Confederate Soldiers should be Memorialized - As Victims of White Supremacy

{This entry will be quite a lot shorter than what I usually write.}

Thinking about the social, cultural, and economic pressures involved at the time, most troops serving in the Confederate army during the Civil War can't (or at least shouldn't) be considered villains. The men (and boys) who fought on that side were born and raised in a culture of white supremacy and a society engineered to limit their exposure to other points of view.

It's easy to look back now and say that they were human beings capable of making their own decisions, and should be accountable for their decision to fight on the wrong side of a war with a clear moral dichotomy, but that takes for granted our access to modern public education, mass media, and the massive social networks we connect to through the internet. These resources challenge our assumptions, and by presenting conflict between differing belief systems, provide many opportunities for critical thinking that most men and women of the Confederate States of America did not have. In a way, judging them harshly exhibits its own sort of prejudice, that is less a matter of hindsight bias and more akin to 'future privilege'.

In short, it may seem trite, but honestly, most Confederate soldiers didn't know better, and in some ways, they were victims, not perpetrators, of the South's war.

Accordingly, their deaths probably do deserve to be memorialized. However, remembering these victims with monuments to the oppressive culture that sent them to their deaths is simply appalling. Furthermore, if we're all supposed to 'come together' and 'set aside our differences' then we shouldn't have monuments to either the Union or the Confederacy, but rather to the Americans who fought and died during the Civil War (including those in the South who fought with the North, and vice versa).

Finally, while we should forgive the actions of confederate soldiers (and perhaps even their leaders) in a time and place of poor education and cultural homogeneity, the same patience can't reasonably be extended to people who perpetuate that war in an environment rich with information. The white supremacists of today may be ignorant, but it is certainly by their own volition and determination.


I had a whole shtick about the people of Westeros who join the White Walkers's army of the dead being compelled to fight and kill their neighbors by powers beyond their control, but it seemed especially irreverent. Obviously it would have ended with a joke about the War of Northern Aggression.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

James N. McDonald is a "liberal academic" born and raised in Missouri and residing in Tennessee. He holds one degree in history, two degrees in psychology, but loves writing fiction. His first, completed novel, The Rise of Azraea, Book I, is a high fantasy story with elements of comic fantasy and satire targeting present day, real world issues such as economic inequity, and sexual and racial discrimination. It is currently available on Amazon.