Watching the documentary on Sherman’s March on the history channel the other day got me to thinking about a problem we have in this country. That problem is the continued celebration of the legacy of the Confederacy. They look back on the Confederacy with nostalgia and claim to celebrate its legacy of honor. In reality, the true legacy of the Confederacy is treason, lawlessness, and racial inequality/persecution.
It is quite ironic the type of people who celebrate the Confederacy. These people today are quick to point the finger at those who criticize our government and call us traitors. At the same time they are celebrating the Confederacy, a mass treason by the South against our United States government.
They decry any attempt to remove the Confederate battle flag from certain Southern capital buildings, claiming discrimination and their right to celebrate the legacy. This is ironic since the legacy of the South is that of discrimination against African Americans: first in bondage, and then as second class citizens. Is this a legacy that we really want our country to be celebrating?
Also they claim to celebrate the honor of the Confederate troops and bravery on the battlefield against overwhelming odds. After the defeat in the war, this is what took over and the claim that they could not win against the overwhelming industrial strength and population of the North. Actually, if that is true I just call it stupid. One doesn’t go into a fight knowing one is going to lose unless they have absolutely no choice. The South had a choice, and it chose treason in order to protect its immoral institution.
Please, no one give me the states right argument. That is, for those unfamiliar with the subject, that the South did not secede to protect slavery but to protect states rights over federal authority. That was pure rhetoric, total crap, and only applied for the Southern states since they had no problem imposing their will on the Northern states. What was that will that was imposed? That would be the Fugitive Slave Law, which in effect forced all citizens in the North to become slave police. If they helped an escaped slave or did not participate in capturing an escaped slave they could be punished by fines and/or jail time. This is what broke the back, this is why abolitionism took hold, because the South was not intent on leaving things alone, they had to force an otherwise complacent Northern population, typically not effected or exposed to slavery, and made them part of the system.
As for Sherman’s March, and the bitterness still in the South, and the complaints what is the viewpoint of these people who continue to celebrate the Confederacy on our current farce in Iraq? Or our continuing miffed stance towards Iran? They are conservative so likely there are those among their ranks who have advocated using nuclear weapons against Iran and Iraq and their populations. Of course this would have no correlation, according to them, to the suffering of their ancestors due to Sherman’s March since they were all innocent and over in the Middle East they are all only Muslim terrorists who we must destroy to protect our country.
I could go on and on with this, but I think my point has been made. These same people who deride government critics as treasonous themselves celebrate treason when they celebrate the Confederacy. They celebrate slavery and racial injustice when they celebrate the Confederacy. They celebrate the death of over 600,000 men on both sides during that war just so they could keep fellow humans in bondage. Celebrating the Confederacy is not a celebration of honor and bravery; it is a celebration of treason, death, and racism.
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