4880

“cabal of special forces shadow queers.” Holy crap, I can’t quit giggling.

4881
4882

Most of the comments were just as I expected.

4883

But they’re fans right? They love their music and… heh, well I guess not much overcomes racism and the fragility of some whites who continue to hold onto the fantasies peddled to them about the history of the South.

4884

I’d say that is a well-written statement.

4885

This is one reason the protests are so important, I think. There is simply no way to remain innocently ignorant at this point. Red pill or blue?

4886

Sorry for the link to National Review, but the incident covered is legit.

So BLM protesters in Philly apparently defaced a statue of Mathias Baldwin.

This is kind of dumb… because Baldwin was not a bad guy. He was a hugely prominent abolitionist.

This is kind of expected, as certainly a ton of the protesters aren’t gonna be history buffs, but it’d be good of someone was trying to focus the rage at something more specific than “every statue there is”.

4887

Its also Philly. They shit on their own lawns, given the chance.

4888

Every city that is still worshiping their Confederate leaders, their slave owners, and their anti-Civil Rights leader should just get the crews out and take those statues down, now. If they care enough about them, get them in museums with context… okay context isn’t likely to happen but at least if they are in museums or waiting to be moved there they’re not part of the in the public problem.

If that happens and the protesters are told, most likely the statue destruction can be minimized or just eliminated.

4889

Well sure, cities can get out ahead of things.

But if this is not a city that celebrates confederate history, and the statue is not of a confederate (Philly and abolitionist say this is the case) then this would be a legitimate case of misguided action. Philly isn’t Nashville,

4890

There are how many protesting right now? It’s not reasonable to think they’ll get right 100% of the time.

These statues, largely put up to combat Civil Rights, should have never been erected, and they should’ve been taken down… years ago. We’re in the mess because lies were spread like it was history.

4891

I am well aware of the history of most of the confederate statues. The fact that Nathanial Bedford Forest has a statue in the Nashville government building? Fucking odious. Tear it down and melt it.

I shed no tears for their loss. Those that did not wish them destroyed had other options available, either put them in a more historically appropriate context (a museum with an appropriate signage about them could work) where they can be part of historical education rather than celebration. But many of these places have resisted any change to move away from celebrating traitors, and so destruction of these idols of hate is a valid and worthy outcome.

However this specific statue in Philly seems an inapt target. Never heard of the guy before, but some cursory reading suggests this was a wrong target in the wrong city.

Look, I am not demanding they get everything right 100% of the time. Shit happens, I get that.

That doesn’t mean you don’t work to maximize the impact, and that includes picking the right targets. Which means when a wrong one is chosen, calling that out and explaining why.

4892

In rebuke to Trump, Senate Armed Services Committee approves legislation telling the DoD to rename basis named after Confederate generals within the next three years. Approved in the committee by a 25-2 vote.

4893

Dan Abrams (ex-Live PD host) was just on CNN trying to argue that the show was ‘news’. Literally news. That’s the saddest thing I’ve seen (so far) today. I’m sure I’ll see something worse soon.

But come on, man.

4894

“News” that destroyed evidence of a police murder.

4895

aka the “Maybe We Can Get Away With Just Passing This Act” Act.

4896

Right. And I’m thinking we can get rid of the statue tear-downs entirely if cities, schools… wherever they are just calmly remove them, now, and acknowledge they should’ve never been there in the first place.

We don’t actually have to wait for the tear-downs, and maybe doing the right thing years too late will help keep the other ones from getting damaged or destroyed.

Here’s the other thing though, the people who fought for others… I bet most of them wouldn’t even mind having their statue taken down if it meant we finally move forward with ideas and works they pushed for.

4897

I was gonna make a joke about replacing the ex-statue of Frank Rizzo in Philly with a statue of Gritty but, as usual, the Internet is way ahead of me.

(Tho’ this is a mural, not the statue.)

4898

Sure, I can agree with all of that.

We are here because those in power refused to do the right thing before. People upset about the statues have themselves to blame.

4899

I thought Frank Rizzo was just a character from the Jerky Boys.