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struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:24 PM Aug 2017

As a long-time resident of Durham NC, I want to remark on the mob action here today

See (for example)

Protesters pull down Confederate statue at old Durham County courthouse
http://wnct.com/2017/08/14/protesters-pull-down-confederate-statue-at-old-durham-county-courthouse/

Nelson Mandela, at some point during his long imprisonment, remarked that the sabotage campaign in South Africa had been a strategic blunder, because it took time and energy away from organizational work

A similar comment must apply here. I am not sorry to learn that the confederate monument has been removed. But I am filled with sorrowful regret and angst that it was removed by mob action. I cannot think of much in favor of mob action: lynchings were mob actions; so were the 1898 Wilmington NC insurrection, the 1917 East St. Louis massacres, and the 1923 Rosewood FL massacre; so was Kristallnacht

There is no politically credible way to argue in favor of mob actions that suit our views while arguing against those that do not suit our views: we either condemn every mob action or we condemn none, since anything else is transparent hypocrisy. We can discipline ourselves and organize for slow but lasting political change -- or we can yield to sudden passions and finally glare at each other across the ruins of our democracy

I've always been happy to advocate the removal of Confederate monuments. But events like this poison the discussion: for the next few years, in any disagreement about Confederate monuments, I'll be forced to discuss whether I approve of mobs damaging things on public property -- and since I don't, I'll have to waste my breath explaining that I don't. Under those conditions, the conversation is always likely to become a public relations disaster for my views, so perhaps I'd to better to avoid the topic completely

Yeah, thanks a lot, a-holz: with friends like you, I'll get nowhere at all, twice as fast as I did before



