Iconoclasm

The destruction of a conquered culture's art, religious symbols, and history is as old as mankind itself.

The fact that the winners allowed a defeated enemy to celebrate itself may have been due to the desire of many to heal and unite a relatively young country.

Sure, Blacks and other 'minorities' were treated like Metics in their adopted country but the country itself was more concerned with reconciliation between its white male population and an occasional statue honoring a fallen general was seen as a minor consolation.

But times and priorities change...

There eventually comes a time when the old way of thinking will no longer do.

There comes a time when the desires of the many outweighs the desires of the few.

I've never been offended by Civil War statues nor most of the memorabilia.

To me, it was just a quaint reminder of how far our country has come.

I viewed the ' The South Will Rise Again' slogans the same way I viewed Texans saying, 'Remember the Alamo' - poor things, bless your hearts - you lost those conflicts.

The recent trend of removing Civil War relics has had its consequences.

Antifa vs Alt-Right seems to be the twenty first century's version of a civil (Sometimes, [Well... most of the time] not so civil.) war of beliefs and methods.

Maybe they should just keep the statues where they stand.

Maybe the nearest statue in each municipality should be the designated site for the annual Juneteenth celebrations.

But a less controversial - and probably more desirable - solution may be to create an American version of Lithuania's Grutas Park.

I doubt that many Southerners would favor this idea (from Paraguay) of repurposing statues from the losing side.