Toppling Statues

The woke crowd gets a lot wrong, no doubt. Some of what it does is ignorant, just plain stupid, or even criminal. That the Wokesters get away with so much, legally, historically, and more is a travesty. When government, corporations, and other institutions cave in to demands, if not jumping on the bandwagon, they are pathetic and send a dangerous message. And they and cancel culture are still at work. For speaking their minds, expressing ideas and views contrary to wokeness, people have lost their jobs, been vilified and even physically assaulted. But the woke crowd has got something right, toppling statues. Well, that is, toppling some statues and memorials. To deface or knock down memorials to those like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson is not just criminal, but ignorant. But some statues deserve to go. I am thinking of those memorials devoted to Confederates in the South. (To be fair, there are many streets, parks, schools, and more in other parts of the country named after Confederates.) These Southerners, in the Civil War, took up arms against the United States. I believe that is called treason! Why are so many people insistent on honoring traitors? In fact, folks like Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson are still viewed as heroes. Consider that, even in the aftermath of the war, many of these Confederates held positions as US Senators and Congressmen, state governors and local officials, as well as leaders in business and education. Lee, for instance, became the president of Washington University and later had his name added, Washington and Lee University. Frederick Douglass once wrote, of the Civil War, "There was a right side and a wrong side. It is no part of our duty to confound right with wrong or loyalty with treason." I don't think Douglass or I argue about courage/bravery, but rather sedition and rebellion against the US. Take, for instance, Germany. There are no statues of Erwin Rommel in Germany. Although he welcomed Hitler's rise to power, Rommel was never a member of the National Social Party, never a Nazi. (I will for the time being ignore "The Rommel Myth.") It's as if the Germans are ashamed of Rommel and his role in the Second World War. If so, why aren't Americans, especially in the South, also ashamed of the Confederacy and those who fought for it? Not only did they fight against the United States, they fought to preserve slavery! If that was acceptable then, well, that's one thing, odious as it is/was. That many still find it acceptable now, even vehemently resisting removal, is clearly wrong. Tearing down Confederate statues and memorials is not an attempt to "rewrite history" as their defenders claim. In fact, it's the obverse, trying to preserve history. Why should history preserve the myth of traitors? We can tell the story of the Civil War without glorifying treason.