Charlottesville

[My Name Is Kate]

Both the JJamiekinder post on this forum and the BoothiebarnDave post (on another forum) are excellent and thought-provoking. I have a few comments to make about the latter post.

To say that the Charlottesville counter-protesters were unquestionably on the side of right, is to assume that you know their motives for protesting. But you do not even know for a fact that some or most of the counter-protesters weren't there only because someone had paid them to be there (in fact, that may also be why some of the protesters were there, for all we know). Most of the counter-protesters were white, from what I saw. I watched several videos of that riot, and there is no question that there was a good deal of hatred and violence on both sides. Some of them came armed with various weapons. I didn't see anyone on either side making the slightest effort to engage in thoughtful debate with the other side. It was bestial. It reminded me of documentaries I have watched about fights to the death between lions and hyenas.

The slippery slope argument has validity. I agree with Dave that it should not have validity, but not all human beings are rational or knowledgeable about history, and there are often hidden agendas. Already there is talk about blowing up Mount Rushmore and defunding the Jefferson Memorial. How much more obvious can it be that the real goal of some of these people is to destroy the foundation of this country?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg4XKIX1bs4

Meanwhile, the murders among black Americans continue unabated in Chicago, but that receives very little press and apparently is of little or no interest to the same people who are up in arms about what an insult certain statues are to some Americans. What are Sharpton and Jackson doing about the murders? What did Obama ever do about Chicago and the inner cities? What did the Democrats/liberals or Republicans/conservatives ever do about it? Anything? (I intend those as real questions, not rhetorical ones.) Why is it that so many people, both black and white, are only outraged by white-on-black crime, or white-on-black injustices? It sure seems that many black people hate white people indiscriminately, and that that hatred is a much stronger motivator than any love they may have for black people. And the white people...what are they trying to prove? Are they so afraid of black people that they will do anything to try to prove that they are in complete solidarity with them (even in violence), in the hope that they will then be given a pass for being born white? Do they want to disassociate themselves completely from any injustices perpetrated by whites because they can't come to terms with the knowledge that they may also have somewhere within themselves the capability to commit such injustices? If I had been born in the South (or in the North, for that matter) in the 18th or 19th century, I have little doubt that I would have, at the least, tolerated slavery. I probably would have gone to church and read the Bible and never thought twice about the incongruity between my professed religious beliefs and my attitude toward slavery. And if I had been born a slave in that time period, and I had finally been granted my freedom, who knows but that I would have turned right around (as some former slaves did) and become a slaveholder myself.

I personally have never quite felt comfortable with building monuments to human beings. Any human beings. The word "idolatry" comes to mind. I don't really have strong feelings about it, and I do appreciate the beauty of some of the monuments, and some are even awe-inspiring (like Mount Rushmore, if only because of the sheer size of it). But if people are going to be hypocritical about their motives for wanting the Confederate statues removed, I think maybe it is best that they remain standing.