The Glorification of Hate

How do you think a black child attending the Robert E. Lee school feels? 

What is it like for Americans to walk past commemorative statues of those whose contribution to history is that they tried to destroy the United States?

I think I can understand how they feel.

I do not believe peace with the Palestinian Authority is possible.

I do not make my case on biblical arguments. I do not argue that Israel’s control of the disputed territories (including where I live) is always just and fair.

I cannot persuade those outside the “choir” that the history of the Jewish people demands that Israel retain all controversial towns and dwellings in Judea and Samaria (or however you feel comfortable defining these places.)

I am not opposed to peace with the Palestinian people, although I am deeply skeptical this will ever be possible.

I base all my arguments against a Palestinian state on one simple fact: The Palestinian Authority and every other group representing the Palestinian people glorifies those who have hated and tried to destroy Israel.

Public squares and schools are named after terrorists. Yassir Arafat is revered publicly. Children are taught that they should live up to the ideals of those who sought to destroy my country.

Until the Palestinian leadership takes a 180 degree turn and denounces these people, I do not believe there can ever be peace.

I could not imagine a peace treaty in which I would look up to see Arafat’s face on a statue or send my children to the Arafat school.

There are those who are attempting to justify General Lee and his statues. It is no different than the way Palestinian “moderates” justify honoring their “heroes.”

Don’t tell me that I don’t understand what these people really mean to Southerners or I will say that you don’t get why Palestinians honor their heroes.

Those who honor Confederate generals are morally wrong.

In “The Myth of the Kindly General Lee,” the Atlantic writes:

Even if one conceded Lee’s military prowess, he would still be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in defense of the South’s authority to own millions of human beings as property because they are black.

Lee and Arafat and many more like them will always be significant figures in history. But that does not mean that we need to glorify them.

The rightful place of some people is in the history books, not public squares. The movement to get rid of these misplaced honors is not an example of political correctness gone to extremes, it is a long overdue correction to the glorification of hate.

Anyone remember an outcry when the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down?