68 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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As a long-time resident of Durham NC, I want to remark on the mob action here today (Original Post) struggle4progress Aug 2017 OP
I agree greeny2323 Aug 2017 #1
An outdated participation trophy. RandySF Aug 2017 #2
You are wrong. We are pushing the past behind us Bladewire Aug 2017 #3
I LOVED it ! JanetLovesObama Aug 2017 #4
I agree completely. AJT Aug 2017 #5
Agreed. We seem to be short on real leaders BootinUp Aug 2017 #6
Nicely written. I agree with you. haveahart Aug 2017 #7
It should of been removed a long long time ago. DURHAM D Aug 2017 #8
79% voted for Hillary in the county overall. But a state law prevents the city pnwmom Aug 2017 #17
It wasn't terribly obvious in its later years: it was quite close to the old courthouse, a bit away struggle4progress Aug 2017 #33
Yeah. Let's play nice. PCIntern Aug 2017 #9
Mob vandalism is violence. This doesn't help at all. yardwork Aug 2017 #13
Only the statue was hurt. forgotmylogin Aug 2017 #27
Our prospects for repeal of the silly law protecting such monuments has been injured struggle4progress Aug 2017 #43
Thing is, a mob isn't needed BannonsLiver Aug 2017 #26
I suppose these people should have just waited for an orderly way to do it, too. politicat Aug 2017 #44
They engaged in very powerful peaceful protests. Ms. Toad Aug 2017 #47
Not true, actually. That's mythology. politicat Aug 2017 #68
Not an apples to apples comparison and I am in no way saying that. BannonsLiver Aug 2017 #51
Your comparison severely undercuts your point. yardwork Aug 2017 #67
And, it inspires the other side to do the same thing customerserviceguy Aug 2017 #10
As for the Saddam example: It was staged. There was no "mob." WinkyDink Aug 2017 #14
Staged or impromptu customerserviceguy Aug 2017 #15
I agree. Well said. yardwork Aug 2017 #11
Your comparisons are hyperbolic and offensive. n/t demmiblue Aug 2017 #12
Perhaps that view would also allow a mob of several hundred to march into an art museum struggle4progress Aug 2017 #29
Exactly. yardwork Aug 2017 #32
The problem is that the state passed a new law preventing the cities from legally removing pnwmom Aug 2017 #16
+1 dalton99a Aug 2017 #53
Don't see any Hitler statues anymore. roamer65 Aug 2017 #18
If you read this statement from the article you will know why the protestors did it Maraya1969 Aug 2017 #19
The Trump chicken is an inflatable. It is temporary. LeftInTX Aug 2017 #24
So is a damn statue obviously! Why are you protecting these statues? Maraya1969 Aug 2017 #36
Stating that a balloon is a balloon is not protecting statues. LeftInTX Aug 2017 #41
It is a sign, so it's not metal, but deal. And you didn't answer why you want to protect Maraya1969 Aug 2017 #54
Why on earth are you accusing me of protecting statues??? LeftInTX Aug 2017 #58
I am familiar with that law. It was a silly reactionary move from a state legislature struggle4progress Aug 2017 #30
Wouldn't the "crazy mobs" go away if all the statues were taken down. I think this Maraya1969 Aug 2017 #34
Dang, there is a law preventing the county from removing the statue LeftInTX Aug 2017 #20
They murdered a young woman two days ago. Voltaire2 Aug 2017 #21
This action might incite the Nazis to do something drastic ProudLib72 Aug 2017 #22
How much longer should they have waited? shanny Aug 2017 #23
Why was Durham ERECTING monuments as late as 1924? leftstreet Aug 2017 #25
We know why: it is because these monuments were not simple monuments to confederate boys struggle4progress Aug 2017 #39
Good job Durhamites oswaldactedalone Aug 2017 #28
Durham County spokesman didn't sound particularly upset. grantcart Aug 2017 #31
Way to miss the point. yardwork Aug 2017 #35
There is a damn law prohibiting the city from removing these statues. Sometimes Maraya1969 Aug 2017 #37
what point are you referring to grantcart Aug 2017 #38
Nobody seems overcome by grief: struggle4progress Aug 2017 #40
Unfortunately... Snackshack Aug 2017 #42
Thank you. I feel exactly the same. scarletwoman Aug 2017 #45
It's not a black and white world womanofthehills Aug 2017 #48
Fuck that. The confederates were the liquid diamond Aug 2017 #46
Mob violence is wrong. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #49
Playing by the rules is a sure way to lose, the rules are written by the other side. DemocraticWing Aug 2017 #50
Really? BannonsLiver Aug 2017 #56
I do not oppose this. David__77 Aug 2017 #52
Maybe if enough people ruin statues, it could change the law. LeftInTX Aug 2017 #55
hang in there S4P. ucrdem Aug 2017 #57
Is anyone going to put up a better statue or leave the spot empty as a symbol? Not Ruth Aug 2017 #59
I am not a citizen of Durham, so my opinion is probably not worth much... ExciteBike66 Aug 2017 #60
they're a direct affront to the black residents bigtree Aug 2017 #61
Another mob action in taking down a statue..... Historic NY Aug 2017 #62
+1 bigtree Aug 2017 #64
Mobs, by definition, are irrational. kentuck Aug 2017 #63
Nope. I support them. They should all come down and if the state has passed a law forbidding their Squinch Aug 2017 #65
There's another aspect to this ColoradoBlue Aug 2017 #66

RandySF

(57,588 posts)
2. An outdated participation trophy.
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:28 PM
Aug 2017

As far as I'm concerned, they saved taxpayers some money tearing it down.

DURHAM D

(32,595 posts)
8. It should of been removed a long long time ago.
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:39 PM
Aug 2017

I am actually surprised it survived this long in such a racially diverse city.

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
17. 79% voted for Hillary in the county overall. But a state law prevents the city
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:48 PM
Aug 2017

from voting to remove the statues, as Ch'ville's city council did.

struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
33. It wasn't terribly obvious in its later years: it was quite close to the old courthouse, a bit away
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:16 PM
Aug 2017

from the entrance. I walked past it quite a few times over the years before I finally looked at it and realized what it was. A number of politically active Durhamites regarded any proposal to remove it as something of a red herring and thought money spent carting it away could be spent better on more pressing problems. I expect many will now argue that money that might be spent repairing it could be spent better on more pressing problems --- and if they argue thus, I will support them

PCIntern

(25,341 posts)
9. Yeah. Let's play nice.
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:40 PM
Aug 2017

When they go low we go high

How's that been working out for us lately?

