Historic Statue Removal

[Nebulous]

How do you feel about historic statues being removed? Do you think it is right for people to take these down or leave them up even though they might have a negative background associated with them?

 

[TPerry]

Times change.. and beliefs change. As long as they don't "rewrite" the history, I could care less that statues were sitting on a pedestal and were taken down. It's the responsibility of each individual to learn of their past... if they are to stupid or lazy to do so, then they pay the penalty that may occur from repeating it.

Should we have statues devoted to rape of women? You DO realize that in the past, that was a valid, and honored tradition, right?
Or how about the raping of young boys.. again, a valid and honored tradition in some societies.

 

[Mendalla]

Depends on what they do with them. I am not in favour of their destruction, but I would like to see them in a museum or similar with a detailed explanation of what they did and why it was wrong/problematic so people can learn from it. Make them memorials to our mistakes rather than honouring them, in other words.

 

[BruceTennyson123]

Many sculptures and other public works of art connected to the transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism were dismantled or destroyed during the George Floyd protests, which went outside the United States.

 

[Rhody]

Those were put there at a time when there was an agenda to push Jim Crow type stuff. I think that sort of stuff belongs in a museum of history, so we don't forget it, not in a place of celebration.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I think we should remove statues that promote an old world we don't want to live in anymore and replace it with something that brings people together.

Kind on topic in a way but instead of a border wall, why not put a inter-agency American/Mexica National Park along the border? Employ both sides, an International Agreement. Seems better than barbed wire.

The same for America/Canada.

Let's upgrade our society to the next version otherwise we're be stuck on version 3.8 waiting for everything to crash...

 

[Crockett]

Major mistake, because we like to repeat history and by removing reminders we will fall for the same traps yet again. Look who wants to remove those statues, what they stand for, and you know what direction they want to push you.

 

[Mr Lucky]

because we like to repeat history and by removing reminders we will fall for the same traps

Problem is that a statue on a pedestal neither educates or reminds.

So many of those statues are just glorifying the person without any reminders of the bad things they did or stood for.

Look who wants to remove those statues, what they stand for, and you know what direction they want to push you.

They probably just want a more tolerant and humane world.

I think that sort of stuff belongs in a museum of history, so we don't forget it, not in a place of celebration.

Exactly. And in a museum which shows what actually happened, unlike so many that do seem to gloss over certain things.

 

[Arantor]

They probably just want a more tolerant and humane world.

This to me says so much. When did 'wanting more empathy, compassion and kindness' become an insult and a negative point of view?

 

[Mr Lucky]

This to me says so much. When did 'wanting more empathy, compassion and kindness' become an insult and a negative point of view?

I think when some people started referring to it as political correctness or woke.

 

[Ancientwolf]

People fear history. Some somehow think removing the statue changes said history, or that it's display somehow glorifies it's reminder. These are just decades of capitalized triggers we live in, and everybody out there is pining for their own little piece of 15 minute soapbox to somehow establish cultural impact IHMO.

 

[Arantor]

People fear history.

I think it's more complicated than that, certainly in the UK where we have a number of questionable statues.

I think some people fear history because it'll reveal exactly the sort of person they are - and would prefer not to be known as that. And I think people fear change, where they're afraid of losing the status quo. There are definitely a contingent in the UK who believe that it's still 1950 and that Britain is the major world power - they didn't realise that, for example, the James Bond films mythologise Britain's post-war role in the world.

 

[Crockett]

Problem is that a statue on a pedestal neither educates or reminds.

So many of those statues are just glorifying the person without any reminders of the bad things they did or stood for.

They probably just want a more tolerant and humane world.

I never glorified anybody, I can't speak for others. When I see a statue, I read up on that person and the related history.

"They" are not tolerant at all, they only want to push their own narrative on everybody. Trying to dictate how I should feel on certain topics is not being tolerant. Look at their big and biased outlets like CNN, they are hate-filled towards everybody who doesn't agree with their agenda.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Some somehow think removing the statue changes said history,

I think that would be very few who think that. How can it change history?

I never glorified anybody, I can't speak for others.

Both very true statements.

 

[Forsaken]

I never glorified anybody, I can't speak for others. When I see a statue, I read up on that person and the related history.

"They" are not tolerant at all, they only want to push their own narrative on everybody. Trying to dictate how I should feel on certain topics is not being tolerant. Look at their big and biased outlets like CNN, they are hate-filled towards everybody who doesn't agree with their agenda.

What news source is not biased and not critical (not going to use hate filled because hate is much more than criticism) to the opposite side of the political **** show?

Statues are used to represent points in history, and when those periods in history go against what would be considered acceptable in modern society it makes sense to remove them. More importantly, a lot of the statues being removed tend to be used as symbols of hatred towards one group or another... As you feel strongly about the spread of hatred by news sources, it makes sense you would also feel strongly about statues that are also used to spread hatred.

Is there any real difference of having a statue out in the open, or having one in a museum? Having them in a museum seems a better place as they would be better preserved and not damaged by the elements (or risk of vandalism) and an unbiased account of the history of the statue and what it represents can be made available to anyone who cares enough to see the exhibit.

 

[Paul B]

I knew it wouldn't last long ...

Closed.

To clarify, once words such as "hate" entered the discussion, it was only ever going to go one way.