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Confederate History Month
Apr. 8th, 2010 11:49 amAs you may have heard, the newly-elected Republican governor of Virginia proclaimed this month "Confederate History Month" in his state. The original proclamation didn't even mention the word "slavery," let alone note that the cause of the war was a desire to defend slavery. After taking some heat, the Governor, to his credit, apologized and amended his proclamation, noting that slavery did in fact cause the war.
To say people's feathers got ruffled by the proclamation is an understatement. A few notable reactions:
Elizabeth Moon: History lesson: the South did not fight for "freedom". The white men of the South fought for the right to enslave others. And thank God Almighty, they lost. Over a hundred years ago.
The blog Lawyers, Guns and Money: assume arguendo that many Confederate soliders were not motivated primarily by a desire to protect slavery when joining in a treasonous war. By the same token, I’m sure many members of the Wehrmacht fought valiantly and were not personally motivated by a desire to exterminate Jews; this would hardly make a month commemorating Nazi soldiers — let alone a “Nazi History Month” whose proclamation made no reference to genocide — defensible. And if we concede that Confederate soldiers were fighting for a kinder, gentler form of white supremacist authoritarianism than the Nazis, at least members of the Wehrmacht weren’t taking up arms against their own country...
Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic: The GOP is, effectively, the party of willfully unlettered Utopians. It is the party of choice for those who believe global warming is a hoax, that humans roamed the earth with dinosaurs, and that homosexuals should work harder at not being gay.
To say people's feathers got ruffled by the proclamation is an understatement. A few notable reactions:
Elizabeth Moon: History lesson: the South did not fight for "freedom". The white men of the South fought for the right to enslave others. And thank God Almighty, they lost. Over a hundred years ago.
The blog Lawyers, Guns and Money: assume arguendo that many Confederate soliders were not motivated primarily by a desire to protect slavery when joining in a treasonous war. By the same token, I’m sure many members of the Wehrmacht fought valiantly and were not personally motivated by a desire to exterminate Jews; this would hardly make a month commemorating Nazi soldiers — let alone a “Nazi History Month” whose proclamation made no reference to genocide — defensible. And if we concede that Confederate soldiers were fighting for a kinder, gentler form of white supremacist authoritarianism than the Nazis, at least members of the Wehrmacht weren’t taking up arms against their own country...
Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic: The GOP is, effectively, the party of willfully unlettered Utopians. It is the party of choice for those who believe global warming is a hoax, that humans roamed the earth with dinosaurs, and that homosexuals should work harder at not being gay.