My motto: kick 'em in the nuts and make them apologize for being born.

(Metaphorically of course! I would never advocate the use of violence.)

BannonsLiver

(16,161 posts)
26. Thing is, a mob isn't needed
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:58 PM
Aug 2017

These monuments have been coming down for a couple of years now. It usually starts with a complaint to a city council followed by community debate and a vote. That's the orderly way to do it. I understand NC has some draconian state laws that take the power away from cities there which is why this group probably did it that way, but generally speaking an orderly approach should be the preferred approach. It also promotes a more lasting understanding in a community about why these monuments should be coming down.

All that being said, it's exciting to see the passion.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
47. They engaged in very powerful peaceful protests.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 12:53 AM
Aug 2017

They did not form a mob to win by brute force. That is a disingenuous comparison.

politicat

(9,808 posts)
68. Not true, actually. That's mythology.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 11:09 AM
Aug 2017

Per American law at the time, those women were breaking the law -- per Wilson and the DC police, their very presence was unlawful. They were considered a mob to be imprisoned. When the citizens have no legal mechanism for action, all of their actions are illegal, which is also true in Durham regarding removal of statues. That is my specific comparison -- what they were doing, at the time, was illegal. If they were not willing to break laws to accomplish their goals, suffrage would not have happened. I also remind you that the statue is the property of the citizens, maintained at citizen expense, but the citizens have no legal recourse to remove or move that furniture they are forced to maintain.

The American suffrage movement had close ties to the British suffrage movement, and the Brits trained many of the early 19th century American leaders. The American leaders also had close ties with labor and immigrants' advocacy and the anarchism of the time. The British suffrage movement did engage in mob and sabotage action, regularly. The American movement did have its own form of self-protection -- working class women whose primary activism came from the labor movement. (These women are almost forgotten in the history, but start with Rebecca Edwards' Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era.) Including rock throwing, carrying rolling pins and fighting back when suffrage demonstrations were attacked.

The young men engaged in sit-ins were also breaking the law, and were treated as law-breakers. Their presence was the illegal act. And again, if the law does not allow action, those who take action are forced beyond the law to obtain justice. If they had not broken the law, the law would never have changed.

Most Americans get something much closer to hagiography than history about our previous civil rights movements. Neither the suffrage movement nor the civil rights movement were always legal, always absolutely peaceful, always passive. We've been told that by those in power because it's much easier to ignore activists who aren't inconvenient.

BannonsLiver

(16,161 posts)
51. Not an apples to apples comparison and I am in no way saying that.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:38 AM
Aug 2017

What you are saying, however, is that the communities that made a decision together for the greater good to remove these statues are doing it wrong. It's illogical, and a bit simplistic, but hey the mob approach is more feel good I suppose. We're all about the "feels" these days. To hell with the institutions like city councils and civic organizations that serve as the backbone of our country.



yardwork

(61,408 posts)
67. Your comparison severely undercuts your point.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 09:28 AM
Aug 2017

The brave people you pictured withstood mob violence. They were nonviolent, and that's why they won. People all over America saw images of peaceful people being attacked by violent mobs, and that powerful dynamic changed minds and laws.



customerserviceguy

(25,183 posts)
10. And, it inspires the other side to do the same thing
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:40 PM
Aug 2017

There's a right way and a wrong way to do this.

A mob toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein did nothing to bring peace to Iraq.

struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
29. Perhaps that view would also allow a mob of several hundred to march into an art museum
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:01 PM
Aug 2017

and destroy a painting they did not like? Or would allow such a mob to march into a local library to remove and burn books they considered unacceptable?

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
16. The problem is that the state passed a new law preventing the cities from legally removing
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:47 PM
Aug 2017

the confederate statues.

Durham County, where this statue was located, voted for Hillary by 79% and most likely would approve the legal removal of the statue -- just as Charlottesville, VA's city council just voted to remove theirs. But the state, with a gerrymandered legislature dominated by Republicans, prevents them from doing so.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
18. Don't see any Hitler statues anymore.
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:51 PM
Aug 2017

There is a reason for it.

