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gungadin09 -> RE: The South shall rise again??? (1/15/2011 6:05:20 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AnimusRex
The Confederacy has a considerable number of apologists and defenders, people who are strenuously trying to portray it as something honorable if perhaps misunderstood, to whitewash and downplay the horrors that it inflicted. What I mean by "support the Confederacy holds" is exactly this fondness, this deep desire to make it the moral equal of the Union.
i think what most people are really trying to apologise for and defend is South, not the Confederacy per se. You're right- the main purpose of the Confederacy was to win the war, and the main purpose of the war was to preserve slavery. i honestly don't think that THAT'S what most Southerns take pride in. They take pride in their culture, which is inextricably bound to the evils of slavery, and yet encompasses much more than just that. The terms "South" and "Confederacy" have become confused. And yet people say, The South will rise again, not the Confederacy will. What do you think that means?
Incidently, the horrors of slavery were inflicted by both North and South, as were the horrors of war, the horrors of racism and prejudice, the horrors of imperialism, etc. Both sides commited all sorts of horrors. Neither the North nor the Union has much claim to moral superiority, and i don't think we should start romantizing their role in history, either.
You remark that slavery was evil, but the Confederacy was not, is a perfect example of this whitewashing.
It would've been clearer to say that slavery was evil, but the South was not.
The Confederacy WAS slavery- slavery was its purpose for existence, slavery was the chief reason for secession. The Confederacy had as its driving concept the proposition that all men were NOT created equal.
So did the Nazi party. However, while i reject the holocaust, the Nazi dogma, and their flag, i am still capable of sympathising with the majority of German soldiers in WWII who were never anywhere near the concentration camps, and were merely performing what they believed to be their duty, at the detriment to their health, their comfort, and even their lives. And yet they were Nazis. How do you separate the State itself from the people who served it? Is the latter evil because the former is? Does the term "Confederacy" refer to the fight to retain slavery, or does it refer to the people who fought under that banner? Is it synonymous with slavery? Or does it mean something else?
quote:
ORIGINAL: AnimusRex
That is why I say it was a rejection of everything that America stands for, and is itself a monstrous evil.
But what do you think America stands for? The proposition that all men are created equal? The government of the United States has violated that principle repeatedly, before and since the Civil War.
What do you see when you look at the stars and stripes?
Do you see hot dogs, barbecue, and apple pie?
Do you see George Washington crossing the Potomac?
Do You see the Constitution being argued back and forth in the sweltering heat of Philadelphia?
Do you see the Cherokees on their Trail of Tears?
Do you see Manifest destiny?
Do you see Japanese Americans forced into internment camps in WWII?
Do you see the defeat of Geronimo?
Do you see Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech?
Do you see Martin Luther King Jr.'s assasination?
Do you see the first man on the moon?
Do you see the first use of the atomic bomb?
Do you see the racism that existed in both North and South at the time of the Civil War, and still exists today?
Do you see the war against Iraq?
Do you see that U.S. policy keeps many third world countries "economically enslaved" for our own profit?
Do you see McCarthyism?
i could go on and on. My point is this- it is never a simple battle between good and evil.
pam
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