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posted by FatPhil on Tuesday August 22 2017, @04:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-could-tar-and-feather-them dept.

The President of the University of Texas at Austin released a letter regarding the removal of statues on the campus.

[...] The University of Texas at Austin is a public educational and research institution, first and foremost. The historical and cultural significance of the Confederate statues on our campus — and the connections that individuals have with them — are severely compromised by what they symbolize. Erected during the period of Jim Crow laws and segregation, the statues represent the subjugation of African Americans. That remains true today for white supremacists who use them to symbolize hatred and bigotry.

The University of Texas at Austin has a duty to preserve and study history. But our duty also compels us to acknowledge that those parts of our history that run counter to the university's core values, the values of our state and the enduring values of our nation do not belong on pedestals in the heart of the Forty Acres.

The issue isn't a new one, they first looked into the issue in 2015, and had a wide range of options including effectively turning the mall into an open air museum, which they eventually decided against. Should the statues be relocated from their historical context just because of the attitudes and behaviour of noisy minorities? (Your humble editor cannot forget the local riots when a historical but hostile-themed statue was relocated.)


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Entropy on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:28PM (7 children)

    by Entropy (4228) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:28PM (#557591)

    Yes, the motivations were complex--I agree. But we're trying to revise history here by making it into this:
    North: No slaves.
    South: Slaves.
    And based on that absurdity remove a bunch of monuments for no legitimate reason, pissing off a whole lot of people for no legitimate reason. There's really a lot better things to be doing with our time.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:54PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:54PM (#557600)

    Few things in life are so clear cut. Every major event in human history has a ton of aspects, but they almost always get boiled down to the most important bits. Slavery was THE most important aspect of the Civil War, and yes there are nuances to be learned for anyone interested in such specifics. The Venn diagram of confederate defenders has a massive overlap with racists / white supremacists. Ignore if you want, no one else is going to join you in your stupidity.

    Yes I will use insults, this apologist shit is getting old. Move the fuck on and stop trying to defend obviously racist bullshit. Perhaps if these statues weren't erected during the heights of segregation... but they were, so fuck off with your personal agenda.

    • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @06:16PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @06:16PM (#557611)

      And fuck off with yours too.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @06:32PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @06:32PM (#557620)

        Need a hug? Is it rough being a despised minority? I'll try and maintain some compassion, just enough to stop any violence against you. But enjoy the social effects of being/defending bigotry.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by mhajicek on Tuesday August 22 2017, @08:10PM (1 child)

      by mhajicek (51) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @08:10PM (#557695)

      No. Federal authority vs states rights was the most important issue, and everyone lost.

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:22AM (#557827)

        Yep, better them darkies were still slaves than that the federal government step in to enforce the ideals of the country. Let me guess, we all lost again when Ike sent federal troops to Little Rock.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:30PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:30PM (#558111)

      another yankee fuck telling people to move on while you go around bringing up old shit to use brainwashed idiots for political gain. the statues represent the men that fought for their homeland and it's sovereignty. racism and slavery were part of the culture then. just like racism and working people to death in the factories were part of the north's "evil" culture. no one is denying it. that's the way things were then. now southerners' heritage is outlawed because the way things were then hurts someone's feelings? fuck you, you stupid bitch.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 24 2017, @03:06AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 24 2017, @03:06AM (#558287)

        So we should leave the statues up so that your precious widdle feewings don't get hurt? Irony is a bitch and it's riding you hard.