These statues can go the way of the Hitler ones.

Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
19. If you read this statement from the article you will know why the protestors did it
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:53 PM
Aug 2017

“Due to a North Carolina state law passed a few years ago, Durham County is prohibited from removing or making substantive alteration to historical monuments and memorials. I share this to say that there is a statute in place making the efforts you mention below difficult to move forward. I would assume that the only thing possible are steps to reverse the law.”

And I don't see this as mob action. It was protestors. No different than the people who secured the Trump chicken next to the White House

Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
54. It is a sign, so it's not metal, but deal. And you didn't answer why you want to protect
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:52 AM
Aug 2017

these statues. People sit in trees to block cities from cutting them down. That is civil disobedience too.

Besides these are desperate times and desperate times call for desperate measures.

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
58. Why on earth are you accusing me of protecting statues???
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 02:11 AM
Aug 2017

I've signed several petitions to have this statue removed and went to a Heather Heyer vigil. The Heather Heyer vigil was held next to a confederate monument that we have been trying to have removed. There there was also KKK rally at the same spot on Saturday.

There is a good chance that we will get this one removed. So please just stop it. What are you doing to get rid of statues??? Why are you picking a fight with me????

Here is a picture of me that was taken last night. I'm holding the "No KKK" sign. And that huge thing in the background is the confederate monument. Quit accusing me of protecting statues. I'm sick of it.

If you want to come to San Antonio and topple this huge thing over by yourself, go ahead.

&ts=20170814080529

struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
30. I am familiar with that law. It was a silly reactionary move from a state legislature
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:10 PM
Aug 2017

unbalanced by partisan gerrymandering. Way too many Dems sat on their hands in 2010 so the GOP got to redistrict here after the census. So when pressure mounted against Confederate memorials after the 17 June 2015 Charleston shootings, the GOP rushed it through, and the GOP governor immediately signed it

The law should go: local memorials should be governed by local decisions. But the Durham pull-down will protect that law from repeal for years to come --- the yahoos will wave their hands and shrieks that they are protecting "history" from crazy mobs

Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
34. Wouldn't the "crazy mobs" go away if all the statues were taken down. I think this
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:16 PM
Aug 2017

and more acts like it might cause the local politicians to want to remove the law if nothing more than stopping all the "mobs"

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
20. Dang, there is a law preventing the county from removing the statue
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:53 PM
Aug 2017

Someone is trying to get a law like that in Texas. Fortunately, the legislature won't meet until 2019. We might get a few monuments moved before then.

I can see why they are frustrated. Complaining to the city or county won't do them any good. Getting a law changed is their only hope.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
22. This action might incite the Nazis to do something drastic
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:54 PM
Aug 2017

like run over and kill someone or beat the crap out of someone with poles.

Look, there are two ways to take this. Either you see it as mob violence in the same vein as the Nazis, or you see it as the majority standing up for themselves when their government refuses to. I'm sorry, but I have to view it as the latter.

 

shanny

(6,709 posts)
23. How much longer should they have waited?
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:56 PM
Aug 2017

If this is still where we all are, 160 years on, maybe it is time for the rage to boil over.


leftstreet

(36,076 posts)
25. Why was Durham ERECTING monuments as late as 1924?
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 09:56 PM
Aug 2017
Monument Name

Confederate Monument, Durham
Type

Common Soldier Statue
Subjects

Civil War
Creator

McNeel Marble Company, Marietta, GA, Supplier
City

Durham
County

Durham
Description

An armed and uniformed soldier stands atop a granite tower adorned with the Confederate seal. On the base of the monument are four stone cannon balls and two lighted lamps. In total the monument stands approximately fifteen feet high.

