America Dreamed
This weekend the National Review published an astonishingly ill-conceived piece by Arthur Herman entitled “Confederate Statues Honor Timeless Virtues — Let Them Stay.” (Out of principle I won’t be providing a link to the piece, but feel free to Google it yourselves if you feel so inclined.) Here’s the money quote that is having tongues a-waggin’ (highlighted for emphasis):
Bless his heart. Herman somehow found the mental and intestinal fortitude to equate racial segregation — an institutionalized form of racism that disenfranchised generations of black Americans — with liberalism. Herman casually tosses the allegation into his mixed salad of bullshit arguments without really elaborating on the charges against “liberalism.” So one can only speculate on what sins liberalism wrought on black people in the ‘50s— the Brown v. Board of Education decision, perhaps? Herman briefly admits that post-Civil War peace was achieved “on the backs of blacks” and finds an argument for the removal of Confederate monuments on this basis to be “almost convincing.” Of course, Herman quickly drops this line of reasoning before he risks alienating his conservative audience and doesn’t again acknowledge the perspectives of black people as it regards the Confederate statue issue.
(As an aside, I caught a whiff of nostalgia when Herman took a random swipe at gangsta rap; it took me back to the early 1990s when conservative culture warriors like C. Dolores Tucker and Bill Bennett impugned the work of artists like Tupac Shakur. One would think that the “music” produced by white power skinhead bands might be more indicative of a “death style,” particularly since it often inspires youth to commit acts of racial violence.)
Despite Herman’s appeal to authority (he reminds his readers that he’s a well-feted historian, thereby implying that has a better grip on the issue than the rest of us plebes), his arguments have become well-rehearsed and excessively recycled talking points in conservative circles. Let’s briefly review some of the more well-worn ones:
· “Tearing down these statues means forgetting/negating American history.” Funny, I thought books and museums still existed.
· “If you tear down Confederate statues, where does it end…Lincoln? Washington?” Um, no, you’re the only ones alleging that this is a slippery slope to tearing down the Lincoln Memorial or Washington Monument. Those are popular destination spots and bring in too much tourist money for D.C. to ever consider demolishing them. And trust me, we’ll still celebrate President’s Day too because Americans love their national holidays, no matter how arbitrary they are.
· “The Confederate statues aren’t racist. They’re just an expression of Southern pride.” OK, if that’s the case then why are they popular (primarily among white people) in most states in this Union? And if others (primarily black people) see Confederate statues a different way, don’t you have to at least factor that into your calculus of whether these statues are racist or not?
· “Confederate figures like Robert E. Lee were misunderstood figures who weren’t as racist as we perceive them to be.” You can miss me with that Lost Cause bullshit.
· “They [liberals] won’t be satisfied until Washington, D.C., is renamed ‘Obama City’ and Mount Rushmore is completely demolished.” I cribbed this talking point verbatim from Michelle Malkin because it’s so hilarious I thought it was worth sharing. Yeah, Michelle, that’s exactly what liberals are fixin’ to do…hope you like your new government assigned name of Assata Che Trotsky!
In observing the right-wing media’s reaction to the Confederate statue issue, I see how many commentators take great pains to justify their continued existence using logic so specious that it wouldn’t pass muster in an Intro to Rhetoric course. Rather than having an intellectually honest argument as to why they think the statues should stay, they devise all sorts of incoherent bromides like the ones referenced above.
Conservatives have an alternative history of this country that is more vivid and imaginative than anything the creators of HBO’s Confederate could have conceived. And what’s more, this history often excludes the role of black people in this nation’s history by excusing the presence of these statues. Perhaps some, like Herman, will grant that blacks may have some grievances but those points are quickly hand-waved away in the name of “tolerance” towards this country’s true misunderstood and oppressed class: long-dead slave owners and their like-minded compatriots.
This version of American history can be best understood not as the American Dream, but rather as America Dreamed. Instead of seeing our country’s white supremacist, slaveholding past for what it is, many conservatives would prefer to invent fantasies, or dreams, that proffer a different version of events. This results, for example, in misperceptions about affirmative action and the ways in which it favors black people. Or erroneous crime statistics parroted by conservatives and even the Racist-in-Chief that suggest higher crime rates among blacks.
It even extends to the institution of slavery itself, generally regarded as evil today but viewed through rose-colored glasses by a number of racist whites. Unfortunately, the delusion isn’t limited to white people, as some conservative commentators of color have also been recruited to advocate on behalf of the Confederacy. Lee and the other Confederate heroes would’ve never abided a “colored” defending their honor, but that was then. Today, the America Dreamed way of looking at history is extended to everyone, no matter their creed or color.
Ain’t progress grand?
