Where SHOULD statues of confederate civil war generals be displayed?
IN the PUBLIC square
Side Score: 3
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IN a museum
Side Score: 7
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Whatever we do, we need to not plant covert bombs on public statues to try to blow them up. Side: IN the PUBLIC square
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I would like to see Confederate statues, like statues of Revolutionary war heroes, civil rights leaders, civic and government leaders (even those who have since been disgraced) remain in the public square. We often acknowledge and are taught to be tolerant and understanding of cultural differences with people in other parts of the world who have other values and beliefs. The same should happen with people who held other beliefs because they lived in a different time. Hiding history only makes it easier for people to lie to us about what happened, or oversimplify complex dynamics, or mistakenly assert that our current moral sensibilities are based in some universal and eternal sense of right and wrong. The Civil War was not only, or even primarily, about slavery. Civil War generals were real and complex people who were about more than just preserving the Union or defending the Confederacy. Too often these statues and monuments oversimplify history, and too often the impetus to tear them down or hide them in museums is equally aimed at oversimplification. It is small-minded to believe that only our own, often ephemeral views are correct, discerning, or moral. We forget that good people do bad things, that bad people do good things, and that the long-term effects of actions are unpredictable. We also forget that often the same admirable qualities motivate adversaries to take opposing positions. We can disagree with a position or an action, yet still admire those with whom we disagree, and celebrate their courage, skills, dedication, and sacrifice. Instead of removing these statues from the public square, I would like to see additional statues, monuments, and plaques be erected to balance the perspective, explain pertinent details, add another viewpoint, or draw attention to how things have changed. This would contribute complexity to the public display of history. Remember, if we stop preserving our past monuments' place in in the public square, our current beliefs may likewise be eradicated from incidental public view in favor of some future sensibility. Side: IN the PUBLIC square
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The Union was obviously not fighting to free slaves as a primary purpose; otherwise they would have led with the Emancipation Proclamation, instead of waiting years after the start of the war to declare it. The Confederacy was not primarily fighting to maintain slavery; otherwise the Confederate forces would not have been glutted by subsistence farmers who would never be able to afford a slave. The core issue for both sides was states' rights, and what the rightful limits should be on federal and state authority. Undoubtedly, the issue of slavery brought this issue into stark relief, but so did the issue of tariffs designed to favor industrial states with denser populations over agrarian states with less dense populations. Both these issues brought to light fundamental differences in a vision of the structure of the nation. On the Union side was a concept of states as mere provinces, and on the Confederate side was a concept of states as the primary seats of political power (more in line with the structure of the European Union.) Neither of these has the simplicity that makes for a clear and easy explanation to grade school children, nor the moral element required to construct a historical narrative of a struggle between good and evil that undergirds an otherwise unsubstantiated belief that our nation is consciously struggling to develop into an increasingly virtuous enterprise. Side: IN the PUBLIC square
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1
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Why should statues of clothespins be displayed? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: If you are standing outside of Philadelphia's City Hall and look across the street, you might notice a giant clothespin. You aren't having visions of the pile of laundry you left at home. It is an actual 45-foot steel clothespin designed by Claes Oldenburg. Side: IN a museum
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