Recently, the US is in an uproar as a protest was upheld in Charlottesville. A group of far-right nationalists took to the streets in protest of the removal of a statue dedicated to Gen. Robert Edward Lee in the state of Virginia. Robert Lee was a Confederate Army General serving in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. The protest, called Unite the Right, ended in tragedy as the Alt-Left groups Antifa and BLM attacked the rally, starting fights and causing injuries. A number of people died when a car rammed a number of protesters when it accelerated to get away after it was struck from the back bumper by a protester.
All this just for a statue? But there’s more to it than just the statues being taken down. It is the signs of an Orwellian nightmare in progress.
All these are happening because of an effort by the US’ southern states to erase their Confederate history. People sees the statues and reason out that they promote white supremacy and racism. The Flags and Statues have been the target and they’re mostly successful.
But this is such a dangerous move. If these statues are removed just because they offend a group of minors then how about other statues and monuments? This is such a dangerous idea because not only is it a form of censorship, it is also a way to forget history, specifically the war where the USA decided that slavery is bad.
This acts of removing offensive thoughts, ideas and histories is happening all across America, mostly in the Universities, all in the name of Social Justice. And such acts meant that freedom is restricted, controlled and taken away. You oppose the prevailing idea, and you’ll find yourself divested of your rights, and possibly be hurt too. It’s a situation that should only be found in western books, not in western societies. However it is happening, and the Social Justice-y Alt-Left, that is, the majority of the left wing party of the United States, is the one to lead the charge. In a shocking moment of historical irony, those who were advocating for the freedom of the internet from censorship a few years ago are now the ones advocating to take down statues that offends them.
And this is just the beginning. First flags, then statues? They’re already attacking paintings. Across the sea, their fellows who also subscribe to the same ideologies are attacking children’s books. What if the next target are actual books? Such a rejection of the concept of freedom of speech can’t be good, especially for Art, Literature and Music.
By the time of this writing, they have already removed and destroyed some statues. There are also talks about the toppling of other historical US monuments, including Mount Rushmore. They will press on and everyone who has been saying that “they won’t stop with statues” will be proven right. Only time will tell.
People who value Art, people who value their craft. People who are proud to call themselves as artist should condemn and reject this anti-freedom ideology. It is scary to live in a world where you cannot think or express thoughts that contradict the prevailing ideas. There is no merit to art if the ideas only goes one way. There is no merit to a song where I cannot express myself freely. Its only one step away from book burning and a repetition of Nazi Germany’s witch hunts of “degenerate art.” We are nearly, dangerously there.
Photo Attribution:
Featured and 1st image by Cville dog (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
2nd image by The original uploader was Sfmontyo at English Wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Fuelbottle, Brimstone86 at en.wikipedia. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
