News HBO draws ire after 'Confederate' announcement

[Ovation]

the honoring and preserving of the CSA imagery and heroes with their statues and monuments was probably necessary in preserving the Union after the Civil War. I can see the politicians doing what they could to appease and sooth the defeated South.

It wasn’t necessary, but it was expedient. I’m prepping a course on post-Civil War US history and have been working on the Reconstruction unit this past week. The work of Eric Foner (on Reconstruction) and Gary Gallagher (on the specific issue of Confederate commemorations and monuments) is quite illuminating on the subject.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I do wonder if it would have been better had the Stars and Bars and the other Confederate flags and symbols had been outlawed the way the Nazi imagery was in post-WWII Germany. Simple legislation, however, wouldn't have changed the heart condition of the haters, though.

Outlawing a symbol is just one door down from outlawing an idea. And outlawing an idea is totally antithetical to the whole concept of America. All ideas, no matter how good or bad, require equal protection under the law. Because once you start giving anyone the authority to allow some ideas but not others, there's no telling where they'll stop. Better that we allow everything in the open. Let people's consciences decide which ideas to receive and which to ignore but give them the option to be exposed to all of them.

 

[Skipper]

Outlawing a symbol is just one door down from outlawing an idea. And outlawing an idea is totally antithetical to the whole concept of America. All ideas, no matter how good or bad, require equal protection under the law. Because once you start giving anyone the authority to allow some ideas but not others, there's no telling where they'll stop. Better that we allow everything in the open. Let people's consciences decide which ideas to receive and which to ignore but give them the option to be exposed to all of them.

So, all nations which outlawed, I don't know, Nazi or fascist symbols are just dictatorships in disguise? Well, German and Italian citizens will be shocked to know this. Fortunately the USA, the only Free Democracy in the whole world, is here to show us the right way.

 

[Skipper]

Oh, by the way, even after all that Nazi regalia ban, Germany still ranks better than the USA in almost every freedom index out there. I wonder how it is possible. It almost seems that prohibiting assholes to proudly display symbols of racism and hatred does not automatically lead to a dystopian dictatorship! It's incredible!