Jump to content

Too Far (Erasing History ) Removal of Statues


AL-FFC

Recommended Posts

With whats going on in the US about the removal of statues more or less due to slavery and now them wanting to remove the statue of Lord nelson in Trafalgar Square due to the fact he is meant to be a symbol of white supremacy, is it time for folk to wind their necks in and stop being offended by everything or do we start removing bits of our history and renaming to keep people happy as it might be deemed offensive.

Personally like it or loathe it its part of history and its there as a reminder whether it be right or wrong do we start renaming streets, where does it stop, 

Thoughts ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 128
  • Created
  • Last Reply
9 minutes ago, Jackie Moon said:

With whats going on in the US about the removal of statues more or less due to slavery and now them wanting to remove the statue of Lord nelson in Trafalgar Square due to the fact he is meant to be a symbol of white supremacy, is it time for folk to wind their necks in and stop being offended by everything or do we start removing bits of our history and renaming to keep people happy as it might be deemed offensive.

Personally like it or loathe it its part of history and its there as a reminder whether it be right or wrong do we start renaming streets, where does it stop, 

Thoughts ?

Who is this "them".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Few articles about it on the web, mainly the Guardian wanting the removal end of the day it happened no ones bothered there backside about it up until the left wing side in the US started wanting statues removed and if you start there where do you end it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/22/toppling-statues-nelsons-column-should-be-next-slavery

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Jackie Moon said:

Few articles about it on the web, mainly the Guardian wanting the removal end of the day it happened no ones bothered there backside about it up until the left wing side in the US started wanting statues removed and if you start there where do you end it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/22/toppling-statues-nelsons-column-should-be-next-slavery

Where does she say it should be pulled down? All she says is that Black contribution and history should be memorialised too, and the suffering that Britain relied on to build its Empire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These statues are of people who fought a war to maintain slavery.  People who are descended from slaves are going to see that differently to those that aren't.  However, the Civil War happened and many people died and people want to honour their ancestors.  One compromise that I've seen is that statues are moved from prominent positions to Civil War graveyards, which I think is appropriate in some cases, there are war cemeteries and memorials that are maintained and aren't triumphalist or in service to any ideology.

An important point to remember is that large numbers of these statues were raised years after the Civil War.  The statue of Robert Lee in Charlottesville was erected in 1924.  One statue of Lee in Baltimore was raised in 1948, nearly 100 years after the Civil War and in Maryland, which wasn't a Confederate state!  There was a big spike in the raising of the statues in the late 19th century, when Reconstruction was replaced by the Jim Crow era and the disenfranchisment of black people and in the 1950s and 60s, when Jim Crow was dismantled and segregation ended.  To say that these statues are part of cultural heritage isn't accurate.  The same goes for the use of Confederate flags on state flags, official buildings and number plates - these were often added years or decades after the Civil War.

The neo-Nazis and white suremacists co-opting these monuments has ensured they will be dismantled though.  I'd expect there to be very, very few left in five years, certainly none in any cities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it is quite a difficult area, there are statues of Washington and other presidents who kept slaves, hard to judge people from a different era. I can see the reason for taking the statues down, I doubt many non whites were asked their opinions when the planning was going on! having said that, the more modern statue at Wallace's monument of Mel Gibson should be knocked down, even back in the 90s people knew that being an anti semitic, alcoholic, racist wasn't a good thing

 

Image result for braveheart statue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

4 minutes ago, Spain said:

Do what the Hungarians did, move them all to a field somewhere and create a kinda museum out of them. http://www.mementopark.hu/

I like this idea. When I start to think of it, most statues are of someone who might well have sh*t on people or have morals that are debatable by modern standards. Even the revered Gandhi is reputed to have made some disparaging remarks about the local population during his days in South Africa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, knee jerk reaction said:

it is quite a difficult area, there are statues of Washington and other presidents who kept slaves, hard to judge people from a different era. I can see the reason for taking the statues down, I doubt many non whites were asked their opinions when the planning was going on! having said that, the more modern statue at Wallace's monument of Mel Gibson should be knocked down, even back in the 90s people knew that being an anti semitic, alcoholic, racist wasn't a good thing

 

Image result for braveheart statue

Sign him up.  He can't be any less mobile than your current central defenders. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Dee Man said:

Now that the ISIS boys are going to be out of work soon, they should hire them to get rid of the statues. After beheadings it's probably the next best thing they're good at.

Good thinking. They love their van driving too. Mobile Statue Smashers & Movers.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, bennett said:

Best get those Egyptian pyramids knocked doon then and all yon  ancient Roman monuments, built by slaves....

 

 

 

 

Except they weren't slaves. Money and wages weren't a thing then, and it kept people fed over the winter. Conditions were decent. So TV docs tell me anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

Except they weren't slaves. Money and wages weren't a thing then, and it kept people fed over the winter. Conditions were decent. So TV docs tell me anyway.

^^^^ Welsh Pharaoh apologist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...