In early 2021, I was the Command Historian for a 4-star command, and I was tagged to be an advisor to the politically correct, Base Renaming Commission. Fortunately, I retired before I had to provide any serious input, which is a good thing. Why? Because I would have told the Renaming Commission that they were now just like the Taliban.
I’m sure many readers will recall how the Taliban, after taking control of Afghanistan, blew up two massive statues of the Buddha carved in the sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan Valley in early 2001. The world was aghast, with an outpouring of universal condemnation.[1] Yet, here we are, destroying statues and renaming locales to erase the memory of people we don’t like. Some may cry out, “but those southerners were insurrectionists!” But we must not forget that according to strict Islam, the Buddhas were idols, a violation of Islamic law and thus subject to destruction.
What we are practicing is the same thing performed by the Taliban.
The concept of “heritage cleansing” is a legacy of what in Rome was called Damnatio Memoriae, or the damnation of memory of the enemies of the state. It is also known as iconoclasm, the smashing of images or destruction of traditional ideas. Besides Rome, this was performed by many other kingdoms of the ancient world. It is also a common practice in modern dictatorships… witness the way Soviet censors scrubbed thousands of photographs of people who fell out of favor of the regime. It was not uncommon for a new king to destroy the documents, statues and inscriptions of his predecessor. Many kings saw themselves as either the spokesmen for the gods, or even a god on earth, and as such he could brook no rivals from a god who was now passé.
The problem with Damnatio Memoriae is that it can not only create a false image of history, it can even cleanse the past of bad actors. For example, look at scale models of German aircraft from the World War II-era and you will see that in most cases the swastika… that evil symbol of Nazism… is missing on the tailfin. Indeed, one can even see photos from World War II where the swastika is photoshopped out. What this does is help people to forget the Nazi past of the German war machine, even as today’s Germany, the forefront of the European Union and the fulfillment of Hitler’s dream of a united Europe, prepares to once more advance to the east.
It is interesting that a Wikipedia article on the subject of Damnatio Memoriae mentions many ancient empires and even modern dictatorships, like the Soviet Union, Communist China and North Korea. But what is telling is that the article says absolutely nothing about how the United States is today engaging in the same practice… a practice they have condemned in others.
But, rubbing out the names of hated southerners and destroying their statues does more than erase the memory of the people one group hates with a passion. It drives history underground, making it susceptible to false interpretations and glosses, and even allows the glamorization of an evil past.
Even more, it demonizes anyone who may have had a modicum of respect for those whose memory is now excised, creating a tribalization effect which encourages the demonized group to seek revenge over the next one thousand years.
Russ Rodgers has several books published on Amazon.
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[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-destroyed-afghanistans-ancient-buddhas-now-welcoming-tourists-rcna6307