Monumental Destruction

The “peaceful” protests and rioting that have been taking place over the last couple weeks in many US cities have also included the defacing, removal or complete destruction of historical monuments and statues. Unlike in 2017, when there was a similar push to remove/destroy statues associated with slavery, this time around the targets are much more widespread.  It seems almost any statue may be deemed “racist” or “probably a racist” or should be tagged with George Floyd’s name. Illustrating the ignorant absurdity of these vandals, one of the monuments recently vandalized by Black Lives Matter protestors commemorated an all-black volunteer Union army regiment that fought in the Civil War to end slavery.

Our opinion on this subject hasn’t changed since we first wrote about it three years ago during the Charlottesville riots.  An ever-larger portion of our population is becoming intellectually incapable of evaluating history and using their own internal compass to decide what is good and what is evil. More and more people lack either the civics education (the chief cause) or the confidence to trust their own judgement. They are unable and unwilling to assess the significance of a statue and its proper place in history. Thus, they accept that other people, more educated, or at least more confident, should make that judgement for them. They don’t need to think, only feel. Having now been told by Black Lives Matter et. al how to feel about these statues, it is apparently not possible for these weak-minded individuals to cope with those feelings. That has led to only one possible remedy – destroying or removing these statues. This response is a crippling weakness within the individual, and not an injury suffered at the hand of an inanimate monument or a “racist” society.

We understand that people are busy and have little time to conduct in depth studies of history and construct a genuinely informed opinion about every monument and statue. But a great measure of the debate about the significance of this country’s historical figures, and whether their commemorations are appropriate (or not) for public display, requires only a basic understanding of American history. Knowledge of that basic history is woefully lacking in the current crop of protesters and young Americans in general. The dismal state of our public education system with its inherent progressive bias is entirely to blame.

There can certainly be a legitimate debate as to who are the true heroes and representatives of our culture, and what those people accomplished to achieve prominence in our history. There can also be an equally valid debate regarding which people do not meet those criteria and do not merit memorials. At the time these statues and monuments were built, there was a reason why each one was conceived and put on display. That reason is part of our history. While we can argue vigorously the merits of that reasoning, it cannot unilaterally be wiped away by an uneducated mob. We will just be scrapping our history without learning from it. Such wholesale defacement and destruction of our artifacts should never be allowed as a cowardly acquiescence to the anarchist du jour simply for the purpose of “calming tensions”. Not only is it an act of submission to thugs, it never results in the wished for pacification.

Unfortunately, that very cowardly acquiescence is currently allowing anarchists to herd and influence “sheeple” in this country. What has resulted is a groupthink disdain of all historical figures who had even the remotest connection to slavery. In what passes for this group’s mental processes, it is an excited yet mindless rationale for all the statue bashing. It has also fostered a rush to reject monuments to a real and consequential part of our culture based on nothing more than a juvenile wave of entitled rage. To make matters worse, progressive government leaders are openly providing support and legitimacy to the anarchists, actually cheering them on in some cases. They believe they can seize this moment to change the American culture to their liking.

There is no compromise position on such things as the preservation of culture – in any country. Our statues and monuments are meaningful symbols of our culture. Culture is, after all, the essence of any country. We are who we are. Our history is what it is, the good with the bad. It is astonishingly ego-centric, stupid, and just plain wrong to ravage vast portions of the history and culture of our nation to appease the “woke”. Blind cries of “racism”, “white supremacy”, and “white privilege” are blame shifting dog-whistles. They are no justification for indiscriminate destruction. While it is right to abhor our country’s history of slavery, wholesale smashing of cultural objects is the tantrum of a toddler or an imbecile.  This is not enlightened evolution, it is insurrection. If people want to live life in an entirely different culture than what the US was built upon, and with a history that better suits their sensitivities, there are many countries to choose from around the world. Alternatively, we can work sanely and thoughtfully to evolve the culture moving forward here at home, without obliterating its past.  

Attempting to make sweeping culture changes across the US happen purely by way of violent uprisings and out of control “protests” will awaken a sleeping giant. We are convinced a large majority of people in this country are silently raging over the despicable acts of these protesters/rioters as well as the widespread cowardice on display by those in power bowing to their demands. The most effective and lawful course of action for this majority is to exercise their right to vote in November and roundly defeat politicians at every level who support the anarchist’s actions.

However, just like the current crop of violent protesters, this disciplined majority has a boiling point as well. It’s just a bit higher. No protester, anarchist or Black Lives Matter member wants to test that limit. The anarchists in this country may believe they have the technical upper hand in defining the culture and how it is trending. They are sorely mistaken if they think merely igniting a Twitter storm is causing the great majority of Americans to reject our history and repudiate America. The “snowflake” generation, including the Black Lives Matter membership, will be run over like an ant under a steam roller if that boiling point is reached and there ensues a truly destructive physical confrontation with the majority opposition. If that occurs, it will have nothing to do with racism or politics. It will simply be that the moment has finally arrived when it becomes necessary to prevent our culture and its artifacts from being forever lost.