to be applauded for breaking the law.

Well, I won't applaud them, but I won't call for their heads.

[Rhamses]

Weren't slaves property at the time?

Wasn't slavery an immoral institution that flew in the face of tbe ideals of the country?

[Dextroden]

These monuments, by and large, aren't depicting "the average Confederate soldier."

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Well, I won't applaud them, but I won't call for their heads.

Thanks Trump.

[Rhamses]

And then the war ended, which is my point, if you fixate on the way things were during the war, how can you ever move on?

I don't see any reason to shame men who would rather fight for their state than against it. Slavery caused the divisions that led to war, but condemning the average confederate soldier as a slaver or traitor is an infantile oversimplification. I say this generally, not directed at anyone in particular, there are plenty of people here who can't see beyond the simplest generalizations.

You mean the same "average confederate soldiers" who proceeded to construct a version of American apartheid after the war, and outright oppose the equal rights of African Americans for over a century afterwards?

The founders of the KKK were former Confederate soldiers.

[draynay]

These monuments, by and large, aren't depicting "the average Confederate soldier."

The defaced monument this thread is about was such a monument.

[Pannonian]

And then the war ended, which is my point, if you fixate on the way things were during the war, how can you ever move on?

I don't see any reason to shame men who would rather fight for their state than against it. Slavery caused the divisions that led to war, but condemning the average confederate soldier as a slaver or traitor is an infantile oversimplification. I say this generally, not directed at anyone in particular, there are plenty of people here who can't see beyond the simplest generalizations.

I think the problem arises the moment you take the confederate battle flag and take it to the street, because in that moment you're identifying with it, and with everything it represents. And people will react to this. The confederacy didn't see the yanks as their countrymen, so by taking up the flag it's not that far fetched for people to assume you share this position. Now i don't think you shouldn't be proud of your part of the country, or of its history, but by talking up a specific flag or honoring a memorial of a specific man, you automatically also take one the positions they're famous for. I cannot use Hitler as paragon for my vegan-group, because though he was a vegan, it's not really what he is known for.

And the same essentially applies to the people in c-ville. If you march under a Nazi-Flag you choose to. You don't take some symbol of white-power or american-facism, you take the flag of actual Nazi Germany and therefore you will be associated with it.

But i like to be nuanced: I don't have any problems with say honoring the fallen of the war, or the brethren who gave their life. I think that's fully acceptable. But the moment you single out a person and portray him as praiseworthy, you associate with what he is known for.

[Draco-Onis]

And then the war ended, which is my point, if you fixate on the way things were during the war, how can you ever move on?

I don't see any reason to shame men who would rather fight for their state than against it. Slavery caused the divisions that led to war, but condemning the average confederate soldier as a slaver or traitor is an infantile oversimplification. I say this generally, not directed at anyone in particular, there are plenty of people here who can't see beyond the simplest generalizations.

Shouldn't this be directed at the South? since they are the ones holding onto their confederate statutes and flag even to this day. The reason we're at this point is because they never moved on and still teach this revisionist version of history which is why they have become the breeding ground for white supremacists.

[Deleted]

I am not against having such statues removed and put into a museum, or otherwise just being removed from places like public parks. I would expect reasonable adults to start this process the proper way, however, by going to their local government and gathering support. Instead we have children, who throw a tantrum and destroy things they don't like. Sad.

That was also my point, yes. Regardless of if you think the statue should be removed from where it was or not - there are proper, legal ways to go about it. Going out and just destroying things that - for whatever reason - offend or upset you is not acceptable. By any means. That's not how the world and society works, even if some of those people seem to think (or wish) it would.

And then having the audacity to try and paint the policemen as the bad guys is ridiculous at best.