Why do so many Americans value the Confederacy?

[DannyNL]

I'm Canadian and not an expert on American history, but I'm just wondering why so many Americans feel so strongly about confederate stuff? Why such a strong obsession with a side that got their ass kicked in a war (I'd love to ask the same question to Neo Nazis).

How do they justify that Confederate stuff is not a symbol of slavery?

 

[*Z*]

It's a part of history, I don't think slavery should ever be celebrated but history isn't going to go away by tearing down statues. I'm kind of indifferent on the subject. I wouldn't go flying a confederate flag but I am also not bothered by confederate statues.

 

[Cygnus A]

I'm Canadian and not an expert on American history, but I'm just wondering why so many Americans feel so strongly about confederate stuff? Why such a strong obsession with a side that got their ass kicked in a war (I'd love to ask the same question to Neo Nazis).

How do they justify that Confederate stuff is not a symbol of slavery?

A lot of people claim it is a symbol of southern pride and heritage. Few of those people have ever cracked a history book. I am from the south so I have seen quite a bit of this nonsense. I don't really agree with the statues coming down. That is part of American history and it shouldn't be wiped away.

 

[JadeOwl]

How do they justify that Confederate stuff is not a symbol of slavery?

Mostly by lying. To themselves and to others.

After they were crushed they invented the concept of the Lost Cause out of whole cloth to try to convince the world that the war was not fought over their desire to defend and preserve the repugnant institution of slavery.

They have been repeating this lie for so long that they actually believe it by now.

 

[RockstarChris]

I'm Canadian and not an expert on American history, but I'm just wondering why so many Americans feel so strongly about confederate stuff? Why such a strong obsession with a side that got their ass kicked in a war (I'd love to ask the same question to Neo Nazis).

How do they justify that Confederate stuff is not a symbol of slavery?

France got their asses kicked in WW2 and their citizens still love their country. What is your point TS?

 

[drstrangelov]

Americans take an insane amount of pride in their defeats. We remember the Alamo, but can't tell you the name of the treaty that ended the Mexican-American war. We're asked to remember Pearl Harbor day ever year, but how many social media posts did you see about VJ Day earlier this week? Never forget 9/11, but without looking it up, what was the date when seal team Obama killed Bin Laden? It's in keeping with our national identity to have half the country revel in their defeat.

 

[DannyNL]

France got their asses kicked in WW2 and their citizens still love their country. What is your point TS?

France is a country, not an ideology/group like Nazis or Confederacy.

And plus they didn't lose the war, we saved their asses <Lmaoo>

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

I don't think many Americans value the confederacy. good or bad its part of our history. we cant sanitize our past because as the saying goes if you don't learn from your mistakes your doomed to repeat them. this country is so divided now that everything offends everybody. everything is so watered down now for example when I was a kid only the first place team got a trophy now everyone gets a participation trophy. we are not teaching our kids that life is hard so when they grow up and get rejected from a job or a college they think it must be the other person that's at fault.

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

 

[Jack Reacheround]

They claim it's part of history (so are Nazis) or that it represents rebelliousness. That's all bullshit. Really, they just like for a time when "negroes knew their place." Confederate iconography represents that for them though they try to deny it. And taking down statues that revere confederate soldiers is a step in the right direction. It doesn't mean they will stop teaching kids about the civil war in history class. Everyone knows it. They don't want those statues left up to remind us of the mistakes of the past. They want to leave them up because they revere those soldiers who fought so they could still enslave blacks. And that's another thing. Nobody is buying this "states rights" shit when it comes to the civil war. There were other federal laws before emancipation and nobody cared enough about those to fight a war against their own country. It was about slavery plain and simple. Anyone who feels like trying to argue can just go suck dicks instead. I'm not interested.

 

[RockstarChris]

France is a country, not an ideology/group like Nazis or Confederacy.

And plus they didn't lose the war, we saved their asses <Lmaoo>

Just because we allowed France to have their country back does not mean they won the war. The American Confederacy was for a time its own country with its own President so my comparison is valid. I am glad you made it clear that you are no expert on history in your OP because it shows.

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

I don't think many Americans value the confederacy.

