The statues war
He’s not into any of that namby-pamby weenie-peenie Bring Us Together shit, he’s into saying THOSE DIRTY OTHER PEOPLE ARE ENEMIES and we gotta crush them like bugs.
Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of American independence day, Donald Trump staged a defiant celebration of what critics say is white identity politics and warned the nation’s history is under siege from “far-left fascism”.
Having it both ways, isn’t it. Fascism is by definition far-right, not any kind of left.
The US president defended the symbolism of statues and monuments before a packed crowd at an event that revelled in political incorrectness calculated to enflame the country’s current divisions and enrage liberal critics. There were few face masks and even fewer people of color on stage or in the stands.
It didn’t revel in political incorrectness, it reveled in open racism and authoritarianism.
“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said. “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”
That is naked white supremacism right there. We’re not campaigning to “wipe out” our history, on the contrary, we’re campaigning to broaden and correct it. Yes, “correct”: correct the biases that ignored women, minimized slavery and the expropriation of Native Americans, paid more attention to the owners than to the workers, and the like. We’re campaigning for a much larger, fuller history, and against a version of history that emphasizes “heroes” on horseback.
It’s not “defaming our heroes” to note which one were slaveowners, which ones fought on the side of the slave states, which ones committed genocide against Native Americans, which ones fought in aid of an imperialist foreign policy.
It’s not “erasing our values” to campaign for more attention to racism and sexism in our past – on the contrary, it’s expanding and improving them.
Statues of people like Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Davis are not “our most sacred memorials.” Not even close.
In an effort to fight back, he announced a surprise executive order establishing “The National Garden of American Heroes”, a vast outdoor park featuring statues of “the greatest Americans to ever live” – a selection sure to provoke debate and controversy.
No, let’s not do that.
Fascism is lefty? News to me, but the deplorables probably don’t know the difference.
I would love a garden of statues to the greatest Americans that ever lived; I just don’t think I would agree with Trump on who they are. It would truly be a sight to see if we actually memorialized the “greatest” Americans who ever lived (though I am opposed to hero worship, but I can still admire, for instance, Martin Luther King without him having to be perfect).
Even Reagan, I would be ok with that. I just watched a few videos of him, and the humility and humor, along with his convictions in what he thought was right is stunning to watch all these years later. Also Obama, his messages of hope and unity, his easy way of connecting with people, very inspirational. Carter, well, the humanitarian, the caring and troubled president who we all wanted the best for, despite some of the policy mistakes, he is still one of the most admirable people personally. Bush Sr, and even Bush Jr. make Donnie Dipshit look like a troglodyte. How we have this utter piece of trash human being as our president is outrageous and depressing. The worst of us all personified, and how he fools so many people into thinking he’s a worthwhile human being is completely beyond my comprehension.
To be fair, this is what Euro-Americans did to the peoples who were already on the continent they usurped. What goes around, comes around. Also to be fair, the history under question is simply being examined more broadly, critically, and less hagiographically. If to you correcting and expanding the historical outlook is “wiping it out”, then you didn’t really know or understand it in the first place.
The Stone Mountain bas relief carving of Lee, Jackson, and Davis has come under some scrutiny in recent years also, a memorial of Confederate history. I go there frequently to walk my dog (and myself), and in everyday life, the people there don’t seem to be deterred by it. This site has historically been a place, in the distant past, for Klan members to congregate, and there is some history of the racist South to be found there. But NOT REALLY! When I go there, there are people of all colors, and in my experience a majority of black skinned people, maybe 80% of the people walking the loop around the mountain are black, and they don’t seem to be insulted enough by the carving to avoid the place? To me, it shows that this place has made forward progress out of it’s history, and is a place welcome to all, no matter what your skin color. Everyone is friendly, and out there to enjoy nature, and get some exercise. It has become a modern place in a modern world. If they dynamite the carving and replace it with something else, I wouldn’t be upset, after all, these were racist treasonous people who didn’t want to be a part of the USA, but still, something would be lost, maybe some of the charm of the place, the Southern history, of which we have, generally speaking, outgrown. So basically I’m torn, not being from the South myself, I have no sentimental stake in what memorials stay or go. Do I think there should be statues of Hitler anywhere or Nazi flags flying in public? No. But I do think if the carving of these Confederate “heroes” is destroyed, something will be lost. I would much rather see a carving of MLK Jr. on Stone Mountain, but maybe not a replacement of what is there, but more of a succession and a celebration of our progress as a nation of fair minded people. Maybe a bigger, and more impressive carving, there is room on the mountain for it, I’d be all over that. An overcoming of our ignorant and inhumane past, while not forgetting it altogether. The symbols of slavery and oppression should not be celebrated, and possibly be outlawed, but the historical poeple are not as clearly defined. Sure, they were on the wrong side of humanity and liberty, but they are long gone and we can put symbols of progress beside them to show how far we have come.
I don’t think we should go carving up mountains, anyway. It is very destructive to the ecosystem.
I’d be all for that. It all rather depends on what we mean by “great”, doesn’t it, though?
I’ll bet that there would be something about nearly every potential candidate that some people would consider a deal breaker. Just like with elections, really.
Yeah. Nullius., that’s sort of the problem. Who gets to decide? If I were deciding, it wouldn’t be the same people Trump would decide (especially since none of the ones I would put in there would be named Trump). And so on.
I wonder whose statue Trump will want to see put in place first? Not really! Of course it will have to be the bigliest, mostest handsome statue of a man at the peak of fitness, not a hint of the obesity that the fake news media and fascist libs mock him for out of jealousy, no multiple chins like the fascist militant communist liberals photoshop into his pictures and force the media to use; just a fine figure of a man, gold-plated, 20ft. hiit (the rest* to be life-sized or they don’t get in) and sited in its rightful place front and centre atop a plinth to add a further 20ft. to its height.
* just kidding**: Trump is the only American hero that Trump cares enough about to include in what he will obviously call the President Donald J. Trump Super Dooper Garden of THE American Hero (Obama Hasn’t Got A Hero Garden. LOSER!!!) even though it really should be the Garden of DO YOU LOVE ME NOW, DADDY?
** although if he does allow other statues rule number two (after #1: all non-DJT statues to be life-size or smaller) will be that the only material allowed for the statues will be the purest white marble, no natural or artificial colours allowed.
I have to disagree with Acolyte here on Trump’s gold plated hill.
I’d like to say it’s because even Trump doesn’t have that big an ego; but in fact it’s because I’m sure he has a plan to have the moon remodeled so that his reassuring visage can watch over us as we sleep. I can see it now (cue wibbly-wobbly lines special effect) “Mommy, is it called ‘blue’ because of the language people use when I ask them if they can make out the ‘Don in the Moon’?”.
That’ll explain the reason for his Space Force, James.
I think the best artist to commission for a statue of DT (in solid gold, not merely gold-plated – come on, Acolyte!) would be Jeff Koons. Their tastes are not dissimilar, neither is their sterile cynicism.
I would accept a statue of Trump in my garden if it were wearing an orange jumpsuit, carrying a broom, and being threatened by a bigger, meaner, tougher prisoner.
Maybe he can string all the rescued white supremacist statues together along the southern border. A true monument to racism.