The nation is living through a debate on
whether or not to remove statues and names from schools honoring Confederate
generals. Did I say debate? I meant to say, free-for-all.
Blacks, and many whites, say they are
offensive. Other whites say they are a part of our heritage, and that to remove
them is to deny that heritage.
On August 17, 2017, the president said "You can't change history, but you can learn from it."
This past Wednesday, June 24, he scolded
states for allowing "roving gangs of wise guys, anarchists &
looters" to remove statues, saying "all represent our History &
Heritage, both the good and the bad," proving he was wrong in 2017. He
hasn’t learned a damn thing about history or our heritage.
History is both good and bad. There is
no denying that. In general, though, we build monuments to highlight the good
aspects of history. The bad aspects should not be forgotten, but they shouldn’t
be exalted.
In a 1964 decision, Supreme Court Justice
Potter Stewart famously refrained from defining pornography, but suggested,
“He’d know it if he saw it.”
Offensive seems to have fallen into the
same category in that it means all things to all different people. Some can’t
define pornography, but most people agree that it is bad.
Defining offensive
doesn’t appear to carry the same stigma or sense of urgency, although it
should.
Not everything that’s offensive to
someone is necessarily offensive to someone else. That said, no one is
suggesting we put it up to a vote. What’s needed are guidelines, universal
guidelines that don’t change as political norms change.
