[Vision2020] Fwd: White House Petition asking Obama not to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument

Fri Jan 11 18:52:31 PST 2013

It's easy from today's perspective to draw a line in the sand and say 
these guys were wrong or evil or whatever.  We live in a society where 
almost no one in the country alive today has been involved in the slave 
trade as such.  To start up a slave trade today would involve acts that 
very few of us could even contemplate, let alone carry out.  It was a 
different situation back then.  Slavery was an institution that was 
ingrained in the culture and had been for 240+ years at that point.  The 
first slave ship arrived in Jamestown in 1619.  At one point it had been 
the cornerstone of their economy, since it meant cheap labour, although 
that was fading by 1860.

It was the issue that divided the nation, true, and it was the reason 
that the first Southern states had seceded.  However, it was the right 
to secede that was really being fought over, as far as I can tell.  
States were more like individual nations back then than they are now.  
They were fighting for the right to break off from the rest of the union 
and to forge their own path.

People today seem to assume that the average Confederate soldier was 
fighting for the right to beat black people because they hated them.  
They weren't.  Slavery may have been the issue that sparked the 
conflict, but I doubt that's what the actual Confederate soldiers 
thought about when they asked themselves what they were dying for.

I'm with Chasuk on this one.  Honour them for their bravery.  What harm 
does it do?

As a fun exercise, imagine if a few states today came to the conclusion 
that owning pets was inhumane.  They should be set free and allowed to 
live their own life, for better or worse, and not be kept for the 
pleasure of their owners.  Perhaps someday some future people will look 
down on us in shock and dismay because we let this practice continue.  
Or think about domesticated cattle or simply about our overcrowded 
prisons and the widespread problem of prison rape.  They will ask how we 
as a people could condone such behaviour.   I would agree with them, for 
the most part.  But the real question is, how do you get there from here?

Paul

On 01/11/2013 03:09 PM, Rosemary Huskey wrote:
>
> Sorry guys, I have to disagree.  Honor is associated (in my mind) with 
> the righteous of the cause.   Dying to preserve slavery, or establish 
> their own separate slave-based nation,  doesn't rise to that standard 
> for me.  In fact, I can think of a lot of military actions where 
> singular acts of courage occur. For example, saving someone life at 
> the risk of one's own, (probably lots of Taliban fighters do that). I 
> am *really* not interested in lobbying for a Taliban monument in 
> Washington D.C. .because they are courageous, are you?   After all, 
> Confederates soldiers didn't believe they were citizens of the United 
> States.  Doesn't that make them enemy combatants?
>
> Rose Huskey
>
> *From:*vision2020-bounces at moscow.com 
> [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] *On Behalf Of *Gary Crabtree
> *Sent:* Friday, January 11, 2013 11:19 AM
> *To:* Chasuk; Tom Hansen
> *Cc:* Friends of the Clearwater; Moscow Vision 2020; Jeanne McHale; 
> Fritz Knorr; Friends of the Palouse Ranger District; Wild Idaho Rising 
> Tide; Helen Yost
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Fwd: White House Petition asking Obama not 
> to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument
>
> Seconded with enthusiasm.
>
> g
>
> *From:*Chasuk <mailto:chasuk at gmail.com>
>
> *Sent:*Friday, January 11, 2013 10:12 AM
>
> *To:*Tom Hansen <mailto:thansen at moscow.com>
>
> *Cc:*Friends of the Clearwater <mailto:foc at friendsoftheclearwater.org> 
> ; Moscow Vision 2020 <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com> ; Jeanne McHale 
> <mailto:jeannemchale at hotmail.com> ; Fritz Knorr 
> <mailto:fritzknorr at gmail.com> ; Friends of the Palouse Ranger District 
> <mailto:fprd09 at gmail.com> ; Wild Idaho Rising Tide 
> <mailto:wild.idaho.rising.tide at gmail.com> ; Helen Yost 
> <mailto:helen.yost at vandals.uidaho.edu>
>
> *Subject:*Re: [Vision2020] Fwd: White House Petition asking Obama not 
> to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument
>
> I disagree with the intent of this petition. Confederate soldiers died 
> with as much honor -- and as much heroism, if such a thing exists -- 
> as their Yankee counterparts.
>
> On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 2:00 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com 
> <mailto:thansen at moscow.com>> wrote:
>
> Visionaires (et al) -
>
> I encourage you to visit and sign the petition linked below.
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares"
>
> http://www.MoscowCares.com
>
> Tom Hansen
>
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>     *Date:* January 11, 2013, 8:47:30 AM PST
>     *To:* <thansen at moscow.com <mailto:thansen at moscow.com>>
>     *Subject:* *White House Petition asking Obama not to send a wreath
>     to the Arlington Confederate Monument*
>
>     Tom,
>        At this URL is a petition asking Obama not to send a wreath to the
>     Arlington Confederate Monument.
>
>     http://wh.gov/PLBU
>
>     If you could sign it and let people know about it I would greatly
>     appreciate
>     it.
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Ed Sebesta
>
>     http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/
>
>
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