Well, it is.
This demonization of the Confederate Flag is entirely due to the States getting really lazy about their history and pretending that the civil war was due to slavery and slavery only when the truth is far more complex than that.
The truth about the Confederate Flag, and the statues of Confederate generals is that the army fought very hard with and with a lot of skill in a devastating, bitter conflict and that black people freely fought on both sides out of belief in their cause.
It should be also noted that a fair number of southern black people became more sympathetic to the Confederate cause in the years after due to Jim Crow enforcing segregation to a degree that was never enforced before (one of the more interesting things about the abolitionists was that they were far more concerned with "black work habits infecting the whites" and miscegenation than they were about bondage or cruelty.)
Reconciliation required the veneration of both armies and that they be given respect. Both sides fought for what they believed was right and they fought bravely.
The problem with decreasing emphasis on a decent education in history is that it allows people to re-colour the past when their education on the subject has been lazy at best, and negligent at worst.
The Confederate Flag isn't a racist symbol and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to pick up a fucking book because they're being an idiot.
It's utterly terrifying to me.
History is interesting, it's nuanced and at its core it just portrays people struggling for a better world.
The problem is that to properly understand it one needs to read a lot of books, and be interested with the thoughts on all sides of every conflict and the underlying thought that drove those decisions.
A good history teacher is a rare thing, it takes a lot of passion to understand history whereas giving simple answers and trite explanations is easy, and requires very little work.
What's even more terrifying is that replacing history with critical theory or sex ed requires even less work and we're seeing the fruits of that play out on the streets these days.
History is important.
The funny thing about book burnings is that I got obsessed with them and collected them wildly as a kid.
Essentially speaking I read "Lettres Philosophique" and got so horny for the England compliments that I went on a tear collecting banned books.
Let's just say there was a reason some of those books were burned. (There was also a reason why Wilhelm Reich's research notes endured the only court-mandated burning in American history as well, but that's a story for another day.)
The truth of modern society is that TV and movies have supplanted books for a great number if people and we aren't at the point of books burnings, we're at the point where there's been so many book burnings that people are starting to get sick of it.
We moved from reasonable to unreasonable book burnings quite a while ago and the Harry Potter novels is the point where the waves recede.
The book burnings have run their course. This recent outbreak went far beyond the book burnings of Nazi Germany and we're returning to valuing expressing at a rapid rate.
Well, it is.
This demonization of the Confederate Flag is entirely due to the States getting really lazy about their history and pretending that the civil war was due to slavery and slavery only when the truth is far more complex than that.
The truth about the Confederate Flag, and the statues of Confederate generals is that the army fought very hard with and with a lot of skill in a devastating, bitter conflict and that black people freely fought on both sides out of belief in their cause.
It should be also noted that a fair number of southern black people became more sympathetic to the Confederate cause in the years after due to Jim Crow enforcing segregation to a degree that was never enforced before (one of the more interesting things about the abolitionists was that they were far more concerned with "black work habits infecting the whites" and miscegenation than they were about bondage or cruelty.)
Reconciliation required the veneration of both armies and that they be given respect. Both sides fought for what they believed was right and they fought bravely.
The problem with decreasing emphasis on a decent education in history is that it allows people to re-colour the past when their education on the subject has been lazy at best, and negligent at worst.
The Confederate Flag isn't a racist symbol and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to pick up a fucking book because they're being an idiot.
It's utterly terrifying to me.
History is interesting, it's nuanced and at its core it just portrays people struggling for a better world.
The problem is that to properly understand it one needs to read a lot of books, and be interested with the thoughts on all sides of every conflict and the underlying thought that drove those decisions.
A good history teacher is a rare thing, it takes a lot of passion to understand history whereas giving simple answers and trite explanations is easy, and requires very little work.
What's even more terrifying is that replacing history with critical theory or sex ed requires even less work and we're seeing the fruits of that play out on the streets these days.
History is important.
The funny thing about book burnings is that I got obsessed with them and collected them wildly as a kid.
Essentially speaking I read "Lettres Philosophique" and got so horny for the England compliments that I went on a tear collecting banned books.
Let's just say there was a reason some of those books were burned. (There was also a reason why Wilhelm Reich's research notes endured the only court-mandated burning in American history as well, but that's a story for another day.)
The truth of modern society is that TV and movies have supplanted books for a great number if people and we aren't at the point of books burnings, we're at the point where there's been so many book burnings that people are starting to get sick of it.
We moved from reasonable to unreasonable book burnings quite a while ago and the Harry Potter novels is the point where the waves recede.
The book burnings have run their course. This recent outbreak went far beyond the book burnings of Nazi Germany and we're returning to valuing expressing at a rapid rate.