Why are angry mobs allowed to destroy Civil War statues? If they have to be taken down, properly and carefully by local government authorities—why not store them temporarily at a museum or some other place appropriate. Smashing them to rubble is foolish…no, let me say stupid…and knee-jerk reactions to political correctness. Gratuitous pandering, perhaps.
Except for one thing—there seems to be NO thought or reasoning to these actions, only public showing-off. This kind of destruction of public property is against the law, for one thing, and morally wrong for a few hot-heads to decide for entire communities that historic statues need to be not only removed…but demolished.
Most villages and towns have a statue of a civil war soldier in its town park, or round-about in the highway, or city hall. The statue stands proudly with his rifle, standing vigil of pride and gratitude to the soldiers who died fighting for their side in the Civil War. North of the Mason-Dixon Line, approximate borders between states (Ohio and Pennsylvania in the North, Kentucky and West Virginia, etc. in the South.
It boggles the mind thinking about the problems involved in removing Southern statues…and by extension perhaps Northern statues as well? That action would likely cause great unrest, being that the Union troops were on the winning side, therefore perceived to be the “right” side. The fact is that the Civil War, was fought over state’s rights to maintain slavery….simplified, but that’s how it was…hyperbole and “regional history” aside.
The Generals and other high-ranking bigshots are usually the ones mortalized in statues: the southern generals Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, James Longstreet…etc., etc., etc. But the rank-n-file soldiers were young volunteers, then draftees, pressed into service by their respective sides, especially in the latter years of the war. They had little choice, and high-minded rhetoric about noble causes and patriotic duty hardly affected the lowest level Johnny Reb…who went to war because he had to.
SOMETIMES 