Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 10:42:29 -0400
From: Tarus BALOG
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #6421
On 5/30/19 7:59 AM, Brad Page wrote:
> From: Brad Page
> Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #6421
>
> Tarus Balog
>
> What was the intention of the people who erected the Civil War memorial
> statues? What was the context, the era? And what exactly are the statues
> meant to commemorate?
It’s funny – my last post had almost nothing to do with the statue. I
think we’ve covered these questions as much as we can.
[Note: this is a long post that will probably interest no one, so scroll
down (or up) to read the latest from N.A. Booko]
The original poster was proud to be an American and was tired of his
Confederate ancestors being called racist. I was trying to understand
how he could reconcile that with the fact that the CSA was definitely
anti-American (they fired on an American fort to start the war) and that
the CSA was founded on white supremacy. I didn’t ask that to be mean or
disparaging; I was genuinely curious.
This is part of a larger quest to understand why we are becoming so
divided on so many things. I eat a lot at Angelina’s Kitchen where the
political discussion is definitely left-leaning, but I also eat at least
once a week at Virlie’s Grill, where during the 2016 election there were
a lot of MAGA hats. I like and feel a strong attachment to the people I
meet in both places but I feel constant pressure to label one as “good”
and one as “bad”.
Everyone I meet on “both sides” seem to want the same basic things.
They’d like a comfortable place to live and a safe environment in which
to raise their kids. They want an interesting job that provides enough
for that comfortable life. They would like to live in a clean and civil
community.
But there are those who would like to take that away from us by pitting
us against each other while they profit. Part of that is by removing
context by reducing everything to labels. We even promote that here on
the Chatlist as well. I’ve seen people post where their lead argument is
“he’s just a liberal”. Huh? That doesn’t really mean anything. If I
asked the most conservative person here if they wanted a “liberal” pay
raise or a “conservative” one, I’m pretty certain they would chose liberal.
But I’d also bet that at least one person would not. Which brings me to
another thing I’m trying to understand. Why do people seem eager to
embrace things that aren’t in their own self interest?
One of the reasons I am an unaffiliated voter is that we often treat our
political parties as sports teams. It is hard to root against your team
even if they aren’t exactly role models. For example, I think we can all
agree that the Carolina Panthers’ quarterback is a bit of a … well,
not nice guy, but that doesn’t keep us from hoping they’ll win.
While labels like “Tarheel fan” and “Duke fan” are mostly harmless, when
we start applying them generally: Republican vs. Democrat, Liberal vs.
Conservative, Patriot vs. Traitor, it becomes dangerous.
And I think that is especially true of the word “racist”. That word
conjures up white hoods and burning crosses, when in fact that form of
racism is easy to identify and ultimately relatively harmless. The more
insidious form of racism is the one that causes a white person to cross
the street when they see a black person coming. It’s what allows us to
work together but still eat and worship separately.
I don’t have any answers but I have lots of questions, so I want to
thank everyone for indulging me. I really love Chatham and plan to die
here (in the far distant future of course) so I’m concerned with keeping
it a wonderful place to live.
-T