After Palmyra ISIS Targets Monuments on U.S. Soil

I called it last night. Message 454

On my honeymoon I took a boat down the Danube. Upon getting off the boat in Bratislava I saw My wife didn't see it at first, she did see my face which went from agape mouth to mouthing 'what....the.....fuuuuuck?' The thing that I found really strange was it's just on the side of a street. There is nothing drawing attention to it, its not on some pedestal. It's location is almost as shockingly banal as the subject is shockingly unbanal. After my initial surprise I liked it.It turns out that the statue *was* on a pedestal and displayed sincerely in the 40s and 50s but was taken down and only put back on the streets (sans pedestal) a few months before my arrival.This isn't intended as an argument against you, but more of an aside. Since it speaks of history vs celebration its kind of on topic.We also visited Hungary - they did a similar thing From: Things to Do, Tickets, Tours & Attractions | 2022 | Viator - Image courtesy of Chris Brown on Flickr.

We have a giant bronze headless statue of Lenin in one of the casinos here in Vegas. I'm sure people can have them if they want them, but equally they can not have them if they don't.

True enough, but in fairness I don't think Vegas was in the communist bloc

I must admit I am surprised that statue was resurrected. You sure Putin isn't planning a European tour? For the record the Confederate idolatry in this country has long been a dog whistle for racism imo.The University of Texas removed a statue of Jefferson Davis to a museum last August. Let Davis live out his days in a dark museum instead of being glorified in the outdoors for all to see. Let his confederate fanboys seek him out there among other museum relics of our past.

Hmm. According to you, people petitioning the government to remove statutes celebrating the confederacy constitutes fascism.White people shooting up Wilmington NC to remove the elected government consisting of a black/white coalition is 'democracy in action'; at least according to you.An actual race riot is democracy, but petitioning the government is fascism.Please explain.Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

It is a shame that these statues can't be available for birds to shit on, though. Maybe put them all in courtyards with lots of birdfeeders hanging on them.The assholes may have a 1st amendment right to fly their confederate flags on their testosterone trucks, but I will continue to be disgusted by them. And it is like they are wearing a stupid uniform.

We redistribute more wealth than Lenin ever saw.Anyway, my point is that in a free country having a giant statue of Lenin is optional. (Unless for some reason you're too poor to afford one, yay capitalism.)

Or give him a handful of cigars and use him for advertising.

The title of the thread is a bit ironic, isn't it? Palmyra is being preserved as a museum, isn't it? To remember the past?Nobody is suggesting that Confederate flags should be destroyed, only that they belong in museums to be remembered.

I expect he'll come stealthily up the Alma. Let me check with the locals....Oh. His 'salami' tour started two years ago, not too long after the Stalin statue went up. Looks like European bureaucracy got those suckers up in time!Seriously, they were removed when they had their worst negative impact. Now they serve as part of a historical cultural landscape in a tourist trap. It's like a twisted version of the N'awlins story.

Need to build a highway? Move 'em to the museum. Need to flood a nearby river? Move 'em to the museum.The fascism comes into play specifically when you desire their removal because of the 'message' you think they send.Libraries throw books away all the time - they get worn, aren't read often, need the space, etc. Nobody much cares when they do it as part of their usual business goings on.But there is understandably a certain amount of discomfort felt by more liberal minds upon finding out that a library may have thrown away a book because of the 'message' it contains.People who believe that stuff with certain 'messages' should be hidden from public view just because of the message are fascists by definition. And they are certainly no better than the folks of ISIS tearing down Roman arches because they represent the 'enemy'.It's also not clear that they can all be removed without causing some irreparable damage - meaning much like ISIS, some of these monuments will simply be getting destroyed because they come from the infidels.

Well, no, that is not the definition of fascism. Suppression of ideas may be a symptom of fascism but it isn't a fundamental principle.And of course, nobody is suggesting that Confederate flags should be "hidden away" or that the messages they send should be suppressed. What people want is to remove the symbols of slavery from our public buildings. They want our governments to stop expressing pride and admiration for the symbols of slavery.

Then it would appear that the Fascist Left strikes again! Vegas is a notorious, communist shit-hole. On the surface it looks like the bane of the bourgeois capitalist scum, but the underbelly of this innocuous city lies the House of Marx with a smattering of Maoist philosophy. The City of Sin... And by sin, I mean to say that Sin = Fascist Left.

I find this whole "if you don't like my display of symbols of hate, you are a fascist" a bizarre argument. Well, if it was up to me, I would like to see every confederate flag burned and the ashes flushed down the toilet.It is a symbol of much more than slavery. It represents hate, fear, murder, pain. The idea that all these years after the Civil War and slavery ended that the descendants of slaves, who are now citizens, have to see that symbol on their government buildings is nuts.The people who fight to keep the symbol there do it for one reason, to instill fear in blacks and to remind them that they will never be considered equal.When I see the confederate flag on trucks, it scares the hell out of me. I know the assholes in the truck are trying to be provocative, the same as the "open carry assholes." And they are often the same assholes. We recently saw a whole bunch of these assholes here in Oregon during the Malheur occupation.I'm not a fascist for wanting to see an end to that symbol, I'm just scared.