I grew up in New England, and so the history I encountered in local buildings, landmarks, etc., was relating to the American Revolution. But, a lot of the history down here in the south relates to other battles, as well as to the Confederate War. I'm seeing more and more stories like this one, wherein governments decide to erase history by removing statues, plaques, and changing the names of schools and other sites. I don't really understand what these people are hoping to accomplish. Are they also rewriting history in the text books?
I guess I could understand this move if this was a State run school, but Vanderbilt is a private university. Not much is written here in Nashville about the change. Times are changing. They can rewrite history, but oral history and family history endures.
It's all part of the PC movement in my opinion. Anyway, that's a lot of money to remove a word that according to the story people didn't even use anymore when saying the name of the building. Also, how far do you go? Something will always offend somebody. Should have used the money for a good cause....
Removing statues, flags, etc. is coming to be seen as racist. None of this changes history and should not be reflected in school text books, in my opinion.
Let me digress on the changing of names. I am against the renaming of streets and edifice much more with places. It really pains me to think that they are trying to change the landscape of our history and tradition. A main street in Manila called Azcarrage has been renamed Recto in honor of a former legislator. The road called Highway 54 was renamed E. Delos Santos Avenue which is popularly known as EDSA. So where is the world going to? In the future all places, streets and landmarks will be names of dead people.
After Isis takes control of our government, we'll be seeing a lot of this. We're being prepared for it now. And a lot of this too.
What really astounds me is that those on the left, who are proponents of this movement to rename buildings, take down statues, etc., because someone's delicate sensibilities might be offended, defend radical behavior from those we in the middle and on the right oppose. Those they defend are the ones who aim to tear down our society and replace it with one of their own choosing, which would ultimately bring down those on the left. That's just plain stupid, not to mention hypocritical.
http://endtimeheadlines.org/2016/11/city-renames-2-holidays-deemed-culturally-insensitive/ Erasing history is happening more than just tearing down statues, etc. as the above article shows. Maybe America has become a diverse Society but there is no way that we can please everyone. When people used to come and live in America they agreed to accept America's language and ways, etc. Now everyone who comes here wants everything their way...this just cannot be done without destroying America...and that is exactly what is happening.
The whole concept of accepting illegals is ridiculous. Borders exist for a reason. There are many people waiting to come here legally, who are willing to accept the terms required, and comply with our laws. They should not be pushed to the back of the line in favor of those who have shown disdain for our laws and society.
And if we deported everyone who has shown disdain for what America has always stood for...we would have room for the ones who are willing to respect America and its terms.
Our history should be allowed to be whatever it was, and if we want to become better people than we were before, that gives us a place to move from and to measure our successes and failures. Closely related to this is the insistence on placing today's values or political correctness onto people in the past, and judging them to have been bad people because they wouldn't have fit in well in today's society. This is why much of Mark Twain's literature is being banned from the schools and people are no longer allowed to acknowledge or even learn about the honor that also existed among many of the leaders of the Confederacy, as it did within the Union, as well as in earlier times.
During the American Civil War, cease-fires were called, during which time both sides collected up their dead and dying at the front line. Frank
To use the analogy of driving a car once again, we have windows all around us and a rear view mirror. The largest window is always in the front with all other windows smaller than the foreword one. The interesting part is the rear view mirror which is much, much smaller than all of the other visual aids. The analogy will follow that it is much more important to keep looking forward while having at least a small view of what is behind us. But, if the mirrors were to be removed so that the past is no longer visible, the window in front will soon become irrelevant, for the accident that will happen is almost assured and a harsh injury or death will be the product of our stupidity.