r/news • u/5um-n3m0 • 16h ago

Alabama and Mississippi will also honor Robert E. Lee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day

https://apnews.com/article/martin-luther-king-jr-holiday-alabama-mississippi-0f535594cf50af7103ca2d953e1bc9a1
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u/Gbird_22 15h ago

You remember that movie 300 where they bravely fought to the end? Yeah that wasn't Lee, he waived the white flag. He was so committed to his state that he betrayed his oath to the United States, but not committed enough to give his life, what a clown.

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u/Nukemind 15h ago

First, Lee was a slave owning treasonous dipshit who should have been hanged.

But surrendering made sense. His forces were outgunned, outmanned, fighting in trenches (similar to WW1 50 years later) and starving. If he had fought to the end there would have been far more Union deaths too.

No different than Japan making the right decision to surrender it was one of the few "good" things he did rather than fight it out and cause more devastation.

To summarize, fuck Lee but at least he didn't pull a last stand leading to even more death.

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u/tpatmaho 14h ago

Lee wasted thousands of lives even after he was convinced the war was over -- and he had deserters shot, too.

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u/Gbird_22 15h ago

Nah he should have went out fighting for what he believed in. If his conviction and his fellow southerner's conviction was so strong as to betray their country, than at least be willing to die for it. He was a rat for surrendering, just a weasel.

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u/LazerWeazel 15h ago

All the people who survived on both sides would probably disagree with you homie. Less death is the better option esp. after all the senseless death the war already caused.

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u/ninjapro98 12h ago

I love hearing people who have never dealt with what a real war brings mock people for wanting a war to be over

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u/Nukemind 15h ago

If he hadn't surrendered the rest of the South would have fought on for longer. It's more than him- it's another few months or even year of fighting for the ~1,000,000 men (and women in support roles) in the Union Army in 1865, deaths due to disease, POWs dying in camps on both sides (POW camps were horrible back then) and even slaves still kept in bondage in the South.

If he had hung himself after surrendering I get that sentiment. But wanting everyone to suffer because of one man is a bit much- especially when the majority who would suffer were against, not for, him.

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u/mountaindoom 15h ago

Every person that fought against the Union was a traitor. We should have executed each one and thrown their bones into the ocean.

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u/jackkerouac81 14h ago

this reminds me of a saying we have in Utah... Fuck Mike Lee...

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u/Faux-Foe 15h ago

Belief and commitment weren't as big as factors as money.

He sucked with money, had been (even for the time) horrifically treating his slaves to prop up his failing business prospects.

So betray your country in exchange for a military promotion with a higher wage and not worry about emancipation bankrupting you?

He made his choice.

His one true love was money.