But they do. I live in New England, not even the south and every single day I see confederate flags, bumper stickers, etc all over the place. I would imagine it's even more prevalent in the south. And these aren't a bunch of history buffs. There are other reasons.

 

[Jack V Savage]

It's a part of history, I don't think slavery should ever be celebrated but history isn't going to go away by tearing down statues. I'm kind of indifferent on the subject. I wouldn't go flying a confederate flag but I am also not bothered by confederate statues.

The statues were mostly put up in the first place to send a message to blacks. Note that a lot of them aren't even in places that were on the traitors' side or that have any real connection to the Civil War.

 

[Falsedawn]

I don't think many Americans value the confederacy. good or bad its part of our history. we cant sanitize our past because as the saying goes if you don't learn from your mistakes your doomed to repeat them. this country is so divided now that everything offends everybody. everything is so watered down now for example when I was a kid only the first place team got a trophy now everyone gets a participation trophy. we are not teaching our kids that life is hard so when they grow up and get rejected from a job or a college they think it must be the other person that's at fault.

The only problem with this whole "we have to remember our history" argument is that it TOTALLY ignores the intent of when and why the statues were put up in the first place. Many (if not most) of these statues were put up long after the civil war to celebrate the confederates, not simply remember them. I saw a great comparison yesterday that it's like if Germans came out in the 1990s and erected a bunch of statues of Himmler and Goebbels to stick it to the Jews. Confederate apologists desperately want to legitimize their "war of northern aggression" narrative, so now they're trying to retcon the meaning of these statues into simply observing history.

I posed the question once before, that if we're so hell bent on remembering history, would confederate apologists support keeping the statues there with a plaque shitting on the confederacy as per history. The responses I got had nothing to do with representing history and everything to do with defending MUH HONOR of traitors and slavers from the gross slander of the left. That was pretty telling for me.

 

[tramendous]

France got their asses kicked in WW2 and their citizens still love their country. What is your point TS?

The citizens love france not vichy france. Unlike the citizens of the US who are loving a separatist power that wanted to keep slavery.

 

[*Z*]

The statues were mostly put up in the first place to send a message to blacks. Note that a lot of them aren't even in places that were on the traitors' side or that have any real connection to the Civil War.

Well they sure took a long time to be upset about it, the one they tore down was there since 1924. They had 90 years to have it removed lawfully.

 

[Jack V Savage]

The only problem with this whole "we have to remember our history" argument is that it TOTALLY ignores the intent of when and why the statues were put up in the first place. Many (if not most) of these statues were put up long after the civil war to celebrate the confederates, not simply remember them.

Look at the timing closely, too. After Reconstruction failed and during the Civil Rights Era were when there were a big spike of them.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Well they sure took a long time to be upset about it, the one they tore down was there since 1924. They had 90 years to have it removed lawfully.

If you're talking about the Charlottesville one, the city did agree to lawfully move it.

 

[DannyNL]

Just because we allowed France to have their country back does not mean they won the war.

The Allies won the war. France were a member of the Allies.

So yeah, they won the war dude! Don't be stupid.

 

[JonnyRingo84]

It's a part of history, I don't think slavery should ever be celebrated but history isn't going to go away by tearing down statues. I'm kind of indifferent on the subject. I wouldn't go flying a confederate flag but I am also not bothered by confederate statues.

the swasticka and auschwitz are history too. should germans put these things on courthouse lawns and such? lol

symbols mean different things to different people. thats fair.

originally, the confederacy was a separate country, that separated for the high and lofty abstract notion of "state's rights," but the specific right that sparked this was the right to own other people. the war WAS fought over slavery. most southerners did not own slaves, but they did fear free black labor. average joes dont fight to the death over abstract ideas like "state's rights."

if anyone is still confused about why the war was fought, each of the seceding states wrote a congressional document literally titled something like: "reasons for secession." just look a few of those up, and you wont be confused anymore.

for most rebel flag waivers, i really think theyre just trolls, whether they realize it or not. the right people complain, that make them feel good, when they embrace the old confederacy.

with all that said, you wont see me out whining about what statues are up. fight the fights that are worth fighting. i dont think anyone is truly "offended" by statues. the truth is they want to stick it to people that like them. just like rebel flag waivers want to do to people that dont like them.