Shelby Foote - The Great Compromise .

In the world and on our Forum ! The jihad that goes on, on behalf of our ancestors gets tiresome !

east tennessee roots,

Tiresome, yes, but remember, we draw no blood, we extract no loot or tribute nor do we harm innocent men, women, or children.

But we do tend to mightly bruise egos, challenge with deadly intent certain points-of-view, and constantly demand historical sources and evidence.

May that never get tiresome! :wink:

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
I'd never before heard the phrase "the Great Compromise" in regard to how we've come to view the war and acknowledging that each point of view had merit. Shelby Foote is a measured voice of reason. I like too his phrase - it's an arousal of bitterness ' - a thought provoking point.
 
Insightful point. There is a constituency left out of The Great Compromise.

I'm replying to myself - having thought for some hours about Foote's point that some of what causes the discord is that the descendants of slaves do not wish to talk about slavery or as he says they 'hide from their history'. He contrasts that stance to the Jewish community which does speak openly about the Holocaust.
The more I think about it the more questions I have. The Jewish community portrays the Holocaust as an ugly matter to say the least. They would object to any reverent portrayal of those perpetuated the Holocaust.

I'm not getting Foote's analogy. Having taught American history at several levels, I'm aware that African Americans do not want to hear about slavery while certainly painfully acknowledging that it existed. Is their discomfort with the confederate flag a part of hiding from history? Is the Jewish community's discomfort with the Third Reich hiding from history?

Or is it a serious recognition of history - so serious that those symbols of the past still inspire some fear and dread?
 
Shelby Foote's lost causism on display. The Great Compromise he speaks of shut out African-American voices and came to a mutually agreed lie about history. Notice how on one side it's "I guess it's best that we're not divided" and on the other side it's "They fought gallantly." What tripe. Shelby would have us forget why they divided the country in the first place and why they wanted to be independent--to perpetuate slavery.
 
I'm replying to myself - having thought for some hours about Foote's point that some of what causes the discord is that the descendants of slaves do not wish to talk about slavery or as he says they 'hide from their history'. He contrasts that stance to the Jewish community which does speak openly about the Holocaust.
The more I think about it the more questions I have. The Jewish community portrays the Holocaust as an ugly matter to say the least. They would object to any reverent portrayal of those perpetuated the Holocaust.

I'm not getting Foote's analogy. Having taught American history at several levels, I'm aware that African Americans do not want to hear about slavery while certainly painfully acknowledging that it existed. Is their discomfort with the confederate flag a part of hiding from history? Is the Jewish community's discomfort with the Third Reich hiding from history?

Or is it a serious recognition of history - so serious that those symbols of the past still inspire some fear and dread?

Foote tends to blame the victims in this excerpt. Since he brought up the Jews and the Holocaust in the excerpt, how would Jews feel about someone waving a Nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood or putting up a monument to Hitler or Eichmann?
 
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