Banning the Fleur de Lis

[Elok]

I think Greeks do. There was a major movie about him not long ago that presented him, basically, as a psychologically-messed-up but basically sympathetic person. And he is, after all, "Alexander the Great" not "Alexander who may have killed a larger percentage of the Earth's population than Hitler."

[regexcellent]

Why are you bringing up Cromwell? Most of what we put into the Constitution regarding the military was intended to prevent a Cromwell popping up over here!

There's a statue of him outside Westminster.

[Nikolai]

Here's something for you, darling:

[C0ckney]

We still commemorate Alexander the Great, and he was a monster. Robert E. Lee was not as clever nor as influential, but also not an amoral megalomaniac. So sure, let him keep his statue.

yes but war, conquest and mass murder become more acceptable the farther back into history one goes. and what alexander did was incredible, and shaped the course of history in greece, the middle east, egypt, western and central asia, and even india, for hundreds of years to come; and all this in the space of a 13 year reign.

[Elok]

Okay, so how many years have to pass before REL is in the morally-acceptable zone? He didn't conquer or anything, he fought a largely defensive war to protect his homeland from invasion in spite of the fact that his homeland had built its economy on a morally repugnant system of labor.

[C0ckney]

i'm not sure that morally acceptable is how i would put it. but to answer your question, probably about the time when the american civil wars stops raising strong emotions, and stops being linked in some way - whether real or symbolic - to current political and social battles.

[Elok]

I think that will come sooner if we stop fighting the stupid war over again in our heads over stuff like this. REL was generally a decent man who chose the wrong side in a war that cut the nation clean in two. If that ****heel Columbus can have a holiday, we can let REL have a few statues. The South will not rise again over a few monuments.

If it makes you feel better, we can impose a condition: for every statue of Robert E. Lee, they have to have a monument to William Tecumseh Sherman, nobly posed with a torch and a crate of "requisitioned" Southern goods.

[C0ckney]

oh, i think you've misinterpreted my position. i'm not against having a statue of robert e. lee. i can see why some are, though.

[Elok]

After years on the internet, and especially Poly, I've learned that aggressive posturing rarely makes anyone back down. Acting conciliatory, on the other hand, will frequently calm them, confuse them, or make them ashamed of their aggression. They will insist on putting Robert E. Lee on everything for at least as long as we scream HOW DARE YOU every time they do.

[ZEE]

Elok is a nerd.

[Uncle Sparky]

There is a George Washington statue near Trafalgar Square. Why? Why!?

It gives the pigeons a place to poop.

[Dauphin]

Here's something for you, darling:

Are you two-timing La with Le? Shame on you.

[ricketyclik]

Australians first loyalty is to their state *shrug* makes sense to me.

Speak for yourself. Everyone in my extended family and circle of friends is loyal to the nation before their state or territory. I do know such people, they're generally bog... ong moth lovers.

[Dinner]

I doubt it will be banned even if they get rid of the white supremacist traitor.

[Dauphin]

Speak for yourself. Everyone in my extended family and circle of friends is loyal to the nation before their state or territory. I do know such people, they're generally bog... ong moth lovers.

I am loyal to my principles first. Arbitrarily being loyal to one administrative level of government over another seems odd to me.