Submitted 15 hours ago by LemmySuxNow@reddthat.com to historymemes@piefed.social
https://reddthat.com/pictrs/image/3a1dcd58-7bd8-47f6-8b95-21064d91f515.png
People change. Even Strom Thurmond voted for MLK days and hired non-whites in his crew. Not a redemption - he famously voted against rights his illegitimate daughter needed - but a change.
People aren’t gonna sea-change so much, but do look for and celebrate their evolution when it’s positive.
Also invented trench warfare 40 years before it was trendy. If Lee had listened to him the south might have hung on for a while longer.
Dude was a far better strategist than Lee.
Maybe he just really liked leading militias. Adjusted his tactics to keep up with the times.
I could see him being much more pragmatic like that after the dream of southern independence was shattered.
They’re very moreish
Hey, let’s name some high schools after this guy.
Change it from Lee HS to Longstreet. Idiots won’t argue because “well, he was a Confederate!” But his story will live on as a legacy of change and reconstruction.
Lost Cause types blame Longstreet for the loss at Gettysburg and therefore the entire war. Even though he tried to tell Lee that his plan of “send my entire army across a giant open field directly into enemy artillery” was shit and suggested the far more reasonable plan of moving toward DC and entrenching themselves to scare the congress into peace talks which may have actually worked.
Stop! Stop it, I can’t like this dude anymore!
Edit: the meIRL-ness of “yo, dude, no, don’t do that! Shit, I fucken told ya. You know what? Fuck you, and fuck this all” is glorious.
I embrace the sentiment. If people cannot change and are chastised for their past, there is no incentive to apologize or reform.
We need to be able to allow people a path toward redemption.
Isn’t there a Sun Tzu quote kinda like that? Something about always leaving your enemy with an escape?
“Something something fuck a mother fucker if he can’t take a joke.” –Sun Tzu.
Something about a hard pill to swallow
Absolutely. People are complex and capable of change. I’m not saying we should be building statues of Longstreet or honoring him, but we should remember him more kindly than we do.
I agree, with the caveat that when the person is still living we need to distinguish between people who have had a genuine change of heart and people who are just publically adopting a popular position for social reasons.
Why? If someone behaves correctly at all times in their public life and doesn’t act on their poor beliefs in their private life, why should I care about what’s going on in their head? Wouldn’t any of that energy be better spent on someone still acting bad?
And how do we know for sure? Point at them a lot? Yell, “REMEMBER WHEN YOU DID THAT THING? ARE YOU STILL SORRY?”
There comes a point where we have to trust them to show their bad self again, but also allow them to be their reformed self. So, sure, be aware - but if you bring it up or hold it against them, are you really allowing them to move on?
👆Wisdom
Sounds like this guy deserves the reputation Lee somehow got. I guess, by definition, historical revisionists promote those who aren’t worthy and denigrate those who are. That’s what makes them historical revisionists.
historical revisionists
Uh… no? Revisionism just means “critically challenging the mainstream historical narrative.” “Lee was actually an evil slaveholder who fought for slavery fuck him” is the revisionist narrative here. The word gets a bad rep because certain people only like to revise narratives about how fascism is bad actually, but revisionism is an important part of studying history, as any historian will tell you.
Lee was revered by both sides at the time.
Lee died shortly after the war which helps. The south needed a scapegoat and Longstreet was it.
I WAS a piece of shit though!