This is one of many questions I have responded to on Quora. Perhaps I may make this a frequent addition to this blog… perhaps not. I would say that I am ambivalent about it, but I’m doubtful about being certain on this idea.
How does it make United States veterans (especially combat veterans) feel, to see Americans fighting one another in the streets?
“Sir, in Las Vegas, the boys would say you’re trying to make your point the hard way.”
Lt. Nicholas Holden (played by Tony Curtis), in Operation Petticoat (1959)
This comes to mind, initially.
This is all over one thing: the presence of Confederate statues in Charlottesville, VA. At least, that’s where it started.
Well, okay – it really started with the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865… which started because of the secession of southern states… which was the result of societal, economic, and Constitutional stresses… which originally was because of…
You get the idea.
Oh, wait – the question was “how does it make me, as a veteran, feel to see Americans fighting each other in the streets?”
In a word: frustrated.
In more than one word: frustrated at the pliability of my fellow Americans when it comes to the subtle and insidious ways they are being shaped by a calculating media. Frustrated that people see what they want to see, and behave as if that is the absolute truth. Frustrated that the reactionary violence due to the exercise of one groups’ First Amendment rights so easily is exacerbated by media (traditional and social) abusing their First Amendment rights of the press, which turns the whole mess into… well… a mess… and a grotesque bastardization of everyone’s First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Over a statue.
Yes, I fully realize and appreciate the meaning that is attached to such monuments and the importance of such symbols to each side. Perhaps it’s just me, but I realized a long time ago that such a symbol is only as powerful as the meaning given to it by each individual. What may be a source of pride to you is an icon of relative unimportance to me; and what might be so very dear to me may be something worthy of being placed in a yard sale under a sign that reads: “Free, because he talks too much.”
Finally, a large portion of my frustration comes from having spent entirely too much time reading earlier observations on public opinion and having entirely too many Walter Lippmann quotes handy for occasions such as this… kinda like this one:
It is small wonder that newspapers are in the main instruments of irritation between peoples… Yet in almost every crisis the tension is increased by the newspapers.
Walter Lippmann, The Stakes of Diplomacy, (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1915), 43.
So there it is, my feelings on the events in Virginia: Frustration, old movie quotes, and Lippmann.
Are there better ways for all parties involved to make their point? Sure are.
Does proving their point the hard way make for better news? Sure does.
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milsurpwriter 
Am writing a phd about the legacy of the Confederacy, so all this is very interesting, thanks
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No problem…
The “legacy” of the Confederacy is one of the darker and more challenging aspects of American history. The opportunity lost with the assassination of Lincoln to continue in a better direction set us back a LOT, and the reverberations of Johnson’s policies continue to influence and retard our progress. The challenge, however, will always be in the interpretation of this part of our past.
All of the controversy over Lee forced me to dig a bit more, and I found his post-war work at Washington College somewhat fascinating in that he sponsored one of the first official schools of journalism. (The links is a a bit long, but I fully understand and appreciate the value of sources: https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qadx58JM-ZE8m7bz_rZoLshu2kNUWs4G6A03PcCRR-SB11DBqbwR2gx6yq5LP_EwHX5Fjd3yG3_IXjsWfgZt8BKoUEhHTyd4am9-T-PBS-kb6k7DilXSoBrUv3U6TMruQ7aATAIOF3PY41mZsEMcnRe-WaX4K0o_ZzWIvXTO9dri0NgHLO_TpoLBkWc_GARJYoPu0jANSk5GsTBQ2O_S2wwwDQuD7Z7ap46rRRCw-AhRcqGLgr4xxeVNZsSNmhsrMRaVNL9W)
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William,
I recently came across this paper and figured you might be able to use it: http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4013coll3/id/424/rec/3
In particular:
“Sherman used deception to confuse Confederate defenders and tie up Southern resources. He avoided the larger cities of Macon and Augusta, instead marching between them toward Milledgeville. While the Confederates prepared defenses around these important urban centers, Sherman drove between them, cutting the rail lines connecting them and avoiding engagement. Though the cities could not have adequately defended themselves against Sherman’s army, the Confederates prepared for a siege that never happened, diverting scarce resources that would have been better employed elsewhere.” (p. 14)
There’s other material which you might be able to use on the site. I have been browsing and collecting PDF’s for future use and have caught myself getting annoyed that I did not find some of these sources earlier due to their usefulness and variety.
More material for future work, I suppose… 🙂
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Thanks a lot, this will help for sure! Will check it out
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