I am a descendent of Montgomery C Meigs ( Meigs is my maiden name) who took the land that Arlington cemetery is on today from his old friend Robert E Lee after the war. Lee was married to the great granddaughter of George Washingtons wife, Martha and Arlington was her ancestral home.
There’s a legitimate difference between self-loathing and self-criticism. If we personalize and individualize this, self loathing = no lessons learned coupled with factual revision. Self-criticism acknowledges the ugly parts that must never be forgotten nor justified.
Specific to the Confederacy, it’s not self-loathing to utterly reject the false narrative of the Lost Cause and “Gone With the Wind.” The heritage represented there is the heritage of traitors, racists and traitors — all three qualities acknowledged and criticized at the time.
The British Empire is a mixed bag of really great contributions and subjugation. It was an amazing culture and institution, but Jerusalem it wasn’t.
There’s an excellent book entitled “Learning from the Germans,” which is a very salient exploration of why rejection of our historical bad acts is not the same as self-loathing, though there can be a “blended period” as there was in post-war Germany.
Amen, indeed.
Amen!
I am a descendent of Montgomery C Meigs ( Meigs is my maiden name) who took the land that Arlington cemetery is on today from his old friend Robert E Lee after the war. Lee was married to the great granddaughter of George Washingtons wife, Martha and Arlington was her ancestral home.
There’s a legitimate difference between self-loathing and self-criticism. If we personalize and individualize this, self loathing = no lessons learned coupled with factual revision. Self-criticism acknowledges the ugly parts that must never be forgotten nor justified.
Specific to the Confederacy, it’s not self-loathing to utterly reject the false narrative of the Lost Cause and “Gone With the Wind.” The heritage represented there is the heritage of traitors, racists and traitors — all three qualities acknowledged and criticized at the time.
The British Empire is a mixed bag of really great contributions and subjugation. It was an amazing culture and institution, but Jerusalem it wasn’t.
There’s an excellent book entitled “Learning from the Germans,” which is a very salient exploration of why rejection of our historical bad acts is not the same as self-loathing, though there can be a “blended period” as there was in post-war Germany.
Demi-paradise turns out to be dystopia. Evil is boring and one note it’s Jesus was and always will be so. Amen