| re: Censorship is bad | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 09:19 pm EDT 08/17/17 | |
| In reply to: Censorship is bad - Greg_M 08:56 pm EDT 08/17/17 | |
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| Part of learning from the past is changing our civic behavior and adjusting our society so that it is less oppressive. Nothing that we are seeing in the removal of these statues is an alteration of our history - it's an alteration of our present. To many of us, the removal of these statues is an example of how we are learning from the past, and how we are making strides to break down systems of racism. As had been noted elsewhere on this thread, many of these statues are not benign markers of the past; they were erected, well after the war, as a way of reminding people of color of this country's history of oppressing them, so that they would stay oppressed. Removing those statues is a small step towards liberation. The removal of these statues isn't censorship, which would suggest that the government or some other authority is silencing critical or dangerous viewpoints. The removal of these statues is happening in response to a citizenry who has stated that they have learned from the past, as you request, and that they are ready to create new public spaces that don't demand that we revere oppressors who literally risked their lives in order to maintain the institution of slavery. The removal of these statues does not change the past. The people who advocate for the removal of these statues do not request that history books be re-written to show that the United States peacefully ended slavery in the 1860s. Many of those who advocate for the removal of these statues do so with the belief that the history must still be taught, so that we don't forget the genocide and oppression that our country was built upon. This country was built upon slavery, and this country has always been morally compromised by it. Removing these monuments to slavery does not in any way alter those facts. "Hamilton" hasn't been re-written to remove the slavery rap battle. "Molasses and Rum" hasn't been excised from "1776". These great works of art still stand, and they still carry a powerful criticism of our horrific past. Let us celebrate the lesson we have learned, rather than celebrating the sins that are ancestors committed. And let's say that race-based oppression does belong to the past, rather than the present. And let's start that conversation by doing the simples thing possible: removing the tools of those oppression from our public space, so that we may build something better from our blood-stained legacy. |
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| Next: | re: Censorship is bad - joerialto 03:45 pm EDT 08/18/17 |
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