Does Political Correctness Influence Your Mailing?

Having "solid colored stamps with forever on them" is just a cop out. It is not "simply being PC" to have opinions about what people, places, and events have been honored by being on postage stamps. Anyone with an interest in history will have them, and most stamp collectors have at least some interest in history. EVERY collector of any real length of time will have stamps they love and stamps they dislike or even hate, based on their own personal social/political belief system. It's all but impossible not to, with over 5000 cat numbers just in the postage section, and thousands of others in the rest of the catalog.

Nothing wrong with examining and scrutinizing history, and we're fortunate to have a hobby that gives us ample opportunity to do just that.




Very much agree. I don't think anyone here is calling for "well, just take away all the pictures because the PC police want it that way, grumble grumble." I didn't use the Confederate generals stamps on my mail because some folks might take it the wrong way (which, I believe, was the topic question of this thread). But I do have an abiding interest in the history behind the stamps, which is absolutely worth studying.

Philately educates, and reminds us of how far we've come - and how far we still have yet to go.

Solid color stamps was "tongue in cheek". Statues have been destroyed and removed, books have been removed from sale, sports teams have changed their names, the earliest history of this Country is being changed and taught to children. All because a small but vocal minority with the backing of politicians and the media find them to be offensive or more importantly not suitable for their purpose(s). Never mind what someone else thinks. They are telling you what you should think. Let this not happen to philately please.

The Confederate Stamp Alliance changed it's name to the Civil War Philatelic Society in part because they were being denied hotel bookings and restaurant reservations. So the bullies got there way and what really changed? The material? No The history? No The name changed. Virtue signaling at its finest.

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamp...nge-its-name

Sometimes names should be changed to better reflect what the group is actually about. Just as sometimes statues that were produced a century after the fact to whitewash history should be relegated to a museum where they can be analyzed and discussed properly. Museums are full of such history already in one way or another.

Good thought Revcollector
Everything is done in context. Statues were put up to not only honor but also to intimidate.
Second thought, Hollow Horn Bear would not have been acknowledged even if he had been dead 50 years.
It was the time the stamp was issued. Where I live persons were still being publicly hanged (legal). Hollow Horn Bear was part of the destruction of the 7th cavalry he would never had been "honored" with acknowledgement.

Imagine if they bulldozed Auschwitz.

As far as the Civil War name change goes I like your thought Rev regarding why a name change could better reflect the mission statement or focus of a group. That is not what happened here though and it needs to be clearly understood and not "whitewashed". The group was denied services because of their name. Quite an ironic example of intolerance in it's own right. Was it a group with nefarious intent carrying out racist plots under the guise of collecting and studying stamps and postal history? Honestly, does anybody believe that.

This is a false analogy. Auschwitz was the site of an actual historical event. The confederate statues and monuments were installed in the 1920's. They were not part of a specific historical event.

I disagree with whitewashing history. Not all of those statues, regardless of when erected are simply decoration and do reflect historical events. My family fought for the North and I have family members who's names are on the monuments in Gettysburg. When I was a kid our Father would drag us there almost every year to see them. I've done the same with mine.

I have no problem with seeing a Confederate monument.

However having said all that I also know that history is written by the victor in most cases and this "cleansing/forgetting" happens over and over. Maybe that's one reason we DON'T learn from history.

Another "tongue in cheek" comment, just like the solid color stamps? As revcollector points out, not at all the same things. Few, if any, of these statues were contemporaneous to the actual time of the Civil War; most were constructed after the fact. The motives there depend on who you ask, but we at least know the dates they went up as objective facts.



Let me guess - tongue in cheek? Of course the group wasn't, and by making statements like this, folks engage in some logic-bending exercises to try and denigrate legitimate reasons for relegating certain aspects of the past (such as the Confederate name) firmly to the past. I think some of the recent columns in the American Philatelist encapsulated the reasons for the name change quite well. There will always be a few codgers who burn their membership cards (tongue in cheek, sorry!) and leave the organization: expected, and likely little regretted on the part of everyone else. If the name change helps promote a fascinating corner of the hobby to a new and wider audience, I'm all for it.

"The group was denied services because of their name."

Of course they were; how could anyone expect the non philatelic public to have any real idea of who or what the group is????? Or what they represent? That name change was not only the right thing for them to do, it was the best thing for them to do. Times do change, and words do sometimes acquire different meanings over time. In this day and age, the name Confederate produces an emotional response, and it is better for the group to avoid that.

Another great thought Revcollector
Thanks

Says it all.

Well said. My family did as well (I'm from Iowa). Including one who almost died as a prisoner in Andersonville. When I visit a Civil War battlefield (Lookout Mountain is one of my favorites), I try and soak in everything - learn as much as I can about the history. It was a terrible war that can teach many lessons. It is a part of our American experience...

John

Taking the statues down is not 'whitewashing history'; we've simply gained a better appreciation for the reasons that they went up in the first place, and understand now that we can (and do) still teach the history without leaving up vestiges of the past purposely built to glorify that past. Last time I checked, kids in Germany were still learning about the Holocaust - no statues of Hitler and Co. needed.

In that vein, collecting stamps with "we know better now, don't we" subjects on them is a valuable, fascinating exercise in studying history, but - to go back to the original post of the thread - I think many of us shy away from using them on our mail, because we're sensitive to the fact that others might not immediately understand this deeper context. Hardly self-censorship in the name of political correctness, just... being aware of how others might perceive things, and being considerate?

So glad that these symbols that we speak of still exist since they actually spark healthy debate. Imagine a generation or two from now not knowing anything of certain aspects of the past because the books, public statues/ornaments, school curriculum etc. have all been "sanitized". Diversity is awesome even if it is not always comfortable.