Saturday, April 10, 2010
Tara is not to be celebrated.
It is possible to honor Confederate soldiers without celebrating Confederate history. (Just put Stars & Stripes instead of Stars & Bars on their graves, something Lincoln might have suggested had he served a second term).
Yes, this is about Virginia Gov. Bob McConnell.
Also, Confederate history is not the same as antebellum history. The Confederacy brought the destruction of antebellum culture, which would have survived for who knows how long had there been no Civil War. Anyone who wanted to preserve a slave-based culture would have to admit that attempting to secede from the Union was a big mistake.
We cannot understand or "appreciate" antebellum culture without bringing slavery into every facet of that culture. Antebellum culture was created mainly in Virginia by many of the same families we associate with our Revolutionary period. They provided the plantation model for it. Plus a lot of nonsense from Walter Scott novels.
What's to celebrate? The end of slavery, & the ironic development within slavery of our African-American culture - which is, on the whole, our greatest cultural gift to the world, & gift to ourselves when white America embraced it rather than just imitating it. Tara is not to be celebrated.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Yes, this is about Virginia Gov. Bob McConnell.
Also, Confederate history is not the same as antebellum history. The Confederacy brought the destruction of antebellum culture, which would have survived for who knows how long had there been no Civil War. Anyone who wanted to preserve a slave-based culture would have to admit that attempting to secede from the Union was a big mistake.
We cannot understand or "appreciate" antebellum culture without bringing slavery into every facet of that culture. Antebellum culture was created mainly in Virginia by many of the same families we associate with our Revolutionary period. They provided the plantation model for it. Plus a lot of nonsense from Walter Scott novels.
What's to celebrate? The end of slavery, & the ironic development within slavery of our African-American culture - which is, on the whole, our greatest cultural gift to the world, & gift to ourselves when white America embraced it rather than just imitating it. Tara is not to be celebrated.
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