Fine Take the Statues Down, But Do It for the Right Reason - Granite Grok

Fine Take the Statues Down, But Do It for the Right Reason

Something about this whole thing with toppling statues is bothering me. Actually, many things.Confederate Statue Durham North Carolina

First, let it be known that I hold no quarter for any Confederate soldier, militia member, officer or general. They took the wrong side, fought for something dishonorable, and were deeply misguided. And they lost. That’s it. With that said, I do believe that there are some good people who disagree with me on this. And that’s fine.

But I got to say, bending to the will of an angry mob in appeasement, even if it is against white nationalism or racism or whatever, is just, well, stupid and counter productive, but before we get to that, should we remove Confederate statues from public spaces?

My simple answer is I really don’t care that much. I am sure there are some logical reasons to remove the statues and commemorations. One reason might be that it was completely illogical to erect them in the first place. Ones that come to mind are the Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues in New York City.  Why the hell were they erected? Both of the men wanted to sack New York. That’s like New Hampshire erecting a King George III statue, it makes no friggin sense. Another reason that I’ve heard and I’m not sure I completely agree, but it is worth consideration, is that some (many?) of these statues were erected with racist motives during the Civil Rights movement and smack of a stubborn, racist finger in the eye of that movement. There might be some truth to that. I’m not sure. There might be other legitimate reasons worth discussing. But that’s the point. Let’s discuss this and come to an understanding before acting out. Like G.K. Chesterton said:

…let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

And not taking a breath before acting out is also counter productive if your goal is to bring peace and civility. When you bend to the will of an angry mob (or a bully) in hopes to appease it, you do not quell the fire, you stoke it. They’ll continue to tantrum, vandalize, and beat people with bats and fists, and demand something more the next time. There will be more riots and beatings and probably deaths. This won’t stop. This is like giving into a child’s tantrum when he wants a cookie. If you do give in, he’ll foot stomp and scream every time you do not give him one. Eventually, if this continues, you’ll end up with a pudgy, ill-mannered child. Speaking of a pudgy, ill-mannered child, consider another example of appeasement in the face of tantrums and review our Democrat lead relations and “deals” with the monstrous North Koreans and their pudgy ill-mannered murderous leader.

Also, just because you share common cause with bad people, doesn’t mean they’re not bad people. Look (since it’s in the zeitgeist today we’ll take the Commies and Nazis) we allied ourselves with Stalin to defeat Hitler. Stalin was a terror, responsible for far more brutal deaths than Hitler, but Hitler was on a tear across Europe and needed to be stopped. That doesn’t mean Stalin was a good guy. He wasn’t, he was a cruel, murderous madman. And neither are the anti-fa, BLM, and leftist vandalizing violent filth marching with them. They are not good people. And just because they don’t like the KKK and white nationalists either, doesn’t make them good people. They’re the Stalin to the KKK’s Hitler. They’re the Iraq to the Iran in the 80’s. They both suck.

So, if you want to take down statues, let’s all calm the f*** down and talk about it. Geeze.

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