Nazis and white-power lunatics march in defense of a statue of a person fighting to keep slavery in America.
The re-action to that is a counter-protest. Learn how discern between cause and effect.
One crazy bastard drives a car into a group of people, killing one of the protesters.
What type of response can be expected here?
JohnRoberts said:
Our fathers and grandfathers fought to protect their right to show their ass (like that)...... while I agree it is deplorable and embarrassing (it's protected speech).
I'm sure the euro press and public is eating that stuff up because it makes them feel better about themselves (sorry my speculation). I have been trying to ignore the recent flare up in the news, no doubt aggravated by attention from the media (nothing like lights and cameras to attract a crowd, and create a news story, on a slow news day.) There seems to be a new front in the identity politics culture wars to take a magic slate approach to disappear historical cultural icons. I couldn't give a rat's a__ about the stars and bars (confederate flag), but see at least one neighbor flying one. He probably lives up to at least part of the stereotype assigned to all of them (red neck, white, and prejudiced, while that sounds a little redundant).
I see little sense in tearing down statues of confederate generals. Anyone who has bothered to learn about the civil war realizes is was far more complicated than just about race relations (more about economic systems and states rights). By modern cultural mores slavery is unacceptable, but hundreds of years ago it was widely tolerated and accepted as normal. I am not about to take George Washington off the dollar bill because he owned slaves hundreds of years ago. If people want to be outraged about slavery let's fight the slavery still going on today around the world (mostly as human trafficking but simple slavery is practiced in ISIS controlled regions). If angry about Nazism let's push back against anti semitism still widely practiced in the west, sometimes subtle sometimes not so much.
There are soldiers still fighting and dying today around the world trying to win somebody else's liberty, while modern culture makes it uncool to applaud and support their efforts.
JR
- Neo nazis have the right to march and have their opinions, their speech is protected
- European press is presumed to feast on this to claim superiority over the US (which, I presume, really means Europe is
inferior)
- The US media is of complicit in this, because when people see cameras they congregate, with violence as a result apparently
- We had our war on drugs, on terror, and more importantly Christmas, and now finally a “culture war”. The liberals are hell bent on taking away the cultural icons of the past. That they were racist people fighting for slavery is of no concern.
- Sure slavery was bad, but things were different back then. Our moral compass was different. Can we really blame them for the racism and slavery? I mean, would we have been any different? (I’m half black - you’re a bright cookie; figure it out)
- Sure, slavery was bad, but if you really want outrage, forget about the past and focus not on America. Look over there! Somewhere else on the planet there's still slavery!
- Sure, Nazis are bad, especially Illinois Nazis. But let’s not fret over domestic white power racists and them walking around at night with torches and wanting a society where blacks and whites are segregated, let’s push back against anti semitism specifically instead. I mean, after all, if all white-power racists are by definition both anti-black and anti-semites, surely it must make sense to focus on the latter, no? Why kill two birds with one stone?
- And finally, let’s talk about supporting our troops. After all, that's
always a good argument regardless of the topic. I’m surprised we didn’t see a mention of 9/11 above, because it seems it would have fit very well.
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Absentees:
- Clear condemnation without caveats of this racist white power movement
- Clear condemnation without caveats of the act of terrorism
If I wasn’t so tired and overworked I would have thought you were incapable of empathy John. I’ll just settle for the above making pretty clear just how you can support racial profiling in New York by the NYPD when doing unconstitutional pat downs on brown people.
Yeah, I know, you’re now going to get upset and tell us all how this isn’t about you and I should’t make it personal. But guess what; for people of color people like you are part of the problem. You want to protect racist symbols just because it makes you feel fuzzy about your previously divide country. Like there’s some charming “life was simpler back when” reality. And of course that was true, just not for the colored folks who have to see those monuments being worshipped by current day racists, partially because people like you want to leave them there. And you want to keep NY secure by endorsing racially profiled stop-and-frisk. Again, quite the coincidence: Some groups are negatively affected by this and others aren't. Which group are you in?
When Americans choose to talk about everything
around something like this - something which Dave correctly pointed out was fucking fought over not just in the US civil war and subsequently in the courts, but also in a world war that threatened to destroy us all - rather than at the very least condemn it, then something is utterly wrong.
I would encourage deep introspection, but I know that's a futile request.
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Kudos to DaveP for his remarks.