This is a difficult one. I don’t want anybody to come running towards me with a shoe.
The first thing I would say is, why do you have statues of notary figures from the losing side of the civil war? This is not something we do in England. The losers were normally drawn as small individuals, the butt of jokes, we even burn one fateful effigy of a loser every year (Guy Fawkes). It just doesn’t compute. It’s like erecting a statue of Josef Mengele in Poland with a plaque reading, “for his contributions to medical science”. Not something you do, not something that should have been permitted.
What saddens me is that rather have a successful campaign of having these statues removed in a civilised manner, you’ve had to resort to mob rule and mindless destruction to achieve the goal. Not forgiving those who sided with slavery but, the sculptor who put work into these statues deserve to have their artwork handled with some modicum of respect, even if the ultimate result is that they are re-smelt for new projects. This could have been handled better, but instead, the alt-left are happy to be perceived as a mob of barbarians to equal that view seen in the alt-right. The classic eye for an eye situation that will end in tears.
Losing civility, and descending into chaos is not the way to go.
I’m a centre right white English male, there are some liberal and left ideas that may resonate with me and that I might agree with on some mild or strong level. I am not enjoying these extremist groups on both sides of the scale making everything a binary decision. Life is not that simple. I don’t support Nazis or Communists, both are equally despicable. This is one of those rare times that I beg people to return to conversation and seek the middle path. We can’t afford to let this get out of hand. The results will become very unpleasant. I actually despise liberalism but this is one time it needs to assert more control. I hate both sides of the extremist pendulum.
Why comment on this you might ask? Why English White Man, do you make all this noise. Simply because all the same crackpots will see what you are doing in America and bring it home, in one form or another.
Get your shit together America. Seriously. Pull up your breeches.
