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Originally Posted by Choro&Swing
I agree with you about some of this. I believe in showing things as they were or as people thought they were, even if wrong. (From what I hear, much of what Margaret Mitchell wrote about race relations was highly romanticized.) I loved “Song of the South” and the singing crows in “Dumbo.”
However, as a vet, you might like to consider this thought about the statues and military bases. Most of the Confederate generals went to West Point, and when they entered the U.S. Army, they swore solemn oaths to uphold and protect the United States of America. Then they broke their oaths, turned traitor, and took up arms against the country they had promised to protect and tried to destroy it. Why should we have these generals celebrated on our town squares? Why should traitors like Bragg and Pickett and Beauregard have their names on military bases? (And is it significant that there is no Camp Longstreet, given that he repented, became friends with Grant, and led African-American troops?)
Robert E. Lee is a distant relative of mine (through his wife), and I was born in Virginia, and some of my ancestors fought and even died for the South (though one was a captain under Sherman when they rode through Georgia). Even so, I think this is worth considering, on the basis of whether oaths matter.
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Choro&Swing, I also am a Vet and I totally agree with your comment about honoring oaths/pledges/commitments.
I wonder how many of today's demonstrators would actually 'answer the call' like our forefathers did in WWII and Korea and so many of us did during the Viet Nam era on our own or when our number was called?
I'm guessing that these protestors have all made the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag at some point during their young lives.
My hope is that they are never 'tested'...