Images: Front View | Top View
Inscription

Front: IN MEMORY OF / “THE BOYS WHO / WORE THE GRAY”
Image

Left: DEDICATED MAY 10TH, 1924

Right: THIS MEMORIAL / ERECTED BY / THE PEOPLE OF / DURHAM COUNTY.
Custodian

Durham County
Dedication Date

May 10, 1924

http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/118/

struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
39. We know why: it is because these monuments were not simple monuments to confederate boys
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:25 PM
Aug 2017

but were an essential part of the culture of resurgent white supremacism. The monument was placed at the courthouse to send a public message about whose courthouse it was and who could expect justice there

But it is also important to understand that political views can lag decades behind the times. Eventrually there was a new courthouse --- and the monument was not moved. Then there was an even newer courthouse, and the monument still was not moved. It would have been a bold move for three hundred people to pull down that monument in 1954. Today it is an easy vandalism: Durham is a reliably liberal city, and had there been widespread demand to remove the monument, it would probably not have been difficult to haver it removed. The reality may simply be that hardly anybody cared

grantcart

(53,061 posts)
31. Durham County spokesman didn't sound particularly upset.
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:10 PM
Aug 2017

When my daughter was in grade school we lied in a development that had Civil War themes for the streets and schools.

I believe that she went to Shilo Hills Grade Schools.

Her first grade teacher was, by strange coincidence the wife of one of my favorite and liberal professors at college.

I asked her if she wouldn't mind going to the cafeteria and we stood in the middle of the cafeteria and I asked her if she saw anything unusual about the cafeteria. She looked thoughtfully around and said no and I pointed to the beautiful mural at the top of the wall that had many symbols of both the union and confederate armies.

I said, what about the Confederate flag and she responded "Well yes I know but I see it part of a larger picture of inclusion".

I said to her "Sure but no pretend you are an African American 9 year old boy and you look up at a flag which was a symbol for the enslavement of your great great grand parents, how would you see that?"

She physically jerked back and looked at me. I returned in a couple of weeks and it was painted out.

While i sympathize with you about the additional burdens of having to, a couple of days a year, engaging in someone and having to explain about this terrible "mob action" I wonder how the AA workers who have to pass this permanent state of humiliation on a daily basis feel.

Maybe you can ask the next person who brings the issue up you can ask them to pretend that they are African American and walk past that on the way to work and realize that the state still supports institutionalizing continued humiliation. How would that person feel if they were African American and every day had to pass that statue on the way to work, honoring the person who fought and killed people to keep your great great grandparents in slavery?

Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
37. There is a damn law prohibiting the city from removing these statues. Sometimes
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:22 PM
Aug 2017

civil disobedience needs to happen. That doesn't make it a damn mob

grantcart

(53,061 posts)
38. what point are you referring to
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:23 PM
Aug 2017

It appears that the local authorities were against maintaining the statue but were constrained by the state legislature.

or were you making a comment on the story in the grade school?

struggle4progress

(118,032 posts)
40. Nobody seems overcome by grief:
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:36 PM
Aug 2017

... "Because this incident occurred on county property, where county law enforcement officials were staffed, no arrests were made by DPD officers," Durham Police spokesman Wil Glenn said in a statement. Durham County Sheriff’s deputies videotaped the statue being brought down — but didn’t stop it from happening ... In an email to CBS North Carolina, Durham County spokeswoman Dawn Dudley says: "Due to a North Carolina state law passed a few years ago, Durham County is prohibited from removing or making substantive alteration to historical monuments and memorials. I share this to say that there is a statute in place making the efforts you mention below difficult to move forward. I would assume that the only thing possible are steps to reverse the law" ...
Protesters pull down Confederate statue at old Durham County courthouse
By Derrick Lewis and CBS North Carolina
Published: August 14, 2017, 6:38 pm Updated: August 14, 2017, 10:25 pm

Governor Roy Cooper?Verified account
@NC_Governor
The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments #durham - RC


Snackshack

(2,540 posts)
42. Unfortunately...
Mon Aug 14, 2017, 10:42 PM
Aug 2017

Last edited Tue Aug 15, 2017, 12:27 AM - Edit history (1)

Violence does not take place in a vacuum. Evolution takes time, its only been a few hundred years since we stopped burning people at the stake. We're just not there yet, may not ever get there, we have had plenty of time to learn. So until we are there differing points of view will be address by our species using the simplistic method of violence as has been for an embarrassingly long time.

