Posted on Oct 9, 2017
Confederacy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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American History
Civil War
Donald Trump
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Posted 7 y ago
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What a joke. Comparing confederate soldiers to a British Child Molester. This is what settles for reasoned analysis from the left.
The truth is we learn history a lot of different ways. You can read a book about Gettysburg or go to a museum that has artifacts or you can walk the fields of the battle itself. You can look at the statues that commemorate the sacrifice on both sides and see honor on those that gave all. All Americans involved in a civil war hoisted upon them by destiny.
I read a lot about Normandy and D-Day, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach and St Mere Eglise and Point du Hoc. While I did learn from reading, nothing brought it more to life than walking the beach, the point, the town and seeing where it all took place. I saw statues all along the way from the US Cemetery to the small towns along the way. I even visited a German soldier graveyard there in Normandy. The British General thought it was something we should see.
Have the French torn it down, cast the stones into the sea? No, they separate the soldier form the politicians and leaders that throw them into the breach. A lesson we seem all too willing to forget. When Hitler's Army went across France did they destroy the graves of the allied soldiers that died in the great war? No, they did not. I visited the US Cemetery at Belleau Woods that the Germans had rolled right past. They left it alone, along with the statues and plaques etc. Was some damage done to some due to the war, yes but no wanton destruction or removal.
The truth is we learn history a lot of different ways. You can read a book about Gettysburg or go to a museum that has artifacts or you can walk the fields of the battle itself. You can look at the statues that commemorate the sacrifice on both sides and see honor on those that gave all. All Americans involved in a civil war hoisted upon them by destiny.
I read a lot about Normandy and D-Day, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach and St Mere Eglise and Point du Hoc. While I did learn from reading, nothing brought it more to life than walking the beach, the point, the town and seeing where it all took place. I saw statues all along the way from the US Cemetery to the small towns along the way. I even visited a German soldier graveyard there in Normandy. The British General thought it was something we should see.
Have the French torn it down, cast the stones into the sea? No, they separate the soldier form the politicians and leaders that throw them into the breach. A lesson we seem all too willing to forget. When Hitler's Army went across France did they destroy the graves of the allied soldiers that died in the great war? No, they did not. I visited the US Cemetery at Belleau Woods that the Germans had rolled right past. They left it alone, along with the statues and plaques etc. Was some damage done to some due to the war, yes but no wanton destruction or removal.
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Cpl Jeff N.
MSgt Steve Sweeney
In another case of how low can you go, I guess you are now comparing statues of Robert E Lee to statues of Adolf Hitler. I've tried to make the point to many on here about separating the warrior from the policy. Warriors don't make policy, they have to carry it out. Robert E Lee to use his example, was a Virginian in a day where the state you were from mattered far more than just about anything else. When his state left the Union (through political acts), he went with it.
It is easy to sit back 150 years later and judge people. I hope the same will not be done by posterity of us. You can easily imagine demands of WWII statues and memorials be torn down due to us dropping atomic weapons on enemies and bombing civilian cities in Germany into rubble and even imprisoning Japanese Americans because they were of Asian descent. Posterity may view those as "war crimes" if we continue down the path of trying to judge events of the past by standards of today.
After the War Between the States ended, there was a huge effort made to ensure we came back together as a single country and that we could honor both the confederate and union soldiers. They even had many reunions where both sides came together to meet and remember fallen friends and relatives.
I attempt to separate the war from the warrior and recognize the sacrifice and service of even those that might have been on the other side. Not because I agree with the cause but because I know the warrior in a nation does not pick the conflicts he will fight in. Families in the south remembered their fathers, brothers, sons etc with monuments just as they did in the North. Many were erected by local civic organizations and towns that wanted to honor those lost. We are so petty now, that the conflict they left behind 150 years ago and the wounds they healed then we seem to want to now reopen.
To answer your seemingly rhetorical question, I am aware of no Hitler statues in Europe but I think you knew that or you wouldn't have asked.
In another case of how low can you go, I guess you are now comparing statues of Robert E Lee to statues of Adolf Hitler. I've tried to make the point to many on here about separating the warrior from the policy. Warriors don't make policy, they have to carry it out. Robert E Lee to use his example, was a Virginian in a day where the state you were from mattered far more than just about anything else. When his state left the Union (through political acts), he went with it.
It is easy to sit back 150 years later and judge people. I hope the same will not be done by posterity of us. You can easily imagine demands of WWII statues and memorials be torn down due to us dropping atomic weapons on enemies and bombing civilian cities in Germany into rubble and even imprisoning Japanese Americans because they were of Asian descent. Posterity may view those as "war crimes" if we continue down the path of trying to judge events of the past by standards of today.
After the War Between the States ended, there was a huge effort made to ensure we came back together as a single country and that we could honor both the confederate and union soldiers. They even had many reunions where both sides came together to meet and remember fallen friends and relatives.
I attempt to separate the war from the warrior and recognize the sacrifice and service of even those that might have been on the other side. Not because I agree with the cause but because I know the warrior in a nation does not pick the conflicts he will fight in. Families in the south remembered their fathers, brothers, sons etc with monuments just as they did in the North. Many were erected by local civic organizations and towns that wanted to honor those lost. We are so petty now, that the conflict they left behind 150 years ago and the wounds they healed then we seem to want to now reopen.
To answer your seemingly rhetorical question, I am aware of no Hitler statues in Europe but I think you knew that or you wouldn't have asked.
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Cpl Jeff N.
MSgt Steve Sweeney - Rommel was on the losing side of a world war that killed tens of millions. All things German were obliterated after the war. Our civil war was is not an apples to apples comparison. It was American against American and there was a need to reconcile and bring the nation back together. The leadership of the day knew that without reconciliation the nation would never heal and move forward. A lesson we seem to have forgotten.
Rommel is still studied and revered as a great strategist and tactician to this day. While there may not be many (or any) statues of him in Germany now he was and is viewed very favorable as an armor commander.
How Lee felt about statues is not relevant to how those that felt about him and erected them felt. I know that quote is the "iron clad" proof for the leftists that all memorials to the South ought to come down.
Why the arbitrary 10 years. I think you probably know that many of the monuments were erected as the last of the civil war veterans were passing away in the early 1900's. Some were built earlier and some later. Why does the date the statue was erected matter?
Rommel is still studied and revered as a great strategist and tactician to this day. While there may not be many (or any) statues of him in Germany now he was and is viewed very favorable as an armor commander.
How Lee felt about statues is not relevant to how those that felt about him and erected them felt. I know that quote is the "iron clad" proof for the leftists that all memorials to the South ought to come down.
Why the arbitrary 10 years. I think you probably know that many of the monuments were erected as the last of the civil war veterans were passing away in the early 1900's. Some were built earlier and some later. Why does the date the statue was erected matter?
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