Monuments to racism toppling around the world.

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Yeah. Not my opinion, but that of the mob, and that of many on this thread.

Everyone seems to be of one extreme or the other. Either take down statues if the guy told a racist joke once. Or they are of the opposing extreme group who hysterically demand to preserve all statues because if we dont it somehow "erases history".

Statues are not for "recording history". They are for cherry picking from history whom from history we choose to honor.

I am for reassessing who we honor with statues, but not for this brain dead extremism about it.

King Solomon was the wisest king in the Bible. But he was...a king. He wasnt democratically elected like a modern POTUS, or like a modern UK, or Israeli, Prime Minister.

So should we hold that against King Solomon?

I would say no.

Monarchy was the system of government that they had back then in 1000 BC. Democracy just wasnt an option back then. So if you wanna honor king Solomon with a statue, go right ahead.

But if the monarch in question reigned at the very end of the age of monarchy in your country, AND if the said monarch sole claim to fame was that they fought, killed, and died, to preserve absolute monarchy itself as an institution at the expense of democracy, and he was notorious for crushing the rebelling common folk, then... dont build statues to him. And by all means topple any statues that were built to him.

Same with slave owners. If the guy who founded your country itself (like GW)happened to be a slave owner, or if the guy who invented your system of government (Jefferson)happened to have been a slave owner, when it was legal to own slaves, then go ahead and have statues of him.

But if the guy not only owned slaves, but his only mark on history was that he started and waged a war to preserve slavery itself as an institution,(ergo fought and killed to keep folks in chains) then thats different. I dont see how you can honor such a person with statuary. Ergo I dont see the justification for statues of Lee or Jefferson Davis.

But my middle pov alienates folks on both sides. Go figure.

On Friday, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller announced the first four members of an eight-person commission to begin the renaming of military bases named after Confederate military leaders. The renaming of military bases was part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that President Donald Trump recently vetoed, only to have his veto overridden by Congress.

The commission so far includes four individuals: military advisor, Sean McLean; Department of Defense liaison, Joshua Whitehouse; Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, Anne G. Johnston; and Army Colonel Earl Matthews.

The renaming of bases was part of a measure included in the NDAA by Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Her measure established an eight-person commission that would oversee the renaming of at least 10 confederate-named U.S. military bases within three years, as well as any the removal of Confederate names, symbols, monuments and other honors from military buildings, streets, ships, aircraft, weapons and equipment, according to Politico.

The Dallas City Council was within its rights to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee and to take down the Confederate Memorial, an appeals court has ruled. In a split decision, the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas upheld a trial judge to dismissed a lawsuit.

The group Return Lee to Lee Park tried to overturn decision by the Dallas City Council to remove the monuments on grounds that both were protected historical sites. But the court adopted the city’s position that “The City presented evidence that neither the Lee Statue nor the Confederate Monument was listed on the Registry of National Historical Places and that neither has been designated as a state archeological landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. Therefore, their removal was not subject to the prerequisites to removal” according to the opinion.

He does not expect an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Lee statue was removed Sept. 14, 2017 and later sold at auction for $1.4 million. The
Confederate Memorial was removed in June and put in storage at the Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve complex.​

I am mostly pointing out the logic of what to do with memorials to this or that person.

The view, from what I see in various online comment boards, seems to be that we should only memorialize people with no personal blemishes who adhered to the social norms and views of 2020, despite having died long before then.

Great news. It is stupid to name US bases after an organization that attacked the US.

So you mean Arch-Generalissimo Donald Trump Space Force Base is off the table?

I think you just put his name on a rocket and call it Trump Tower...

Good luck launching a solid gold rocket. You'd be better off turning the engine around and using it to cook the contents. Let me show Comedy Central how to properly roast Donald Trump.

The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles said this week that it will stop issuing and renewing license plates that bear the Confederate flag.

The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has determined that license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag have the potential to offend those who view them,” the agency told the local outlet. “We have therefore concluded that display of the Confederate battle flag is inappropriate for display on specialty license plates, which remain property of the state.”

According to the outlet, the state agency had been issuing plates bearing a Confederate flag design to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

A spokesperson for the group said members were not aware of the new policy until after they tried to have their plates renewed this year.

According to the outlet, the group filed a lawsuit in the late 1990s in an effort to be labeled a civic organization and therefore be allowed to be issued a specialty plate. The group reportedly won the case. and the ruling paved the way for the Confederate flag specialty plates.

"Consistent with the ruling in North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans v. Faulkner, DMV will continue to recognize the North Carolina Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans ('SCV') as a civic organization entitled to the issuance of a specialty plate,” the agency told the outlet.

“However, SCV’s classification as a civic organization does not entitle it to dictate the contents of the government speech on that specialty plate,” it added.

Despite pushback from the SCV on whether the move was a violation of the past ruling, the agency said it has attempted to get in touch with the organization to have another design considered for the plates.

“Since these efforts have proven unsuccessful so far, the DMV determined the agency would no longer issue or renew these specialty plates,” the agency added.

In the meantime, the agency told the outlet it will “either issue SCV members standard plates and refund any specialty-plate fees paid or provide them with different specialty plates.”

dirty little secret is that they have long dominated our politics.