 

liquid diamond

(1,917 posts)
46. Fuck that. The confederates were the
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 12:42 AM
Aug 2017

greatest traitors this country ever faced. There should be no statues paying homage to those assholes.

 

Expecting Rain

(811 posts)
49. Mob violence is wrong.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:03 AM
Aug 2017

There is a right way and a wrong way to proceed.

Too many trolls on this forum for my taste.

DemocraticWing

(1,290 posts)
50. Playing by the rules is a sure way to lose, the rules are written by the other side.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:23 AM
Aug 2017

Come on folks, we've got to wake up! Our institutions aren't there to serve us, they are there to oppress us. Tear down those statues by any means necessary.

BannonsLiver

(16,161 posts)
56. Really?
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:56 AM
Aug 2017

That would be news to folks in New Orleans, Lexington, Austin and Baltimore that have removed these monuments through active civic engagement. No mobs needed. But hey what do they know.

LeftInTX

(24,541 posts)
55. Maybe if enough people ruin statues, it could change the law.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 01:52 AM
Aug 2017

Since these statues belong to Confederate groups, they should be returned to their rightful owners. If the Confederate groups want their statues back intact, then they should change the law.

It is a long shot because normally vandalism accomplishes nothing...

ucrdem

(15,512 posts)
57. hang in there S4P.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 02:05 AM
Aug 2017

Sometimes things move quickly. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the way this is remembered. And Jesus himself occasionally took matters in hand when he saw injustice being done, or at least he did once, when he cast the money changers out of the temple. Here's what ML King Jr. says about time:

Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. . . .


https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html



ExciteBike66

(2,280 posts)
60. I am not a citizen of Durham, so my opinion is probably not worth much...
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 06:06 AM
Aug 2017

but I think your blanket condemnation of this "mob" action is not correct. If the "mob" had hurt people or broken into local businesses a la the WTO protests, I would agree with you. However, the "mob" here did nothing but harm the offending statue itself, which is the goal. This action draws attention to the problem without harming any innocent people or their property.

In fact, I would wish for all our protesters on the left to act in such a restrained manner.

bigtree

(85,915 posts)
61. they're a direct affront to the black residents
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 06:38 AM
Aug 2017

...I personally don't care how they come down.

I see the 'mob' differently. They're citizens engaging in an act of civil disobedience, for a very valid and worthy cause.

Worrying over 'public relations' seems a luxury, compared with living with the abominations erected as a resistance to civil rights for black Americans. They would have been TREASONOUS, if erected right after the war's end. They're no less treasonous now.

Worrying over the PR is a sad reflection of how ingrained the racism is, so much that we'd spend more than a moment's time considering how those who support such offensive displays will react.




kentuck

(110,947 posts)
63. Mobs, by definition, are irrational.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 06:51 AM
Aug 2017

Irrational actions seldom lead to anything good. Although it may make us feel good in the moment.

Squinch

(50,773 posts)
65. Nope. I support them. They should all come down and if the state has passed a law forbidding their
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 08:44 AM
Aug 2017

removal, a locality that finds them offensive should just get rid of it.

ColoradoBlue

(104 posts)
66. There's another aspect to this
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 09:11 AM
Aug 2017

There has been so much anger and sadness over the events in Charlottesville that I think it makes people feel helpless (I know I do). They need something - anything - that feels like they're making a difference, big or small. An outlet to channel their outrage and grief.

Luckily, these people didn't choose to beat up a Nazi in the street or show up with torches and pitchforks at the home of someone flying a Confederate flag. Instead, they took down an offensive statue.

I am by no means saying this should become the norm with how we handle things. When we can create meaningful change by working with the system, we absolutely should. But sometimes, we just need a "win" (a peaceful one, of course) to buoy us in this long, hard slog of resistance. I am very much a "by the book" gal but I admit watching that statue come down lifted my spirits and reminded me I'm not alone, and that there are many, many people who are fighting the good fight alongside me.

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